Mount Isa News June 2022 – Your Local News
Latest Mount Isa News for June 2022
Governor Visits Mount Isa
Mount Isa news – On Thursday, May 19, Council was delighted to welcome Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young PSM, Governor of Queensland, for breakfast and briefing in the Council Chambers.
Representing Council were Mayor Danielle Slade, Deputy Mayor Phil Barwick, and Councillors George Fortune, Peta MacRae, Mick Tully and Kim Coghlan, as well as CEO David Keenan and Directors Renee Wallace and Chileya Luangala.
Mr Keenan gave a presentation to the Governor about Mount Isa as well as Council.
Following, at a private investiture ceremony at the Laura Johnson Home, the Governor invested Mrs Patricia Fennell with a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to women’s health in rural and remote Queensland.
Later in the morning, more than 50 community members attended a community morning tea for the Governor at The Stack, upstairs at the Civic Centre.
This included local elected representatives and members of Her Excellency’s patronage organisations, education and emergency services.
The Governor also visited Happy Valley State School and participated in activities with her patronage organisation, the Lead Alliance, to educate the school students about healthy eating and lead awareness.
Following this, Her Excellency attended and spoke at a school assembly at St Joseph’s Catholic School, met with local veterans and laid a wreath at the Mount Isa Cenotaph, and visited the Mount Isa Hospital before visiting the Mount Isa RFDS hangar.
“Regional visits like this are one of the highlights, if not the highlight, of being the Governor of Queensland. We’ve got the most magnificent State, and it’s wonderful to get out and meet the people across our entire State because they’re amazing people,” the Governor said at the community morning tea.
This is my first visit as Governor and I’m delighted to be here.
I hope I’ll be back many times to come, to be able to see what continues to evolve in your city.
I’ve always enjoyed coming to Mount Isa over the years, it’s a fantastic city.
“You’ve got such longserving people here, which is one of the reasons why I think you’ve got such a wonderful community here.”
Mayor Danielle Slade said it was an honour to have the Governor in Mount Isa and to showcase to her what the city has to offer.
Mount Isa News by Deputy Mayor Phil Barwick
There are many highlights and important activities underway at your Council this month.
We have just wrapped up Reconciliation Week, with the Council involved in a range of activities to support this national celebration. Council now has a formal Reconciliation Action Plan team, which is always active, and as part of the week’s activities, the team held a barbecue breakfast on May 27 for the scheduled flag-raising ceremony to recognise the start of Reconciliation Week in Mount Isa.
The big news is that the final draft of the 2022-23 Budget is now being prepared after the community consultations recently and goes up for approval by your Council later this month. Council is recognised as a financially stable council in Queensland, as indicated in a recent report from the Queensland Government Audit Office.
As costs of living rise, and wages rise, Council needs to increase rates comparatively to stay financially strong, and to keep the city progressing by making it more liveable and entertaining for all residents, by continuing to modernise the city with upgrades to parks and facilities.
Council is acutely aware that many other Queensland councils are in serious financial predicaments and your Council is working hard to maintain the good solid financial position of your city and keep progressing the city.
We are very excited to prepare this budget, also for the huge 100 Years Celebrations next year, so there will be many wonderful activities and projects brought to the community by Council during 2023. A big thank you to those residents who attended the Budget consultation sessions and provided good feedback.
We also recently had a very successful Camooweal town consultation, where Mayor Danielle Slade, Councillor Mick Tully and myself represented Council and were able to meet with the innovative and enthusiastic community residents and discuss the progress of current projects, such as the community recreation area and the town hall upgrade, as well as a broad range of subjects such as waste, housing, water, parks, and roads.
Latest Mount Isa News Information
• The Transmission Street (Norm Smith) Dog Park will be closed from Sunday, June 12, for about three weeks while the park is re-fenced. The Sunset (Edna Medley) Dog Park will remain open during this construction.
Once works are complete at the Transmission Street park, Council will announce the temporary closure dates for the Sunset Dog Park for its associated re-fencing. New dog bowl/water bubblers have recently been installed at both dog parks.
• Council and the Mount Isa City Library were pleased to welcome Robert Ah Wing, the Coordinator of Indigenous Languages for the State Library of Queensland, in late May. Robert – who was born in Mount Isa – held Indigenous language workshops at the City Library to help local residents learn more about the local Kalkatungu language and how it works.
* Mount Isa Events
Mount Isa Agricultural Show
Date: Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June 2022
Time: From 8am
Where: Buchanan Park
City Council Updates
Camooweal Consultation Session
Mayor Danielle Slade, Deputy Mayor Phil Barwick and Councillor Mick Tully, along with members of Council’s Executive Management Team (EMT), spoke with Camooweal residents at a Council Community Consultation session at the Williejudarra Hall on Wednesday, May 25.
The topics raised included the 2022-23 Draft Council Budget, the boil-water notice in place for Camooweal, the drinking water supply, the upkeep of trees at the rest stop near the town’s entrance, the maintenance of grass at the aerodrome, and electricity at the Camooweal Town Hall.
Certificates were also presented for the two Camooweal recipients of the most recent round of Council’s Community Grants and Events Sponsorship Program – The Drovers Camp Association Inc. ($8000) for the Drovers Camp Festival, to be held in August; and the Camooweal Campdraft Association ($7891) for the Camooweal Campdraft And Rodeo, held in May.
Earlier that morning, Councillors and EMT staff toured the Drovers Camp and learnt more about the life and work of drovers thanks to tour guide Stumpy Adams, who is a former drover.
