By Mayor Clare Stewart
It’s hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. We’ve all had a tough year and with the mantra #weareallinthistogether never more pertinent, Noosa Council is bringing some Christmas cheer to your doorstep. We’ve launched the ‘Connecting Noosa Christmas Convoy’ in an effort to spread some Christmas cheer through the community. The convoy will also help to recognise the efforts of our emergency services during Covid and the bushfires last year who will feature in the convoy along with of course, Santa. The convoy starts in Boreen Point and Cooroibah on Monday night 7 December 2020 and moves to Kin Kin, Pomona and Cooroy on Tuesday. It then travels through parts of Tewantin on Wednesday 9 December 2020 followed by the beachside suburbs of Peregian Castaways and Sunrise Beach on Thursday afternoon 10 December 2020. As many of our regular community events can’t go ahead due to the pandemic restrictions, this will ensure everyone gets to enjoy the Christmas Spirit with neighbours and family.
Speaking of Christmas, I am delighted to launch our first ever Mayor’s Christmas Appeal. The Mayor’s Christmas Appeal is a way to lend a helping hand to not-for-profits and local charities. Our local charities do a tremendous job but after such a challenging year, any support is greatly appreciated. The appeal is calling for donations of gift cards or gift vouchers to local attractions. I’m kicking off the appeal with $500 worth of gift cards and I’d be so pleased if you would join me in supporting this appeal in any way that you can- however big or small. The appeal is supporting the great works of the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul Noosa, You Turn Youth Support and Santa’s Classy Helpers. See Council’s website to find out what our charities need most and how you can help- www.noosa.qld.gov.au
Well despite a tough year for all, we all put one foot in front of the other and marched on. Council’s annual report is now live on our website. It an interesting snapshot of the past year. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, staff answered more than 88,000 enquiries, we emptied more than 1.5million bins, libraries loaned more than 349,000 books and other items, finding new ways to serve our community even with doors having to be closed. Other highlights and one which I am incredibly proud of is that fact that we’ve almost doubled our budget on fire trail building and maintenance in Council bush reserves and we have increased our budget by 71% for controlled burns on Council land. We’ve distributed over $1.3 million in grants to the community an environmental groups plus art and other projects during the 19/20 year. Our Peregian Digital Hub continues to do great things in the digital space and this month hosted the Firetech 2020 Local Government Summit which was hosted virtually and attracted more than 200 delegates from around Australia and the world- including 21 local councils.
All in all, it’s be a big year but as the Christmas season is well and truly upon us, we have much to celebrate, reflect on and be thankful for. We hope to see as many of you as possible over the coming weeks on our Christmas Convoy and on behalf of all Councillors and Council staff I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful, joyful, safe and merry Christmas.
Stay safe and take care,
Clare
