Last week Councillors, business owners and community members met with a contingent from the NSW Government Senior Leaders Tour for an informal dinner. Senior government staff from Department of Communities and Justice, Health, Regional, Education, Police, Regional, Transport and other departments attended the dinner which was to gain a deeper understanding of issues impacting regional communities and to inform future policy and program development. 

To highlight diversity the tour stopped in Dubbo, Nyngan, Cobar, Condobolin and Forbes. The guests all stayed overnight in our beautiful town before returning home. 

NAIDOC Week celebrations were held across Australia this week. The Forbes community traditionally celebrates NAIDOC week in September and there are several events already planned. 

NAIDOC Week is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge our traditional owners and celebrate our Wiradjuri Heritage. 

Forbes Shire Councillors attended the Australian Local Government Women’s Association Conference in Fairfield this week and will no doubt come back inspired after a busy program including speakers such as Jana Pitman and Ellen Fanning. 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish our Mayor a speedy recovery after she has taken a rare break for a medical procedure. Get well soon. 

Chris Roylance
Deputy Mayor 

What a wonderful winter weekend of events we have ahead of us. I’m excited. We are hosting our first ever ChillFest tonight. This free family night booked out very quickly. 

Tomorrow is our major Frost and Fire event. The ski dam is looking amazing, ready for you to enjoy major local and headline entertainment, including Thirsty Merc and the Sydney Fire Dancers and fabulous fire inspired food and drinks. 

There are a lot of people coming to town, so make sure you give them all a big friendly Forbes welcome. 

If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, it is a great opportunity to use your NSW Discover vouchers before they run out on 30th June. 

With more rain predicted next week, I remind everyone to please drive to the conditions. We have a lot of damaged roads in our shire and it is important people take extra care until they can get fixed. We are working hard to respond to immediate road needs with many, many kilometres of roads damaged during the floods and with ongoing major rain events. Never have we been so busy trying to short term patch roads, which often still have water over them, as well as maintaining our overall road improvement works that continue around the shire all year round. We appreciate your patience and urge you all to be careful. 

I’d like to remind all community groups to book in for one of the Community Funding Workshops on 24th and 27th June if you need help creating a winning application for Council’s Community Funding Program. Submissions close on 31st July. 

Mayor Phyllis Miller 

I’m so excited to report good news has come after the Country Mayor’s Rural Health Forum in Sydney which I attended last month. The NSW Government has finally announced a much needed multi-billion dollar investment to hire 10,000 doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and non-clinical staff over the next four years. 

It was very refreshing to hear both the Minister for Regional Health and Shadow Minister for Health and Mental Health confirm what we have always known – that it is of the utmost importance that debate around Regional and Rural Health should be approached on a bipartisan basis and must be brought before parliament as early as possible. 

I, along with my colleagues in the Country Mayors Association of NSW, will be doing everything we can to ensure that all 44 recommendations of the inquiry are adopted by parliament. This is our opportunity to redress the deficiencies in regional and rural health delivery. I will not let our community down. 

I’d like to welcome everyone to Forbes next week for the Forbes Eisteddfod in our beautiful refurbished Town Hall. Don’t leave it too long to purchase your tickets for Frost & Fire next weekend – use your Discover NSW Vouchers before they expire at the end of the month! 

Forbes Shire Council wishes you a safe and enjoyable long weekend and encourages you to all be mindful of double demerits and also keep your pets safe as we have been notified of plans for private firework displays on both Friday and Saturday night. 

It has been a busy week fulfilling executive roles for National Parks and the Country Mayor’s Association, and making sure our voice was heard at the Central NSW Joint Council’s Organisation. 

It is vitally important for Forbes Shire Council to be a part of these larger regional and state executive bodies to keep us connected and up to date. 

Our roads, particularly our unsealed roads, are really impacted at the moment with all this rain and water over roads. Our unsealed roads have suffered substantial and ongoing damage due to heavy rain. 

Council staff are working with community to identify, report and repair these roads as much as we can. Please bear with us as it is a huge job. 

Roads are a major and expensive asset within Council and it is a job almost 365 days of the year maintaining them. 

Drivers are reminded to not drive around roads closed signs, it is for your own safety, it is in fact an offence and can cause further damage to roads and put back our works program even more. 

Council’s CBD Masterplan implementation continues with a preliminary fitting conducted on Saturday for the pergolas in Templar Street, so watch for the signs – no roads will be closed. The posts will be sent for powder coating before the final installation. 

The CBD Masterplan aims to improve, beautify and revitalize the Forbes CBD and integrates connectivity, tourism, art and culture. 

Your Mayor
Phyllis Miller 

Forbes Shire Council is again calling for nominations of community representatives to apply for positions on Section 355 committees of Council. 

We are specifically looking for transport operators, local and regional, for the saleyards committee and food and accommodation operators for the tourism and events committee. 

