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Forbes Phoenix

Mayoral Notes

March 5, 2022 By Maggi Barnard

It’s hard to believe that we are in March already!

Our new Visitor Information Centre merchandise shop opened for business on the weekend, with heaps of souvenirs available for purchase, and a great range of books about Forbes, our history, stories for kids etc. We will build on this with local produce and more lovely merchandise when we head down to the new visitor centre at the Lachlan Vintage village but for now, head down to the Railway and check it out!

This year there’s not one but two events for the whole community to enjoy as we celebrate women for International Women’s Day! This Saturday night we have the fabulous international Women’s Day Cocktail party event in our glorious town hall.  Our ticket proceeds for the Cocktail party will all go to Running for Premature Babies – a great cause! In the morning of IWD itself we are partnering with the Business Chamber for their breakfast event in Lions Park – with speaker Rose De Jong.

And finally the Councillors and I are really grateful to all of our sporting organisations for contributing to the Master plans that are currently in development for our sporting precincts. These drafts will be first considered by Council and it won’t be long till we are able to take these back to the Sporting Groups for checking. These plans will give us a great roadmap for how we would like to improve these important facilities.

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

February 25, 2022 By Maggi Barnard

Forbes Shire Council

Have you seen the new fountains in our beautiful lake? They look fantastic, don’t they! There are so many great features to them including they use a quarter of the power of the old ones, they can be lit up at night with colourful lights and they aerate the water better. That is great news for our fish too! Have a look when you get a chance as they are impressive!

This begins the program of implementing some of the Lake Forbes Activation Plan and we are ever thankful to the NSW Government for giving us $2 million dollars as part of the Public Spaces Legacy Fund.

Last week’s Council Meeting was a great start to the year with lots to discuss. I do want the community to let us know your thoughts regarding larger monuments allowed in our lawn cemetery. Submissions can be made to the General Manager by 5pm 13 March via email forbes@forbes.nsw.gov.au or PO Box 333, Forbes NSW 2871. Our cemetery is very dear to our community and I would like you all to have your say.

Speaking of Your Say we have extended the Housing Survey for another month as we really want you all to jump onto the Forbes Your Say site and let us know what you would like future Forbes to have in the way of housing choices.

God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

February 18, 2022 By Maggi Barnard

You may have heard about the minor fish kill Lake Forbes experienced late last week. We have notified the Department of Primary Industries and they have inspected the waterway. As suspected it is a repercussion of the recent flooding.

Impacts on water quality are expected with the first flush of water on floodplains or after long droughts when organic material such as sticks, leaves, bark and grass is broken down in floodwater or washed off the floodplain into the river resulting in very low dissolved (hypoxic) oxygen levels. This can have localised impacts on fish species. DPI Fisheries will continue to work with partner agencies and stakeholders to manage and monitor water quality and river conditions.

There have been a lot of questions regarding the closure of the Vandenberg Hotel and why isn’t Council doing something about it. I would like the community to know the Council cannot get involved in the sale of businesses. We can encourage the new owners to re-open but we cannot tell them how to run their business.

We have another great event coming up soon, International Women’s Day. Again we will feel inspired by our ‘legendary local ladies’ and feel nourished with amazing canapes and delicious cocktails. Tickets are now on sale through 123tix or see our website for more details. It will be an amazing night and all proceeds will be donated to Running For Premature Babies, a great cause.

God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

February 11, 2022 By Maggi Barnard

It is such an exciting time for our region and I want to thank the community for having trust in us to deliver all of this to you.

I had the joy of going to the International Day of People with Disability fun day at our pool this week. After having to postpone this event last year due to Covid we finally were able to come together and celebrate this very important day.

Have you taken part in the Housing Survey we are currently running? I urge you to if you can spare 5- 10 minutes. Council is putting together a Strategy to give us direction with the needs of housing in the area and we would like to get community feedback. Social housing is one of many housing factors Council will look at planning for in this strategy and we will continue to lobby State and Federal Governments to meet the estimated need for this in the Forbes Shire. Having a strong Housing Strategy in our back pocket when we lobby the politicians will be of immense benefit. Forbes is expecting significant growth in the next ten (10) years and we need to plan for the future to ensure we have the infrastructure and essential services to accommodate population growth – and that is best done by a considered and widely consulted strategy.

Head over to our Your Say page today: https://yoursay.forbes.nsw.gov.au/

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

January 28, 2022 By Maggi Barnard

Happy New Year to you all. I know we are almost into the second month but as this is my first column for the year I wanted to wish you all the very best for what I hope will be a great year. I look forward to working with my fellow Councillors to bring out the best in this great Shire we live in.

The year has started however with many cases of COVID-19 in our community and as our politicians have stated it is a virus we have to learn to live with. I encourage those who are eligible to get booster shots.

The Shire is in for a busy year in the sense of the projects we have on the board to complete. Goldridge Estate is progressing very well and Stage Two is now on the market. Works continue at the old Lachlan Vintage Village to turn this space into our new Tourist Information Centre and Café.

The Lake Forbes Activation Plan beautification work will also continue this year with the turning of the old Ambulance Centre into a world-class art gallery about to begin very soon.

