The Oberon Review polled its readers on the issues they consider most important in the community for the upcoming local council elections on December 4.
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This week, we look at roads. An email was sent to each candidate on Monday, November 8 asking for their response.
Candidates Neil Francis and Sig Sovik didn't respond by the required deadline.
Andrew McKibbin
During this term I proposed and pushed in Council for a Roads audit to ensure that ratepayers were achieving value for money for the 70 per cent of ratepayers' money spent on roads and the money was being spent effectively and efficiently. Nearly 20 recommendations were made by the auditor Morrison Low, and Council has monitored the implementation of those recommendations and in the next term will continue to do so.
Council has been successful in obtaining a range of grants for its roads from State and Federal Govts and is administering the biggest road capital works program in its history across the Council area. In addition, I fully supported Councillor McCarthy's request for Council staff to identify the worst sections of unsealed roads in Oberon that were requiring constant maintenance and grading due principally to soil type and drainage. Council has allocated a recent grant of $1.6 million to undertake work on the high priority sections of these environmentally affected roads. This includes installing more culverts, more gravel and in some cases bitumen seal. This should reduce future recurrent maintenance and improve the state of these roads
I will continue to push for more grant funding and better utilisation of Council resources to improve roads. Campbells River Rd, Arkstone Rd and Burraga Rd have all received substantial grant funding for work in 2021-22. Edith Road and Carlwood Rd have had work undertaken on them. This is in addition to our normal maintenance and capital works program.
In relation to people travelling from Bathurst and Lithgow the NSW Govt funds and contracts Oberon Council to maintain and improve the two State Roads O'Connell Rd and Duckmaloi Rd. Council has obtained some further funding for the Mayfield Road intersection with O'Connell Rd recently.
Helen Hayden
Local councils rely on funding for major road infrastructure and repairs, currently the "fixing local roads" allocation has seen work commence on numerous roads in the shire, also the "roads to recovery" program will see major repairs and upgrade to Lowes Mt Tablelands way project.
Oberon does have a lot of commuters travelling to and from many areas to attend work, sport or other commitments. I believe if elected to council I will continue to work hard and commit to current projects, as well as increase road repair activity and funding applications, along with an increase of employees for the council outdoor staff and roadworks crews, to be able to address many concerns relating to roadsides, verges, potholes and disrepair in general.
Ian Tucker
The construction and maintenance of infrastructure, especially roads, occupied the largest portion of my 38 years working in local government. It will continue to be my main priority if I am elected as a Councillor.
Roads are by far Council's largest area of expenditure. Too often we found we could only carry out the most urgent and essential works because the budget provided did not allow anything more. I will work to ensure sufficient funding so the condition of our roads does not deteriorate over the long term.
Where roads are newly constructed and sealed, it is crucial they be properly maintained and regularly resealed to achieve their design life. Failure to do this increases future maintenance costs, and shortens the time until full reconstruction is necessary.
Likewise with our gravel road network, there must be sufficient funding to add extra gravel when required, to ensure roads are trafficable and safe in all conditions.
Of course I support the sealing of roads where justified by the traffic figures and where supported by local residents. As an engineer there was nothing more satisfying than applying the first coat of bitumen to improve access for those residents. However, sealed roads are much more expensive to maintain, and we need to make sure the maintenance budget increases accordingly.
I will ensure that all construction projects and maintenance activities have been properly estimated and expenditure is monitored. Over-expenditure is a major factor which contributes to avoidable and excessive rate increases.
Bruce Watt
I travel the roads of the Oberon LGA almost daily and understand the importance of high quality, safe roads for its residents and also for tourism, agriculture and industry.
I also understand that roads are the largest single item of expenditure on the Council budget. I fully support the work of previous Councillors and Council staff in managing maintenance and capital expenditure in an efficient and responsible manner.
Lauren Trembath
I have what might be an old-fashioned view and believe roads are a core function for any Council. Our LGA is a mix of State, Regional, Rural and local roads and as such there is the connectivity of TfNSW and our Council for the financial requirements and Works to keep all the roads well maintained.
Certainly, to my eye, our roads do seem in better condition and appear to be more quickly repaired than other surrounding Council areas. I have had the experience of reporting local road problems to our Council and seeing the repairs actioned on the next scheduled roadworks and believe the input from local community on road issues is imperative to maintaining the standard of our network of roads as we live in a very large LGA with just under 900km of roads.
I recognise that it is difficult to deliver for all of the people all of the time, however I believe keeping the focus on the core issues of Council is a large part of a Councillor's role to achieve a well-maintained LGA. My belief is if Council does these things well and efficiently eg: gets the basics right - it can focus on other issues impacting our community.