Community membership of these committees is very important for Forbes Shire Council so feedback and suggestions are heard loud and clear. 

These committees consist of community volunteers, industry representatives and Councillors and provide advice to Council as well as assist in enhancing outcomes for the community. 

You can find out more on our Forbes Shire Council website or by calling into our administration office for a nomination form. 

Our tradies have spoken and we have listened, our Build Your Home Expo has been rescheduled and will be held on Wednesday, 17th August. Council is hosting this expo to connect builders, construction and associated trades with the community. If you are a tradie make sure you book your space and if you are planning to build or renovate, we invite you to come along. Council staff will also be on hand to discuss planning and compliance requirements. 

Are you new to Forbes? Come along tonight for another Welcome to Forbes event. Bring your whole family and meet other newbies, community groups and Councillors in a relaxed atmosphere at the Forbes Historical Museum in Spring Street from 5:30pm for 6pm. We look forward to welcoming you to our amazing town! 

Federation Boulevarde, the grand entrance to Goldridge Estate, has been sealed. This seal was the application of two coats with a final seal to be applied at the end of the project. It is the final civil works required before blocks can be registered with the Land Registry Services. 

This week marks 185 years since Ben Hall was born on 11th May 1837, which was very timely for the last of the Heritage Festival events on Saturday. 

Following the festival, almost 60 people came along to listen to Garema’s Karyn Tisdell, our very own opera singer. Karyn wowed the crowds singing a few favourites of Dame Nellie Melba who also sang at the Forbes Town Hall in 1909. 

Guests at the event were the first to try our Heritage Digital Trail QR codes with stories about the heritage buildings and sites in our community. We are proudly using technology to keep the heritage sites alive. Keep an eye out for the QR codes around heritage sites in town. 

Have you heard you can now use your NSW Services vouchers to buy your Frost and Fire tickets? Two tickets are normally $30, but we are offering two tickets for $25 to match the value of the vouchers. 

The vouchers need to be used by the end of June, so we thought it was a perfect way to celebrate. This year’s talent include Thirsty Merc with other celebrated and local artists performing. A major attraction will be the Sydney Fire Dancers. 

Until next week, God Bless. 

Your Mayor
Phyllis Miller 

It is Heritage Week! Forbes has a unique mix of heritage and new and I believe our town is equally excited about and supportive of both. 

This week we focus on our valued heritage, celebrating our history and origin stories and bringing some of the past alive with our celebrations tomorrow. Join us for the Forbes Heritage Festival on Saturday in Victoria Park (delayed a week after last week’s rain) and later to launch the Forbes Heritage Digital Trail. 

Talking rain – it is hard to believe the rain from last week. Unfortunately, it has caused delays on some of our major development projects, but while the road base and larger earthmoving tasks were pulled up, our teams are working ahead on other parts. Forbes Shire Council is in an unprecedented stage of development and it really is all systems go in every department. 

I am very pleased to say the rain did not hinder or cause unnecessary damage at the winter sports grounds. It was just great to see everyone back into winter sports, and it was very pleasing to see all the off season work on the grounds ensure they held up very well. 

As was discussed at last week’s Council meeting the contractor at the heated pool has had more delays. Council is working towards expediting the end of this stage so we can begin work on the toilets and amenities. 

Council is very aware of the importance of this asset and the strong community need for this facility, so we are doing everything we can to make sure it is finished as soon as possible. 

Despite another two short weeks, it is still go, go, go at Forbes Shire Council.

Our Elvis festivities begin this week with the ever-popular Amazing Forbes Street Breakfast on Friday morning. There is no better way to start the day with an excellent choice of breakfast options, plenty of music and a bit of a jive to get you into the mood for a fabulous day in the Central West.

Forbes cafés and businesses will be open and ready to serve up a fabulous Friday morning feast or a spot of shopping before you head off for a day of Elvis fun.

Also part of the Parkes Elvis festival celebrations is the Swingin’ on the Speedway event that we are hosting at McFeeter’s Motor Museum on Saturday night. There is a tribute artist and plenty of entertainment.

There will also be the Presley Gala evening at Club Forbes and Elvis entertainment at the Golfie.

Forbes is very proud to be an event partner for the Parkes Elvis Festival – there will be buses operating between Forbes and Parkes so we can again welcome visitors to our region to Forbes as well.

As for the rest of the town, the outdoor team is working hard to put all the finishing touches on the playing fields in time for the start of the winter sports season.

All the playing fields are looking fantastic with fencing and irrigation updates, lines are being marked, everything has been top dressed and is lush and ready for a season of sport – everyone in Forbes loves our sport.

All our school holiday activities continue and have been very well supported by the community. This week there is more craft and activities so check our web page or What’s On on our Facebook page to register.

Mayor Phyllis Miller
Forbes Shire Council