Forbes Phoenix

Mayoral Notes

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We are so excited to be bringing Frost and Fire back this year. It will be a little different due to the new COVID rules and the event will be ticketed. Entry remains free, we need to have tickets to ensure we do not have too many show up and have to turn people away. Local acts Gracey Jones and Fog Pilots are performing and the major act, the amazing Bob Evans (previously of the well-known band Jebediah). But that’s not all, there will be fire buckets scattered around the Ski Dam, Walter Whip and the Flame will be moving through the crowd showing his fire tricks and stunts as well as John Buttagig playing guitar. For the Game of Thrones fans a Jon Snow lookalike will also be roaming through the crowd for photos.

We are asking for expressions of interest for food and alcohol providers for this event. Head over to our website for an application form.

Last week the paving began on the pedestrian strips of Templar Street. This work will be done in small sections to ensure minimal disruption to customers and the stores along this street. We apologise for this taking as long as it has, it has been difficult to get contractors but now we have them we are keen to get this job done.

Meaghers Lane is also having work done to it with new Bin Bays being installed this week.

God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

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With Easter approaching please travel safe. The roads will be very busy. If you are tired please take a break! We want every-body safe and sound. Easter is an amazing time to spend with family and friends, go to church and eat lots of nice food.

We had road closures with the recent rain event and I want to remind everyone not to go through road closure signs or you will negate your insurance.

Last week we painted the town red for Ronald McDonald House (RMHC). Lots of businesses had donation buckets in their premises for a few days. Thank you to everyone who donated. The service RMHC provides to the Forbes community is simply amazing. They are a volunteer organisation that provides care and compassion to families in need at very tough times of illness and trauma.

With school holidays starting there will be heaps of activities for the kids to do. To name a few we have the Paddle Boats back on the Lake, Obstacool in Lions Park, Clay workshop and a fishing workshop. There will also be an outdoor movie night. Find out more on Council’s website or Facebook page.

Don’t forget to try out the new Ninja Park over the school holidays. The fence will be down just in time for Easter.

I hope you all have a happy Easter and stay safe.

God Bless.
Your Mayor, Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

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I just want everyone to know we as Council are very passionate about getting a new operating theatre for our hospital here in Forbes and we will not settle for anything less than a new building for this theatre. The Forbes community deserves only the best healthcare and it needs to be kept up-to-date and operating well into the future. We saved the Government over $1 million when we completed the works on the hospital previously, and it did not include an operating theatre, now it is time to build this theatre!

This week I attended a mass to celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education in Forbes at Red Bend Catholic College. The Catholic Education Wilcannia-Forbes has a special place in my heart having worked for them for many years and I know the great work that they do in educating and raising our children to be wonderful young adults.

You may have heard on the grapevine Council has purchased the Presbyterian Church next door. It was very important Council do this to ensure this beautiful heritage-listed building is kept safe and the public has access to it. The building is over 144 years old and registered with the National Trust so we will endeavour to look after it and may it have another 144 years. We are very excited to launch a new sculpture next week, this one is called “Bird in the Hand”. We will share more details soon!

God Bless.

Your Mayor
Phyllis Miller

Council Comment

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Last week I attended the Country Mayor’s Association Meeting. The CMA allows local government from rural and regional NSW to come together to discuss issues of specific interest to areas outside the major metropolitan centres. The priorities discussed were the access to health, water security and financial assistance. The guest speaker was Minister for Health and Medical Research, Brad Hazzard. It was great to have someone from the health sector speak at an event such as this and given the year we have experienced through COVID, it was very interesting listening to him. I spoke about a few operational issues concerning our region and asked for a new operating theatre for Forbes Hospital.

I attended the meeting with the neighbouring Councils to discuss the Collaborative Care Project for Lachlan Health Forbes, Parkes and Condobolin to look at improving our way of delivering Primary Healthcare Services. With assistance from the Federal Government, money has been funded towards this very important program. In attendance was Minister for Regional Health, Mark Coulton, Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack and all three councils – facilitated by the Rural Doctors Network.

The Seven Sisters Bridge work has now been completed by Council and it looks fantastic. Council will now work on the new approaches to the bridge in the coming weeks with the installation of a new road base and approach guardrails. The bridge is planned to be open to traffic by the end of March.

By Councillor Jenny Webb

Mayoral Notes

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This week we have launched our survey to the community regarding the Housing Strategy for the Forbes Shire. I really encourage everyone to take part in this survey as it will help us plan for the future infrastructure and managing the character and amenity of our existing residential areas.

Forbes is expecting to grow significantly in the next ten years and we need to plan for the future to ensure we have the infrastructure and essential services to accommodate that. This is why we have this strategy and we want the community to let us know what they would like to see available to them in Forbes.

There will be several pop-up sessions available in town for those who don’t have access to online.

Now have you heard the wonderful news? We have a new tenant for the Target site! Kmart will be taking up the space which is wonderful news for the town. More details will be coming soon as they come to hand.

