Council News 13 February 2019

Council News 13 February 2019

Tuesday 29 January 2019 was a significant day for education in the Weddin Shire with the Assistant Minister for Skills the Hon Adam Marshall MP in conjunction with the Member for Cootamundra the Hon Steph Cooke MP officially opening a new, modern vocational education campus, called a Connected Learning Centre (CLC) in Grenfell.

The delivery of one of these innovative, next generation learning environments in Grenfell is absolutely terrific with students now able to experience digitally enabled facilities capable of reflecting real-world work and social environments. Students will also have access to a flexible learning and assessment model that will provide personalised and connected learning experiences, better access to teachers both on and off site, and the skills they need for real life jobs in regional communities.  In addition to providing local students with access to a greater range of learning and course options, the CLCs are designed to be easily reorganised to suit a variety of community needs. This approach, supported by the NSW Government, will allow TAFE NSW to significantly enhance its service and presence across regional NSW, with a focus on communities where TAFE NSW doesn’t already have a presence or where out-dated facilities are not meeting the needs of students, employers and local communities. 

In other good news on the same day Mr Marshall in conjunction with Ms Cooke also formally handed over land previously owned by TAFE which was purchased by the Grenfell Native Nursery to enable them to remain on their current site. This will give the nursery volunteers’ surety and peace of mind knowing they will be able to stay at their current location which is tremendous.

Australia Day celebrations were held on Saturday, 26 January, 2019 at Taylor Park in very hot weather conditions with a very good crowd in attendance.

The Australia Day Special Guest Zoe Naylor was very well received by the crowd and MC Peter Moffitt carried out his duties in a very articulate and efficient manner.

Winners of the main awards are detailed below:

Citizen of the Year - Liz Carroll Senior Citizen of the Year - Richard Loader Community Event/Organisation of the Year - The Grenfell Garden Club Community Achievement Awards - Paul Best

                                                          - Chad White

                                                          - Kim Broomby

                                                          - Chris Lobb

                                                          - The Grenfell Picnic Race Club

Winners of the student awards were as follows:

Best pass in Higher School Certificate - Sarah Knight Henry Lawson High School - Anna Hunt St Joseph’s Primary School - Phoebe Heathcote Grenfell Public School - Annabella Taylor Quandialla Central School - Hugh Nowlan Caragabal Public School - Sadie McCahon

It was wonderful to recognise, acknowledge and reward our residents who give freely of their time to volunteer in our community which is very much part of the Australian way of life.

All of the award winners were congratulated and thanked for their contribution to the Weddin Shire Community during 2018.

In regards to the selection process Cr Mark Liebich, Cr Paul Best and myself who have in the past been part of the selection panel, declared conflicts of interest and did not participate in the selection process. Council, subsequently resolved to have three community representatives as members of the selection panel with a list of reserves selected by way of a ballot.

As part of the process it was also agreed that:

The representatives be prominent community members not known to have close personal relationships with the award nominees Councillors present would put forward community representative nominations. A ballot be conducted to rank the 7 community representative nominees. The community representatives be approached in the order of ranking from the ballot until the quota of 3 had been filled.

This was undertaken to ensure the selection process was impartial and done in complete fairness to all persons and organisations nominated.

A Drought Information Night is currently being arranged to be held at the Grenfell Bowling Club on Monday 25 February 2019 at 7.00pm.

The Member for Cootamundra the Hon Steph Cooke MP and a representative from the Rural Resilience Program are working with Council to help organise this event. There will be a number of speakers from different organisations who will take the audience through what is available in terms of funding, assistance, counselling services and to answer any questions the community may have.

Please see the adjacent invitation for further details.

Weddin Shire Council has introduced the Snap Send Solve app. Snap Send Solve makes it easy for community members to contact Council to report on any issues faster and more efficiently.

Like all great ideas, Snap Send Solve was developed from a simple thought – “wouldn’t it be great if I could report this broken swing in the park through an app”.

The result has been a robust, user focused, mobile app that takes all the thinking out of reporting to local authorities. The premise was simple: the app works out where you are, who manages the incident within that particular area and then using a users own email address sends through relevant information such as location, incident type and any related image to the correct contact.

Simply download the free app on your mobile device – available through the Apple app store or Google Play. More information can be found at https://www.snapsendsolve.com/

This is another technological innovation that Council is introducing to assist our organisation to become more efficient and effective in our operations and delivery of services.

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Foundation (RASF) is giving rural and regional NSW community organisations the chance to apply for kitchen cabinetry and appliances to create or upgrade a community kitchen.

The RASF Community Kitchen Grant is made up of benches and cabinetry as well as at least $10,000 worth of state of the art appliances and white goods from The Australian Women’s Weekly Theatre Kitchen at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Applications close Sunday, 17 February 2019.

Further information regarding the grant visit https://www.rasnsw.com.au/content-hub---ras/press-releases/2018/does-your-community-need-a-kitchen-rasf-community-kitchen-grant-opens/

The current exhibition at the Grenfell Art Gallery is ‘A Portrait of Landscape and Time in Hill End: Mythmaking, Heroes and Villains’ by Rebecca Wilson. The exhibition officially opened 8 January 2019 and is on display until 24 February 2019.

The artist unearths lessor known stories of the iconic town and disrupts common narratives of the region, questioning who the real heroes and villains are in recorded history and how we create myths and icons.

The Art Gallery is open Monday to Friday 10am - 4pm, Saturday 10am - 3pm & Sunday 10am -2pm.

Finally, residents are reminded Council will be conducting a Sale of Land for Overdue Rates at the Community Hub this Friday 15 February, 2019 at 10.30am. Please see the adjacent advertisement for further details.