When it comes to two kinds of council meetings, they don't come much differently than the July and August Blayney Shire Council Ordinary Meetings.
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The July meeting was memorable for not only its more than four hour duration, but also for the fervent discussion on two contentious and divisive issues.
The public forum itself took more than an hour as Millthorpe residents lined up to express their opposition to the new subdivision on Forest Reefs Road.
Also on that agenda was the new motel/mining camp development on the site of the old Blayney Bowling Club.
That meeting was also notable for the public wearing face masks and keeping well away from each other.
It was also notable for Cr Scott Denton playing a 'Will he or won't he?' game during the discussion of the Millthorpe sub-division and the howls of "disgusting'' from the departing crowd when he eventually voted yes.
The next day of course the shire, along with Cabonne and Orange LGA's went into lockdown and it was all lost in the heady mix of Covid related updates and news.
August's meeting though had no public forum, no public at all except maybe those hardcore enough to watch the Brady Bunch style presentation on the council's YouTube channel.
And it was all over in 49 minutes and 20 seconds.
Some councillors took to dropping in their own backgrounds whilst other went for the studious book shelves or the blank wall approach.
Irrespective of the backgrounds the meeting was a staid affair with little or no discussion on many of the items, even the traditional Reynolds and Somervaille repartee was lacking a tad due to the Zoom effect.
First up was an MOU with Arts OutWest to nominate Bradley Bradley as BSC representative on the Advisory Council and to thank Nyree Reynolds for her longstanding commitment to Arts OutWest.
Then council's investment report showed that their total investment and cash position as at 31 July 2021 is $20,080,496.
It also showed that investments earned interest of $7,090 for the month of July 2021.
Most of those funds are payments for capital grants programs that are upcoming and not just a Richie Rich vault of cash.
The next brief discussion was on council's Financial Assistance Program before they moved onto the Director Of Infrastructure Services monthly report that was centred mainly about the continued problem of road surfaces and ongoing projects across the shire, of which there are many and will be examined more fully in the future.
Then council discussed their Electricity Procurement which will also be covered in another story along with their plans for renewable energy.
Up next was the traffic committee report which has passed a number of road restrictions including on Carcoar Street and Osman Street. The main issue being that heavy vehicles are using them as shortcuts.
Finally Cr Denton spoke on the Access Advisory Committee before the meeting was finished just before 7pm.
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Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
