Tuesday night's (3 October) decided to remove the recent Lords Place upgrade, noted the cost of a new donation scheme and decided to engage with affected residents about a new street name.
Lords Place upgrade to be removed
The recently completed Future City upgrade of Lords Place will be removed following decisions at Tuesday night's Council meeting.
LORDS PLACE: Street furniture in Lords Place will be removed following a decision of the Council meeting
The motion, proposed by Cr Jeff Whitton, decided:
- to ensure that the reinstatement process encompasses the recovery of the twenty car spaces lost due to the recent modifications
- to instruct the staff to facilitate constructive dialogues with the impacted businesses situated in Lords Place forging a consensus on an agreeable timeline for initiating the reinstatement works.
- to commission a detailed report on the collaboratively determined timeline for the restoration, and the agreed upon restoration plan co-developed with the impacted businesses in Lords Place and the cost of the restoration.
A report to the meeting suggested the trees planted in tree pits would remain.
Councillors discuss how to deal with controversy
Tuesday night's Council meeting decided to support a motion from Cr Steve Peterson which called for Council events that are likely to be controversial to be voted upon by Councillors prior to being approved.
Cr Peterson suggested, "the recent Rainbow Story Time event paid for by Council has generated a variety of opinions within the community. As the elected community representatives, it is the role of councillors to vote on controversial events not unelected staff members."
Council notes costs of proposed book donation program
Tuesday night's meeting noted a report on the costs of Orange joining a proposed book donation program, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
The program sends a free book every month to participating children from birth to when they turn five.
The meeting heard that Last year Tamworth Council contributed over $200,000 of the $350,000 cost to run the program there. In 2022 the State Government's Brighter Beginnings Program funded 22 LGAs, including Cowra Shire, to participate in the Imagination Library, each funded jointly by United Way. Launched in May 2022, Cowra now has 186 children participating.
The proposed program would be considered for inclusion in next year's budget.
Council to engage with local community about new name for southern feeder road
Tuesday night's meeting decided to begin a new engagement with the local community about options for the name of the new southern feeder road.
The meeting heard that currently there are four street names along the route of the road.
The route of the Southern Feeder from the Mitchell Highway through to where it will eventually reach the Northern Distributor Road at Escort Way is currently known as:
- Dairy Creek Road
- Blowes Road
- Park Road
- Ploughmans Lane
It is proposed that the community engagement would be focused online through the Your Say Orange site.
Council will also begin face to face consultation with the affected 10 properties in the completed and soon to be completed sections.
Options include using one of the existing street names.
Meeting welcome Timaru visitors
Tuesday night's meeting welcomed two visiting staff members from Timaru District Council.
Timaru, on the east coast of New Zealand's south island, has been once one of Orange's Sister Cities since 1986.
The two staff members, a roads manager and a buildings/property manager, are visiting on Orange on the first leg of a new staff exchange program. aimed at building better understanding between the two councils.
IN BRIEF:
- The meeting approved a donation of $689 to Dragons Abreast Orange to cover catering and printing costs associated with their mini 'Field of Women' event being held on 14 October 2023, being $600 for catering and $89 for printing (provided by Orange City Council).
- The meeting gave planning approval for a 13 lots residential subdivision in Dolomite Way.
- The meeting decided to consider inviting the PNG high Commissioner to visit Orange.
- The meeting asked staff to continue exploring establishing a Friendship City relationship with a city in Ukraine
- The meeting decided to grant free entry to the Aquatic Centre on 19 November to mark the start of Summer. A report to the meeting said the cost in lost income is around $2,000
