Mayoral Message - October 2020

It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as your Mayor for the past eight years and I’m very pleased and proud to be granted the opportunity to continue working for this community for another 12 months, leading a supportive, constructive and proactive group of councillors.

The current Council has found itself in a unique position due to COVID-19 with Council elections postponed by the NSW Government until September 2021. It delivers us an opportunity to keep working to achieve some of our unfinished business. In the next 12 months as Mayor, I hope to see an additional commitment to the Barton Highway; progress on our Civic Precinct and Library redevelopment; upgrade of the Yass Water Treatment Plant; and the opening of the Murrumbateman Pipeline among other projects.

On Monday (28 September 2020), I met with Transport for NSW representatives - A/Director South Community and Place, South Region, Regional & Outer Metropolitan, Sam Knight, and A/Director South West, Jonathan Tasker. We sat down and spoke at length about some of the traffic concerns in our community. At the top of this list, of course, was progress on the promised part of the Barton Highway duplication. It was encouraging to hear of the Barton Highway Upgrade Alliance Agreement, which will see contractors Seymour Whyte and SMEC partner with Transport NSW to design and build the first stage. We hope this alliance agreement with the private sector will see the program delivered ahead of schedule with soil turned before the end of this year.

We also raised our concerns about traffic issues at Yass Public School, Binalong and various speed zones around the LGA. We are hoping for some positive outcomes on these for our community going forward.

I met with Member for Goulburn, Wendy Tuckerman on Monday (28 September) for our regular monthly meeting. I reiterated the above messages and also asked that the NSW Government add an upgrade to the Yass Police Station to its agenda for the next round of funding announcements.

Speaking of Yass Police Station, I was honoured to attend a ceremony there on Tuesday (29 September) to mark Police Remembrance Day. Each year, 29 September holds a special significance for Police throughout Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. It is a day for Police to pause to honour officers whose lives have been cut short while performing their duty. I have immense respect and gratitude for the men and women on the front line. On behalf of the community, I honour their service and contribution to our safety and protection in the Yass Valley.

30 September 2020

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