Geoff Helisma
Last week Clarence Valley Council held two public consultations regarding its plan to seek a special rates variation (SRV) of eight per cent (not including the annual rate peg) for each of five years commencing in 2016/17.
In Grafton a handful of residents attended, however it was a different scenario at the Maclean meeting, which was attended by between 60 and 70 residents.
The council had, however, received 2,000 paper surveys and 400 online surveys as a result of its bulk mail-out of the ‘Roads to Sustainability’ brochure and other publicity, as of last Friday.
Surveys can be lodged with the council up until September 25.
Former 2GF radio presenter Ron Bell chaired the meetings.
He commenced the Maclean meeting by emphasising that it was “not about amalgamation”.
Following a PowerPoint presentation, the council’s corporate director, Ashley Lindsay, answered a range of questions from those in attendance.
Space and time constraints have meant that these questions are not able to be properly addressed in this week’s Independent; however, these will be discussed in next week’s edition, incorporating an interview with Mr Lindsay on some of the more complex issues.
Podcasts of the meetings can be found at: www.clarence.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/metro/page.asp?p=DOC-DQM-00-84-55 Community News
Mixed results for SRV meetings
Geoff Helisma
Last week Clarence Valley Council held two public consultations regarding its plan to seek a special rates variation (SRV) of eight per cent (not including the annual rate peg) for each of five years commencing in 2016/17.
In Grafton a handful of residents attended, however it was a different scenario at the Maclean meeting, which was attended by between 60 and 70 residents.
The council had, however, received 2,000 paper surveys and 400 online surveys as a result of its bulk mail-out of the ‘Roads to Sustainability’ brochure and other publicity, as of last Friday.
Surveys can be lodged with the council up until September 25.
Former 2GF radio presenter Ron Bell chaired the meetings.
He commenced the Maclean meeting by emphasising that it was “not about amalgamation”.
Following a PowerPoint presentation, the council’s corporate director, Ashley Lindsay, answered a range of questions from those in attendance.
Space and time constraints have meant that these questions are not able to be properly addressed in this week’s Independent; however, these will be discussed in next week’s edition, incorporating an interview with Mr Lindsay on some of the more complex issues.
Podcasts of the meetings can be found at: www.clarence.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/metro/page.asp?p=DOC-DQM-00-84-55