International Women’s Day Cocktail Night? This is coming up on 13 March at the Masonic Lodge. We are so excited about this too and we have a great line up of local legendary ladies speaking at this event. It is a ticketed event and they can be found on 123Tix. All proceeds will be going to Ronald McDonald House Charity in Orange. So many of our residents have had to use this great facility over the years and we would like to pay back some love.

Till next week. God Bless.
Your Mayor,
Phhyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

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This week General Manager, Steve Loane and myself have gone to the NSW Associated Mining & Energy Related Council meeting in Wollongong which is always interesting. The renewable energy sector is really gaining momentum in our region. The NSW Government is implementing three Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) pi-lots throughout NSW and one of them is the 3,000 megawatt REZ in the Central West of NSW. This is great for our local economies and for jobs in the regions as well. We have two solar farms in the Forbes Shire and potential for others as well.

In last week’s Council Meeting it was raised the need for upgrades to our town security. The program of 50 new CCTV cameras will soon to be rolled out through-out Forbes. The cameras will have a direct relay to our local police station who can then quickly action staff to respond to incidents.

We have also started renovations in Town Hall. This will see a variety of upgrades to this beautiful Heritage building. New light-ing, kitchen and bar area as well as a new floor in the concourse. We remind everyone the Town Hall may be out of action for a while but please contact Council’s Event Officer if you are looking for a space to hold your next function or event we have a few suggested venues that may serve your purpose.

Till next week. God Bless.
Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

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I just want to assure our community that affordable housing is on Council’s agenda, contrary to a recent media article. We govern for all residents with complete social inclusion. Despite the new Goldridge Estate not including social housing in the scheme we actively lobby our State and Federal Governments to find ways of improving the situation for our community in the township of Forbes. In recent weeks Council has been working closely with local community groups to provide facilities for the homeless to enable them access to kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities.

On a brighter note, how exciting is it that the Ninja Park is going in this month! The recent rain has delayed the installation of equipment, regardless, it will go in and be complete by the month’s end. There is so much excitement for this park, not only for recreation purposes, but also as a fitness course. This will be a unique attraction for our town and the region, providing healthy outcomes for all ages. The nearest similar venue is in Dubbo, so we have a very wide pool of people to appeal to.

Another one of our amazing parks, Jenny Murphy Park, is set to receive a new flying fox next week. Our Youth Officer is currently meeting with our town youth to find out what other kinds of play equipment the children would like to see in this park.

God Bless.

Mayoral Notes

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What a wonderful week it has been and thank you to everyone for joining us for Australia Day on Tuesday, whether it was in-person or on Facebook Live. We are so lucky to live in this great country and we need a day such as this to celebrate the wonderful citizens of our Shire. I want to congratulate Murray Brown for his Citizen of the Year Award, Norm Haley for his Senior Citizen of the Year Award and Krystle-Lee Brown for Young Citizen of the Year Award. All very worthy recipients and I applaud the great work they do for our community. Some of you may have noticed work has begun on Stephan Field with the installation of the Ninja Park. This is going to be such a great asset for our town and one I am sure will be used by many. The project is set for completion by the end of February and I will be the first down there to show it to you when it does open.

This Friday I will be meeting with the Maritime Police and Roads and Maritime Services to look at our Ski Dam and make sure the rules are suitable in ensuring the safety of users to the park. I will report back to you on the discussions we have. In the mean-time, I ask everyone to please take care on the water and follow the rules regarding rope length and equipment being used on the waterway. We want to ensure everyone is safe using this wonderful resource we have in our Shire.

It was sad to lose one of our young residents this week and my thoughts and prayers are with the Adams family during this difficult time. God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

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Happy New Year everyone and welcome to another new and exciting year ahead. Have you been down to Templar Street lately? Doesn’t it look great! Very soon we will be starting new paving along the footpaths and this will be done in sections to alleviate the need to close big areas off to pedestrians. Street furniture and gardens will also be hot-on-the-heels as well.

This year will be a very busy one for our Shire with the development work soon to begin on our new residential estate, Goldridge. You may have heard the recent interest the Central West is getting with people wanting to move out of larger centres and move to places like Forbes where houses are more affordable and the lifestyle more desirable.

Our industrial land is also hot property at the moment and further development will be taking place at the Central West Industrial Park to ensure we meet the needs of consumers.

That’s all for this now. God Bless.
Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

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I do hope everyone has been busy shopping locally for the festive season. We are so lucky to have the amazing retailers we have here in town, there really is nothing you cannot get here in Forbes. I recently went into every shop to film them all for a promotion we have on Facebook and I couldn’t believe the selection out there to choose from, it really is amazing!

Our town is looking so fantastic at the moment and I encourage you all to take a drive around at night to see all the wonderful light displays we have installed throughout town; they are even down at Lions Park. We also have the Santa Koala Christmas story projected onto Town Hall, which is a must to take the kids to see.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year. I hope 2021 will be a better one for us all. Our farmers look like they have achieved a very successful harvest season after many not-so-successful seasons. I want to remind everyone to stay safe on the roads this holiday season, drive carefully and if you have had a drink please do not get behind the wheel of a car.

That’s all for this year. God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

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