Charlotte Varcoe
PORT MacDonnell and surrounding residents called into the town’s senior centre building Tuesday evening to further discuss issues among the community with Grant District Council officials.
Mayor Richard Sage and chief executive officer Darryl Whicker hosted the evening which enabled pre-determined questions to be addressed and community members to have a detailed discussion on what is expected of them within the community.
Issues such as access to the Green Point beach, lighting at the popular penguin limestone sculpture and road safety were highlighted,following detailed discussion around council’s current movements.
The Port MacDonnell playground was also discussed with a number of community members expressing safety concerns.
Mr Sage said the overall evening was deemed a success by council members with plenty of issues brought to their attention.
“The community was really engaging and it was great to be able to do what we used to do,” Mr Sage said.
“Years ago the discussion was always about potholes and other issues but with the ability of modern technology a majority of community members take a photo of the issue and bring it to council’s attention right away.
“Now we have moved onto focussing on the community’s aspirations for their region during these meetings and I think that focus was well received.”
Mr Sage congratulated the community, which he said was very respectful during discussions while also getting their point across the council.
“Some were not happy about the playground which was evident,” he said.
“But other towns deserve to have some work done as well so over the next few years we will look at that and if there is something we are able to do for the foreshore we will try and do that.
“We also want to get the community at a roundtable meeting and find out exactly what is a priority for them as well.”
Mr Sage said the town meetings had been asked for by community members for a period of time and emphasized council’s community engagement.
“I have always advocated for public meetings and for people to come and talk to us, have people engage with us and tell us what they do and don’t agree with,” he said.
Council members and officials also visited a range of other towns including Kongorong and Nene Valley and are expected to meet with Mil-Lel and Worrolong in the coming weeks.
