Mayor Beresford’s May Council meeting wrap-up

Executive Staff

The Council has completed a second round of interviews with two preferred applicants for the Chief Executive Officer position. We are now awaiting confirmation of references and I expect a decision will be made later this week. The new CEO should take up the position in August. Applications for the position of Chief Operations Officer closed early this week and the Acting CEO will be reviewing those and arranging interviews via Zoom initially within the next couple of weeks.

Cunnamulla Fella Festival

It has been decided to cancel this year’s Cunnamulla Fella Festival due to COVID-19. The Festival was due to occur late August but with uncertainty around the lifting of travel restrictions and the number of people allowed to gather for an event or function, the Council decided to take the hard decision of cancelling this year’s festival. The Tourism team will now focus on putting a strategy in place for the 2021 Festival.

Land for Sale

In the near future Council will be offering for sale by tender a number of properties that have in general been acquired through unpaid rates. Two of the properties are in Wyandra and the remainder in Cunnamulla. Anyone requiring further information about any of these properties should contact the Council’s Finance Department.

ICPA State Conference

The Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association Cunnamulla Branch will host the 50th Anniversary State Conference of the ICPA in Cunnamulla next year, a big occasion for this organisation who are expecting over 400 people to attend. The Paroo Shire Council has offered to provide support to the local branch and looks forward to working with the committee to ensure the success of the conference.

John Kerr Park

The contract for the new changing shed at John Kerr Park has been awarded to D J Buckley Builders. Work on the building is expected to commence shortly and will be the final stage of the current facilities upgrade project at the oval.

Cunnamulla Library

Librarian Tammy Hickey has introduced a new initiative recording a series of video stories for children and posting them to the Paroo Shire Council’s Facebook page. The idea behind the recordings is to provide some routine for the First5Forever program. Parents can log on to the Council’s Facebook page every Monday at 10 am and Thursday at 3.30pm and the children can watch and interact with a story being told by a local community member. The story will reflect the community member’s work, such as a local builder telling a story about building a house. The project has been well received by the local community and also the Qld. State Library.