Gregory Bourne
My understanding is that roads and repairs cost lots of money. The finances come from three main sources
- a. Rates and locally raised income
- b. State Government grants.
- c. Federal Government grants.
Rates are an issue for every council and clearly the distribution of the monies raised must be equitable and balanced. I will listen to the thoughts of the constituency, the ideas put forward by other councillors, the planning officers of the Council as well the engineers whose responsibilities are to make sure that Oberon community has safe roads to travel on.
State and Federal Grants have to be applied for (although sometimes a special need is recognised and funds are made directly). It is the responsibility of employees of the council to be aware of the current grants available and to ensure that high quality applications are made. Councillors would have a responsibility to be aware of the opportunities that are available and that these matters are followed through in professional manner. Our Federal, Andrew Gee, and State, Paul Toole, representatives also make recommendations on the available grants.
Katie Graham
Safe roads that are well maintained are a normal expectation of any community and more so in our Council area with workers and visitors coming into town and heavy trucks associated with the timber industry using our roads.
Oberon Council has to budget for road maintenance each year. In the budgeting process, priorities have to be made and I would expect road maintenance to always be a high priority.
As you are aware some of our access roads are the responsibility of State government and the council will continue to be pro-active in applying for grants to maintain these roads. As the need arises, well used local roads will be maintained to an appropriate standard.
Mark Kellam
I think about roads every day, because roads feature in everyone's lives every day and are the biggest single ratepayer investment every year - 75 per cent of our budget.
I remain determined to maximise our ratepayers' value for money and prioritise quality of the planning/maintenance/upgrades for road building, as well as staff expertise to make this happen.
Along with two other Councillors, I drove an independent performance audit of the Council's road building and maintenance capacity. All the recommendations of the audit are being implemented.
This Council has been successful in having the state government make a contribution to offset Forestry Corporation not paying Council rates on their land and not contributing to road upkeep. In the near future the State will significantly increase their contribution to maintaining Campbells River Road, Beaconsfield rd and the Albion St bypass. This is a start. I will keep the pressure on the State Government to pay their rates on Forestry land.
Campbells River Road and Arkstone Rd have had major upgrades to support heavy haulage. Initial work has now commenced on a three year program to upgrade Lowes Mount Road from the Fish River bridge to Oberon, improving the quality and safety of this busy commuter road.
There are still a lot of unsealed roads and very recently $1.2 million was allocated to improve drainage, resurface and seal parts of roads that are badly affected by erosion. This program will improve driving conditions and the improved drainage will dramatically reduce future maintenance cost. I will support constant improvement for road maintenance.
Mick McKechnie
Interesting that people are commenting positively on the state of the roads network in the Oberon LGA. The staff are to be commended on the good work in recent times having had to cope with drought, fires and heavy rains and snow incidents. Well Done.
Maintaining, upgrading and improving safety on our roads is a high priority going forward for me if re-elected. This work will include vegetation clearing, drainage ,safety fencing, line markings, heavy patching repairs, resealing etc.. Upgrades and sealing of unsealed roads in the LGA will be a continuing focus now that there is a rural roads priority matrix to evaluate and schedule these works. As a Councillor I will pursue funding and grants opportunities to continue these works.
There is approx. 975 km of road network in our LGA and works above normal maintenance are planned for 2021 on Arkstone, Burraga, Campbell's River, Nunan's Hill , Mozart and Dreves Roads. The improvement in safety at intersections both in Town and on rural routes is an area I will be pushing and advocating for more turning lanes ( O'Connell / Mayfield Road intersection is one example) and improving vision at intersections( the recently completed Abercrombie Rd/Beaconsfield Rd intersection is an example).
Roads in the Town area also need to be improved also and I will be asking for better drainage, improved lighting and the resealing of streets with high heavy vehicle traffic to be of better quality stabilisation. Lowes Mount Rd from Scotia Ave to the Waste Depot, the eastern end of Dart Street are examples that ratepayers have highlighted to me.
Margaret Kilby
The council rely on funding for the up keep of our local roads. To be an elected Councillor would allow me to be in a position where I would be able to put the concerns of the community forward to the Council committee on the road conditions of the most travelled roads also not to neglect the upkeep of the roads least traveled on, as all roads play a big part for us all to get from A to B safely.
I believe we need to look at different ways to sustain the work done on the roads to last longer, so as more of the allocated money and time can be shared to other areas and not spent on fixing the same areas over and over again.
To be honest road works is not one of my most strongest areas of knowledge. As like most of you, I too sit and wait for the stop sign to be turned to slow or the red light to turn green. But to be in a position to work with the roads engineers and road workers would surely be a positive move forward.
Clive McCarthy
I would like to keep short, simple and straight to the point. If re-elected on Council, in relation to what I will do for local roads is that I will ensure that the past quality is kept up with.