Thank you to all the voters who turned out on Saturday – it is really very important to have your say in who represents you in the Local Government, the most visible sector of government and I personally believe the most ‘can do’ tier of government.
Our new council will not be declared until after September 27 when the postal votes officially close and can be counted. From there preferences will be distributed. It is unlikely that we will have a new council declared until early October. The regular monthly Council meeting will be held on Thursday 17 October with the new council.
Congratulations to the Forbes Foxes who won the men’s soccer Grand Final on the weekend, how fantastic to get a victory after nine years – especially on our beautiful home grounds. I loved seeing our town touched by Orange to support you all. I hope you all did too.
The NSW Government has opened the Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy2041 with Litter Prevention Grants open for community groups. Funding is available for small scale on the ground projects litter prevention projects to larger strategy and implementation programs. EOIs close on 18 October. Do you have a great waste idea or solution? I am looking forward to meeting with NSW Health Minister Ryan Park next week to continue the discussion around the need for a new operating suite at Forbes District Hospital. We will be updating the Minister on the substantially increased surgical load at our hospital. This increase in surgical procedures in Forbes is reducing the waiting list for our larger regional base hospitals.
I will also be detailing for Minister Park the significant stimulus and economic incentives Forbes Shire Council has had in place to attract and retain medical health professionals, such as housing support and operational on costs to secure a stable medical workforce for our community.
Hoping to be able to get a commitment and an update from the Minister.
Until next week
Phyllis Miller, OAM
Forbes Mayor