Former Councillor Brian Mattiske and his family celebrated a significant milestone when his mother, Isabella but better known as Billie, turned 100. The family gathered at Garema Hall and had a lovely afternoon of celebrations. They were delighted to receive the congratulations of the Queen, Governor General and other dignitaries. Congratulations on your milestone.

Forbes Shire Council met on Monday night and adopted its budget. The budget and updated fees and charges will come into force on July 1.

We’re progressing well on the excit- ing upgrade of the Central West Livestock Exchange. The scope of works has been through the Saleyards Committee and will go before the July Council meeting. We’ll soon call for expressions of interest to complete the work. Once complete the project will lift the capacity of the cattle yards by 30 per cent and will create six new full-time jobs.

Our two motions to the Australian Local Government Conference were both passed.

Earlier this week the General Manager and I attended the Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly of Local Government in Canberra. The theme of the event was Building Tomorrow’s Communities and a range of topics were discussed including infrastructure, economic growth and improving service delivery through information technology. There was a presentation from the Sunshine Coast Council about their Smart City Centre at Maroochydore and their automated waste collection system and smart lighting.

Last Thursday was our June Council meeting and we presented the Scores on Doors certificates to a number of our food outlets. This year we had 57 businesses participate in the program and 30 were awarded five stars, which is an excellent result and shows the high standards of our food outlets, including school canteens and daycare kitchens.

The Fire and Emergency Services Levy (FESL) meant to commence 1st July has been deferred by the NSW Government. The FESL will continue to be collected via insurance policies and not with rates notices until the policy review has been completed.

On Wednesday I attended the launch of the Central West and Orana Regional Plan in Parkes. We are very pleased that Forbes has now been recognised as a regional centre. When the draft plan was released we were not recognised. This is great news for our town and community.

The General Manager and I are attending the National Congress of Local Government early next week. This is a very important conference as we will be brought up to date on Local Government trends Australia wide.

Last Friday Minister for Tourism and Major Events Adam Marshall was in Forbes to announce $20,000 support from the NSW Government for the inaugural Grazing Down the Lachlan, which is on 23rd September. This is great news and recognises the work of the committee who have created the event.

The third fountain has been installed in Lake Forbes between Wheogo Park and the Forbes Sports and Recreation Club. It looks fantastic and is a terrific backdrop for both of these locations.

Council Comments by Councillor Steve Karaitiana

I am really enjoying my time as a Councillor. When I threw my hat in the ring I had no idea just how involved it would be, but I am privileged to be working with a great team of Councillors and feel that if we achieve only a third of our goals, it would be worth it.

I said from the beginning we need change, and it’s great to see changes already made have brought interest back to Forbes. We have quite a few exciting developments in the pipeline, and I am looking forward to seeing them bringing improvements to our community.

We had a very informative meeting on Monday about the requirements of the users of the showground and race course. A working committee will look to improve facilities and infrastructure to the benefit of our town.

My wife, Sarah, and I will be in Brisbane this weekend attending the funeral of three beautiful children killed in a tragic road accident last week. I grew up with their dad on the showgrounds and our families have been close friends for three generations. Show people refer to other show people as their family. The bonds formed are so tight given the reliance on each other to get from one job to another.

At last Thursday’s May Council meeting, the Our Community Strategic Plan 2017- 2027 of the Forbes Shire was adopted. The supporting plans including the 2017/18 Op- erational Budget was planned to be on public exhibition, however some of our Council- lors wanted some more information before it went on display.

A briefing session was held on Monday to answer any remaining questions and a special meeting will be held this afternoon at 5pm to endorse the documents for public exhibition. Once endorsed, the plans will be available to view on our website www. forbes.nsw.gov.au or at Council’s Admin- istration and Engineering Offices and the Forbes Library.

Last weekend Councillors and executive staff attended a strategic planning workshop. This session was excellent and it gave us a chance to all work together on future plans for the Shire.

If you aren’t already aware, community members can report issues around town through a smartphone application called Snap Send Solve. This allows you to report and capture issues such as broken playground equipment or road conditions. You need to download Snap Send Solve to your mobile phone to utilise this service.

The NSW Open regional qualifying event was held at the Forbes Golf Course on Sun- day with a fantastic result for Forbes local John Betland gaining a place in the 2017 NSW Open to be played at Twin Creeks Golf and Country Club in November. The Forbes Golf Association were complimented for the standard of the golf course. A former captain of Royal Sydney Golf Club said Forbes golf course was one of the best country courses in NSW, if not the best.

On Sunday, Forbes Junior Rugby hosted a Walla carnival with a great number of chil- dren participating from around our region. Watching our grandson play in the carnival was a great joy.

The Mother’s Day Classic walk around Lake Forbes on Sunday had low numbers unfortunately due to inclement weather.

At yesterday’s Council meeting we adopt- ed the Our Forbes Shire Community Stra- tegic Plan 2017-2027. Supporting plans include the 2017/18 Operational Plan, the 2017/18 Fees and Charges Schedule and the 2017/18 Budget. These are now on public exhibition and can be viewed online at www.forbes.nsw.gov.au, at Council’s ad- ministration and engineering offices and the Forbes Library until 14th June. We encourage you to view these plans and make comments.