Good old-fashioned country hospitality met councillors and members of the public who turned up at the Nambucca Shire Council meeting on November 29.
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Held at the Eungai Creek District Soldiers Memorial Hall, two members of the local community took the opportunity to speak their minds to their elected representatives.
Karina Daniels welcomed everyone on behalf of Eungai Hall’s Committee of Management.
She said waning interest in recent years had led to the hall committee re-calibrating itself with a list of fresh ideas and a five year vision for infrastructure works.
The monthly TABLE (To Allow Bartering Locally and Easily) event was of particular interest.
The possibility of future solar alternatives were raised.
Ms Daniels said the idea was for people to swap or barter anything from food to clothes to skills.
“Activities like this are cheap as we don’t have a lot of money,” she said.
“We intend to fund our infrastructure plans with grants and donations but we do still run at a loss … electricity is the biggest cost.”
Brett McElhinnery did not mince his words when he told councillors the new single lane Eungai Creek Bridge at Unkya “was a joke”, especially as the community was originally promised a two lane bridge.
“It is narrower than it should be and trees are already growing in the line of sight – I have seen at least seven near misses there so far,” Mr McElhinnery said.
“There has been no ongoing maintenance since it was installed and this road is getting ever busier. There is a big drop onto the bridge and approaches have deteriorated.”
The General Manager, Michael Coulter, said the council staff would look into both the safety and maintenance issues.
“Line marking and signage could be used to improve safety,” he said.
The mayor Rhonda Hoban said the one-lane option was necessary because the failure was sudden and occurred at the same time as the failure of the South Arm Creek Bridge.
A suggestions by another member of the public that council could look at offering its surplus second hand equipment to community groups was taken on board with enthusiasm.