Council Works – Week ending 29 March 2019

 “For the week ending 29 March, the following key works were completed by Council staff”, noted Council’s Mayor, Cr. Ray Thompson.

“Within the urban Lithgow area last week, Council staff continued working towards the completion of major stormwater improvements at the Golf Club in Marrangaroo. To date, eight lengths of pipe have been installed directly underneath major national fibre optic assets owned by Telstra. This work was of extremely high sensitivity and required great care by Council staff to ensure no damage to surrounding assets. Additionally, minor hotmix asphalt repairs have been completed and Downer EDI has been arranged to complete more significant repairs. While Council staff and equipment is able to complete small-scale repairs, we cannot achieve the finish contractors can with large-scale defects. Hence, the decision has been made to contract some works to ensure a high-quality and long-lasting finished product in an acceptable timeframe.”

“Last week, Council’s rural staff have focused on the improvement of storm water infrastructure throughout Portland”, said Mayor Thompson. “Where roads do not have kerb and gutter and it is not cost-effective to install such infrastructure, it can be difficult to appropriately manage storm water. To resolve issues of erosion in such areas, this week staff saw to the stabilization of roadside table drains prior to the application of a bitumen emulsion seal. Many residents rely on rear lane access to their property so maintaining safe, all-weather access even after prolonged periods of heavy rainfall is very important.”

“Lastly, I am pleased to note that this week, restorations will commence on the Main Street, Lithgow footpath infrastructure,” said Mayor Thompson. “There is no dispute that recent disruption to the footpaths through NBN and electricity service upgrades and water main failures have left our footpath in a poor state. However, restorations will commence this week with specialist concrete contractors removing entire slabs surrounding existing trenches to ensure a satisfactory repair.”

“In addition to this work, Council engineers are completing required specification documents for tender packages to be released for local contractors to repair the footpath paving,” noted Mayor Thompson. “Costs to restore disruption caused by underlying asset upgrades are to be fully met by the responsible party. In this instance, Council have chosen to manage this project to ensure a satisfactory outcome and provide the best opportunity for local contractors to win the contract for repairs.”