Well 2022 has all at Council full steam ahead.
The impacts of Covid have been felt across our shire over the past month and Council is not immune. Some of our facilities may be impacted including through staff shortages. With positive cases and staff isolating, opening hours may change at short notice across more of our facilities in the weeks ahead and as such we appreciate your patience. We’re doing our best to ensure contingency plans are in place, and I encourage residents to make use of our online services wherever possible. Our environmental health officers are working closely with businesses to help them reduce risks to staff and we are also working to connect businesses with access to rapid antigen tests wherever we can to help them quickly deal with outbreaks and exposures and limit the staffing impacts.
Similarly, due to staff shortages we are also seeing an impact on some services such as our mowing and parks maintenance and tree service schedules. We are working to deliver services in a timely manner and reallocating resources where we can but please be re-assured that no essential services have been affected and Council’s Covid Taskforce continues to monitor the situation.
Noosa’s new short stay local law came into effect on 1 February 2022. The new law is aimed at managing the impact of short -stay properties on residential amenity. It will help protect guests by introducing minimum safety standards property owners will need to meet and, importantly, it will help to ensure short-stay property owners are being good neighbours and dealing with issues as they arise.
Significantly Council has established a 24-hour complaints hotline and will trial the use of a security firm to monitor problem properties. Contrary to headline-grabbing media reports over the past week, these new local laws are not seeking to stop clapping or singing, but rather the clear intention of the local law (among other things) seeks to minimise excessive noise coming from short stay properties which, according to the submissions we received (and we had over 600) was of concern.
Our capital works program continues to deliver grassroots spending to the community. We have invested over $2.5 million in our local roads in the first six months of this financial year. This investment has been spread across the shire including roads in Pomona, Tinbeerwah, Cooroibah, Noosaville, Kin Kin, Noosa Heads and Pinbarren. It’s part of our ongoing program to improve local safety and traffic access. The Australian Government Local Road and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) Program has partially funded these improvements. Council will receive $4.36 million through the LRCI funding giving a real boost to our roads program and enabling us to make significant improvements to our road network. In coming months, our crews will be working on various roads in Tewantin, Noosa Heads and Noosaville. We appreciate your patience while these works are being done.
Rates notices have now gone out by email and post. Please make the most of the five per cent discount and pay by 18 February 2022. To avoid lengthy queues at the counter, you can choose to pay online, over the phone or via BPay. Find out more at noosa.qld.gov.au/about-council/rates-levies
Having just come out of isolation with my children due to a close contact testing positive, the beauty of Noosa Shire, the place we have the privilege of calling home never ceases to amaze me. We are incredibly fortunate to live where we do and engage in the opportunities presented. In the challenging times which lay ahead over the coming months and even years, it’s a timely reminder of just how lucky we really area.
Until next month, stay safe, Clare.
