Uralla Councillors call extraordinary meeting to get more water information and action for businesses
With no monthly meeting scheduled in January, it was probably opportune for Uralla Shire councillors to call an extraordinary meeting to housekeep for this month's meeting; and with arsenic, business and a new acting general manager on the agenda, a packed gallery of 36 people was not surprising.
Deputy Mayor Bob Crouch, Cr Tara Toomey and Cr Robert Bell had their signatures spread across the five Notices of Motion on the meeting's agenda. The first called for a brief on the actions taken to address the elevated arsenic level, along with short and long-term supply issues, including budget implications.
"We need to understand where we're up to with the process and what the implications are," Cr Crouch told the meeting.
"It's almost that time of the year where we start to formulate our budgets for next year. Given what it must be costing us in various ways, there will be some things we can't do and we will need to look at our budgets and our plan to address those issues."
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Standing orders were suspended and council moved into committee to better debate the matter.
Cr Bell said because it held such high public interest he was keen to see all discussion about it done publicly and not in workshops.
"I'm also keen to know if we'll be able to meet the current production levels that the plant was designed for. If it was designed for 60 litres per second, will the granular activated carbon treatment continue to provide water at that level?" he said.
"I would like to see as much information as possible taken to the February meeting in three weeks time."
Cr O'Connor said while he applauded the motion before council and would support it.
"At the workshop next Tuesday, February 11, we also need to talk about water security, and what alternatives we've got," he said.
Council resumed standing orders and passed the motion unanimously, and ushered in the second item dealing with economic reparations to impacted businesses.
It was moved by Cr Toomey and seconded by Cr Crouch and started the ball rolling to ensure Uralla businesses were not left out of pocket by transitioning at short notice to the alternate water supply, and could continue trading.
BRIEFING: Deputy Mayor Bob Crouch wanted an update on the Uralla water supply situation.
The motion called for council to contact each food and beverage business reliant on council water to gain an intricate knowledge of what their costs had been, or would be, to provide a report to council.
It also publicly thanked and acknowledged those volunteers who stepped up to help, and who continued to distribute water throughout the community.
"People didn't have any choice, they had to incur costs and some people have struggled. It's about understanding that and seeking the support of either council or state government to support that," Cr Toomey said.
"Some people incurred significant costs, and some businesses didn't get support with bottled water in the first couple of days and had to purchase it themselves. So there are some points in the motion that will help council understand the cost of."
Acting general manager David Aber said he had taken the matter to the state government and it was initially rejected .
"On that basis I've actually put it through the Minister for Water's office, and they've undertaken to discuss with the Office of Small Business about whether they could provide some funding, but to date I haven't heard anything back," he said.
Mr Aber said it was a good idea to survey Uralla 's businesses and gain some idea about the actual costs so the matter could be taken further.
Cr Crouch said there was no doubt having arsenic in the water had cost Uralla businesses dearly.
"We also need to understand that, at the moment, the government is absolutely overwhelmed by the bushfire issues, and, even though we have lost some income, there are people who have lost a lot more that we could even imagine," he said.
"In doing this we need to put it in that context. To approach the state government, but do it in a very sympathetic manner."
In her right of reply, Cr Toomey said council's approach to government needed to concise and strong because the affected businesses had no options. The motion was accepted.
Mayor Michael Pearce said the all the detailed information regarding Uralla's water situation tabled at this month's meeting, would be made available to the public.
"This meeting was to inform the public as well. There are a few negative Nellies out there, you get those in any town or suburb. We are not sitting on our hands, we're doing what we can to keep the town open," he said.
"We're still open for business. We've got a lot of bottled water at the moment, the town's still open, we still make a good coffee the way we always do and we still want people to come in."
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