Bruce Fitzpatrick advised Oberon Council at its most recent meeting that he would not seek to renew his general manager contract when it expires in July 2010.
No doubt Bruce has reached that time in life when, like a lot of us, he has had to make a decision on whether he really wanted to make a commitment for another five years.
Bruce has held the general manager at the council for 17 years, which these days has to be some sort of record. His retirement will culminate 44 years in local government.
Bruce is taking some leave to address his future in retirement and in his absence the director of engineering, Leigh Robins, will be acting for him.
I am sure that Bruce’s contribution, which will be more formally recognised at a time closer to his retirement, has been greatly appreciated throughout the community.
Action is being taken to pursue the council’s resolution to make every effort to save the two public phones marked for removal by Telstra.
Of particular concern is the public phone located at O’Connell as it is the major point for school children catching and returning on bus services to schools in Bathurst.
The phone is frequently used by children to contact parents to be picked up or to advise them they have missed the transport to Bathurst. It is also the central point for the region in notifying of emergencies.
The mobile network and the community’s desire to have improvements to the coverage, particularly in the Southern areas of the LGA, are also continuing to be pursued.
Latest advice from Telstra was that it was prepared to provide half the capital cost of around $500,000 and would be looking to the council or others to provide the balance.
As this is neither the role of local government or within the resources of the council the means of how this difference can be covered either by Telstra or others is currently being evaluated by the council.
BY the time this Oberon Review edition goes to print Gerard Martin will have met with Minister David Campbell with the view of having our seniors’ fares anomaly resolved. It is trusted the efforts of Gerard and others will result in the right decision being made to provide Oberon seniors equitable access in the same manner as others.
In conjunction with the community representative, Leanne Barlow, and the mayor’s of Blayney, Bathurst and Lithgow, I attended the Community Safety Precinct Committee Meeting at Bathurst. These meetings, which are chaired by the police regional commander, are held quarterly with the meeting venue being rotated between the four council areas within the zone.
Crime statistics appear to be improving, with the exception of car thefts and property stolen from vehicles.
Vehicles being targeted are older models without the isolation technology of the newer vehicles. Property being stolen from vehicles in many instances is occurring at the point which they are garaged and it is important that vehicles are locked at all times. It was pleasing to note that Oberon was at the lower end of the incidents recorded.
Arrangements have been made to meet with Oberon’s new Sergeant Warren Hind on a regular basis to discuss aspects of concern regarding policing within the community and if any resident wishes a matter to be raised they should do so by contacting the council or Leanne Barlow.
SeniorS Week is an important event within our community. It is important that we take time to reflect on the contribution that our parents and others have made to the community, with many over the years having to endure extreme hardship and difficulties of some sort.
Activities arranged during the week included a Seniors Function at the RSL Club on Wednesday afternoon and a similar function at Burraga today. Over the week activities have been arranged at the CTC Centre including, Basic Computers for Seniors, Social Networking and Bits and Pieces of a Computer and using Skype.
I again attended an Oberon Correctional Centre graduation ceremony for successful candidates who had undertaken the life challenge and associated training.
I continue to be moved by the individual speeches of the people graduating. This is among the most successful programs in the correctional system with only 10 per cent of those graduating ever returning to custody compared to 60 per cent of those who proceed through the regular prison system.
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