Division debate killed as Mackay Regional council approves Mount Pleasant childcare center
A poor response to a council survey has killed the division debate, and a $21m contract has been won by a local builder. Catch up on the latest Mackay Regional Council meeting.
Mackay
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Results of a community survey on re-introducing divisions have returned less than one per cent of eligible responses as councilors were warned to “up the ante” for representing fringe communities.
Around 870 people out of 90,000 voters in the Mackay voted on the four week community consultation with 87 per cent of respondents in support of re-introducing electoral divisions.
The mayor revealed that 23,000 people viewed the documentation on the website, with council receiving 6,000 email contacts while only 870 bothered to reply to the survey.
“Point seven per cent of the population does not signify a groundswell,” he said.
A motion to not go ahead with the next stage of consultation was passed with Cr Alison Jones, Cr Ash-Lee Johnson, Cr Namarca Corowa and Cr Nathenea MacRae voting against the motion.
Cr Jones argued that the survey “was never meant to be the sole method of engagement”.
“You cannot get a majority opinion about a major change in our community in four weeks,” she said.
Cr Karen May said that nearly a quarter of respondents came from Sarina and Midge Point residents and that spending $700,000 on a process without a guarantee on the result would be “an expensive undertaking”.
108 kids, 25 jobs: New childcare centre coming to Mackay
Council waved through a new childcare centre with a capacity for 108 kids in Mount Pleasant which is set to bring 25 full time jobs to the region.
Olifants Investments’ proposal is for a six-room childcare centre on Norris Rd, Mount Pleasant.
The centre includes six rooms, including a nursery for under 12 month old infants and an outdoor play area on the north, east and west side of the building plus 40 car spaces surrounding the childcare centre.
Olifants Investments lodged the application in November 2023 with an estimated cost of $7,345,000.
Construction is to commence straight away with the building expected to be in use by June, 2026.
Local builder wins $21m tender
Council awarded local builders Woollam & Son as the tender holders for Stage 1B of the Northern Beaches Community Hub.
Managing Director Craig Percival accepted the tender at today’s meeting saying that construction will begin right away with the new build.
Mayor Greg Williamson said Stage 1B would include a new library, flexible community rooms and a town square with event spaces.
Construction has already started for Stage 1A of the $25 million community hub which includes a store, nature play and picnic areas, landscaping, footpaths, parking, drainage, and associated civil works is expected to finish up in May this year if weather permits.
Councillor’s conduct breach voted in meeting
Council has decided Cr Peter Sheedy was engaged in a conduct breach though no further action would be taken.
Two emails sent by Cr Peter Sheedy were investigated by the council’s watchdog, the Office of Independent Assessor OIA, and as a result, found that one of those emails sent on October 10 last year featured a breach of conduct.
A vote was passed to confirm Mr Sheedy would, however, not have to undertake training nor pay 25 per cent of the investigation.
Councillors Karen May, Belinda Hassan and Martin Bella voted against the motion.
Speaking to this masthead last month, Mr Sheedy said it was “disappointing to have a misconduct complaint arising from a straightforward question which wasn’t really answered”.
“Very different to the commercial world but I am learning from the experience.”
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