Our industrial land is set to expand with the development of more sites at Central West Industrial Park. As our industrial site and Landrace is nearly at capacity proving business is growing here in Forbes, and we need to provide the land for it to do so.

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

November 5, 2021 By Maggi Barnard

Wow, wasn’t Taste on Templar spectacular last weekend! I want to congratulate the Forbes Business Chamber on this wonderful event, I’ve heard nothing but positive comments from everyone. This event space will see many events over the coming years and I can’t wait to share the next installment of improvements in the coming months when pergolas will be installed at all corners of the street.

This week will be our last Council Meeting for this Council term. It has been a long term, that is for sure, but I would like to thank my fellow Councillors’ in achieving as much as we have over the last five and a bit years. We truly have the community’s best interest at heart when we are making decisions in the Chamber.

We have had our challenges during this time; drought, Covid-19 and a record capital program to deliver on. We are all very proud to have the largest residential estate in Forbes’ history on the market and new developments around our beautiful Lake. This coupled with the developments at the Central West Livestock Exchange and our Industrial Estates sees a very bright future for our manufacturing, agriculture and industries in the Shire. We are also very proud to do all of this and not be in the red!

This column will be handed over to our General Manager, Steve Loane, for the next 6-8 weeks while the Local Government elections take place.

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

October 29, 2021 By Maggi Barnard


We are so excited to see Templar Street host the first event since the refurbishment of this wonderful space. Taste on Templar tickets have sold out and the Business Chamber is expecting over 300 people to attend the event. I would like to congratulate the team for pulling this event together through such a tumultuous time.

Council is aware of the local snake handler planning to retire. Whilst snake catching isn’t part of Council’s core community function we can announce that two staff are being trained to help with snake catching duties around town. Council will provide snake catching services on an ‘as available basis’ between the hours of 8am – 5pm Monday to Friday during the seasons of high snake activity. Council has approached the retiring Forbes’ local reptile handler to provide mentoring and support to our Council Rangers throughout the cur-rent snake season.

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

October 15, 2021 By Maggi Barnard

This week has been dubbed Freedom Week by our State Government but I know many of you are feeling less free than you were before.

We understand your frustration but we ask you bear with the changes as it won’t be for long. Our vaccination rates are looking very strong and when the State gets to 80% you will see a lot of the new rules disappear.

Some of our Council facilities require you to prove your double vaccination status. This is stated in the Public Health Order. The facilities include; Forbes Visitor Information Centre, Forbes Library, Forbes Olympic Pool and the Youth & Community Centre.

Town Hall and the Central West Livestock Exchange are currently exempt from the double vax rule but do have capacity limits of 1 person per square metre indoors and 1 person per square metre outdoors. We will keep you updated as the rules change.

I would like you all to get excited about Australia Day 2022 and start nominating people for the prestigious Citizen of the Year Awards. There are three awards; Citizen of the Year (any age) Young Citizen of the Year (25 years or younger) and Senior Citizen of the Year (65 years and older).

Next year we hope to be able to all come together to party! Then on Australia Day we will have a full day of fun.

Take care and God Bless.
Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

Mayoral Notes

October 8, 2021 By Maggi Barnard

Well what a week in politics! First the resignation of the Premier Gladys Berejiklian and then the deputy, John Barilaro. I welcome Dominic Perrottet to the Premier role and wish him all the very best. I want to extend my sincere thanks to Gladys and John for their time in government, I feel they have served the State very well and I wish them both well in their future endeavors.

Now have you heard the incredible news, Goldridge Estate has gone on the market and the first Stage is nearly completely sold! Our Ballot Night last Thursday was a huge success and all 13 lots sold on the night. The following day another eight were under offer, leaving only 2 blocks left in Phase 4! This is a tremendous result with 21 blocks sold in 36 hours of launch, a record and proves the need for more housing. We are fast-tracking Stage 2 now to get this on the market as soon as possible. Stay tuned, we will let you know more very soon.

In other great news our COVID vaccination rates are well over the 90% for first dose and the ADF and Western Area Health are back again at Town Hall this coming weekend to administer second doses of AstraZeneca as well as any first doses of either Pfizer and AstraZeneca. No need to book an appointment, you can just walk in.

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

 

 

Mayoral Notes

October 1, 2021 By Maggi Barnard


We are very excited to have our amazing Olympic Pool open for the season this weekend. The newly renovated toddlers pool will also be open to be tried out by the littlies. There are a few new rules associated with the opening during COVID times to keep staff and fellow patrons safe. These include checking in with a QR code and capacity limits are in place. If you are unwell please do not come to the pool. Get tested and when you receive a negative result you may go then.

Thank you to all the wonderful attendees at the Be Road Ready for Harvest Virtual Field Day last week. It was a huge success and looks like we are in for another bumper harvest season.

Speaking of roads, we are asking everyone to be careful this long weekend on our roads. Please be careful this weekend, we want you all back safe and sound. Police will be out and they are promoting their “stop it or cop it” campaign.

I would like to encourage everyone to get behind our NAIDOC celebrations this year in November. We are calling out for nominations for the awards component and this year we will be awarding two awards; Indigenous Young Achiever Male and Female (Under 18 years of age). We have some amazing young people in our community and we would like to recognise them.

Take care and God Bless.

Your Mayor,
Phyllis Miller

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