Reverend Visits
Mayor Danielle Slade met with Dr Jos Pouesi – a local GP who has worked in Mount Isa for almost 15 years and is a Deacon at Mount Isa’s newly established Congregational Christian Church of Samoa – along with Reverend Tapenaga Reupena and his wife, Olita Reupena, on Friday, May 20.
Dr Pouesi said the church looks forward to contributing positively to the Mount Isa community, and its mission is to help Samoan people within Mount Isa and assist many others in need.
Launch Of Week
National Reconciliation Week in Mount Isa kicked off with a free community breakfast on Friday, May 27 on the front lawns of the Civic Centre.
People enjoyed free bacon-and-egg breakfast burgers, a flag-raising ceremony, Welcome to Country, and traditional Indigenous dancers.
National Reconciliation Week activities were held at the Mount Isa City Library and Outback at Isa throughout the week.
Mount Isa News Update June 17, 2022
2022-23 Budget Adopted
Council handed down its 2022- 23 Budget, which includes a $34.375 million capital works budget, and a 6% general rates increase, on Wednesday, June 15.
Mayor Danielle Slade said it’s important that Council stays financially strong and makes Mount Isa more liveable for all residents while continuing sustainable development.
“As Councillors, it’s our responsibility to set the Council’s vision, direction and budget. It’s the Mayor and Councillors who are responsible for the financial administration of the Council,” Cr Slade said. “As Councillors, we’ve all had an opportunity to have our say on the budget, as the community has elected us to do.”
The 2022-23 capital works budget includes:
• $8.9 million for the Materials Recovery Facility
• $6.6 million for roads and drainage
• $6.475 million for buildings and other structures
• $4.6 million for water and sewerage
• $3.5 million for plant and equipment
• $2.3 million for the Family Fun Precinct upgrade
• $2 million for Smart Water Meters
In Camooweal, Council will be spending $200,000 on roads, drainage and parks; $200,000 on sewer and water; and $250,000 for internal renovations of the Camooweal Town Hall.
Council is also proposing a 3% increase in water charges, and a 6% increase in both sewer and waste charges.
“The rate rise of 6% is one of the most difficult and regrettable decisions this Council has had to make,” Cr Slade said.
“While there were aspects of the budget I would have liked to have seen changed or restrained, there is no doubt this is a responsible budget with a lot of exciting projects.”
“I will continue to ensure that decisions made at Council are responsible, transparent and in the interests of residents.”
For the 2022-23 financial year, Council is expected to have an operating revenue of $69 million and an operational expenditure of $70.83 million.
“After two years of extraordinary challenges and difficulties, the Mount Isa community, and indeed the rest of Australia, is slowly getting back onto its feet and is now on the road to recovery,” Cr Slade said.
Mount Isa City Council responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by having a 0% overall rate increase in 2020- 21, and a 3.75% increase in 2021-22.
“These steps were to assist the community to navigate through one of the most difficult periods it has ever faced, without having a long-term negative effect on Council’s future budgets and Council’s ability to deliver necessary services, projects and works to the community.”
Mount Isa News by Councillor Kim Coghlan
Volunteers are such a crucial part of our community and I don’t think they get enough credit for the incredible work they do.
If you’ve ever attended a community event, chances are the people you see manning the food stalls are volunteers for local sporting or community groups.
And without volunteers, Mount Isa wouldn’t be able to put on great community events like the Mount Isa Show.
Often, most of the work volunteers do is done behind the scenes, but it really goes a long way towards helping keep these clubs and groups running.
One shining example of a local volunteer is Tony “Tonka” Toholke, who was recently named the Volunteer of the Year at the Volunteering North Queensland Awards. Congratulations, Tonka!
He often talks about a person having a “ripple effect” in their community – you can make a difference by helping out.
Even just one hour of your time a week can help our community groups enormously, so don’t be afraid to put your hand up – they would definitely appreciate it.
There has been a lot happening in the Parks and Gardens portfolio in recent weeks. At the Mount Isa Skate Park, work to install the permanent shade structures will begin on Wednesday, June 22, meaning the Skate Park will be temporarily closed until about mid-August while this is completed.
The shade structures will cover the entirety of the Skate Park, making things a lot more comfortable for park users during the hot months of the year. Unfortunately the temporary closure will be taking place during the June/July school holidays, but the park should be open in time for the September school holidays.
The demolition work for the existing playground infrastructure at the Family Fun Park has commenced, and will be followed by plumbing and other underground work, before construction work to build this highly sought-after facility begins and the new playground equipment is installed.
We are anticipating the Family Fun Park upgrade will be completed later this year.
Latest Mount Isa News Information Update
• Splashez Aquatic Centre – Winter Hours Splashez Aquatic Centre is now observing winter opening hours, from Wednesday 1 June 2022 to Wednesday 31 August 2022. During this period, it will be open Monday to Friday from 2pm–7pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 10.30am–5.30pm, and on public holidays from 10.30am–5.30pm.
• The Mount Isa Skate Park will be closed temporarily, from Wednesday 22 June until about mid-August, while permanent shade structures are constructed and installed.
This work is part of the overall Family Fun Precinct upgrade. We apologise for any inconvenience the temporary closure may cause. As well as this, at the Gallipoli Park Pump Track, landscaping and soft-fall installation work, replacing the existing sand at the Ninja Park, began on 13 June. The work should take about three weeks and will mean the temporary closure of the Ninja Park.
