Thinking about the potential financial repercussions of the old highway infrastructure handover keeps Nambucca Shire mayor Rhonda Hoban awake at night, while the redevelopment of Macksville Hospital, possibly on a greenfield site, excites her.
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Welcome to a view of 2017 from the mayoral desk.
“The highway handover is the project that worries me most … I keep asking myself how to get the best offer, which means something that is the least burdensome for ratepayers,” Cr Hoban.
“We are always working to keep our heads financially above water and that will never go away. We always have to work hard to make the best out of limited resources.”
On the hospital redevelopment, she said she wants the best value for the $50 million on the table and a facility that will serve the community for another 70 years.
“I am pleased the greenfield site is being investigated. To me it is better to find and spend extra money now rather than finding ourselves with an outdated facility sooner rather than later.
She said population projections showed the ‘aged’ sector of the community would increase dramatically in years ahead and “with that comes the need for easy access, specialised services as well as more palliative care”.
Another big ticket item on the council’s agenda is the development of the Valla Urban Growth area.
“I would really like to see that go ahead because industrial land is so important to help provide jobs.
“And although unemployment is lower, it is still a major issue in the shire. I believe that employment is the key to resolving a raft of other social issues such as alcoholism and domestic violence. Here is a root cause of problems the council can try and treat.
“We need to get water and infrastructure to the site. The new highway service centre will help pay for some of that plus we are hoping for some assistance from the State Government.”
And that leaves Joint Organisations and getting the shire ‘bypass ready’.
“The State Government has now got amalgamations and council elections behind it – the JOs are next on its list and they have been mandated.
“There are risks but we have to accept this change and get in and make sure it works and works well.”
She said it now looked like what were previously slated to be southern and northern JOs would be joined to create a mega JO from Port Maquarie to Clarence.
“That is six different councils (Port Macquarie, Kempsey, Nambucca, Bellingen, Coffs and Clarence) with two major regional centres, which I think will make it more difficult to make work well.
“Having two regional centres will present problems and what do the communities of say, Yamba and Lake Cattai, have in common? It is such a huge physical area but we will just have to work to find a good way forward.”
Cr Hoban said in her time as mayor she has had the pleasure of seeing projects such as the highway and the dam come to fruition.
“The completion of the highway means communities will be bypassed and we need to work to keep attracting people into our shire. The good thing is we have seen the last of the Christmas/Easter road blocks through Macksville.”
She concluded saying it certainly would “not be a dull year”.
“It will be challenging and I like that because it means things are happening.”
