After repeated requests in open council by the writer to release the “hidden” Flood Study of Wagonga Inlet, Dalmeny and Kianga - some 220 pages of questionable information has finally been  dumped at the local library.

Of course if any citizen plucks up enough courage to challenge any of its findings they may face the wrath of the mayor similar to that in his editorial ”Seek out the Facts” (Narooma News – June 10).

To be fair to the mayor many remarks made in that article against citizens expressing their views appear uncharacteristic of him.

The general tone of the letter has all the hallmarks of an out of control bureaucratic hierarchy.

Dissatisfaction against this situation was voiced by as many as the 500 citizens during the recent public meeting at Batemans Bay.

I encourage the mayor to be very careful signing documents placed before him for authorisation or others issued under his name.

Letters of this nature and other recent attacks by at least three other councillors on some of their colleagues and selected citizens is very disturbing.

It would appear that some in the council are “ganging up” against those who are challenging their dominance, direction and diligence.

This is encouraging code of conduct complaints and reinforcing the path towards amalgamation of the Eurobodalla by the NSW Government.

Without fear or favour from the mayor, his planners, government advisors and consultants the Flood Study document is the most community unfriendly document I have ever seen.

It is devoid of many historical facts and accurate scientific   information.

It has been carried out with little regard to the changes that have occurred to tidal and drainage systems during the course of the study.

This would include impact of road and roundabout works combined with redirection of ground and tidal waters associated with the remediation of the Caltex site on “The Flat”.

No protective measures have been suggested nor has the local community been informed of any immediate risk from flooding.

Before there is any further progress the report should be subjected to the relevant guidelines for Floodplain Risk Management.

The report and all associated data within the report should be the subject of efficient, effective and independent peer review processes.

Even though NSW Department officers had input into the report it cannot be classed as being independently peer reviewed.

The report even states it is not necessarily their opinion the general manager and councillors should not feed an impending threat of personal liability or class action against the council by approval of a document of this nature without peer review.

Mr Mayor: Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe - Don’t give them another go! 

Peter Bernard

Dalmeny

Explore visitor options

I refer to last week's letter from Lesley Heffernan, a former Narooma visitor centre staffer.

Ms Heffernan's response demonstrates that the proposal we put to the community is achieving the desired outcome and any assistance in helping us improve the way we meet the needs of visitors, both in the planning stage and when they arrive, is very welcome.

It's great that Ms Heffernan isn't against change, and I trust she, and others, are thinking about inventive ways of delivering the visionary concept she talks about to make the savings needed so that we can deliver the new digital marketing strategies required to get visitors here in the first place.

We are seeking expressions of interest from organisations and groups to deliver these services and have already heard from some keen to relocate and use the opportunity to derive additional income for themselves, reduce their costs while ensuring the viability of our service, and allowing us to confront the new paradigm in tourism marketing. More ideas are most welcome.

All revenue making activities haven't ceased at the centre as M/s Heffernan infers.

We are commencing operating through bookings.com.au shortly and our opening hours haven't been reduced; we are operating on the winter schedule with the same times as last year.

Staff numbers remain unchanged although additional and overtime hours are no longer required as we don't have the expense of admin tasks such as managing cancellations, double bookings, inventory, complaints etc. occurring under the previous system.

Free phone access is also available for those wishing to book directly with the attraction/establishment of their choice.

Arguably, we currently have the most expensive model available anywhere for operating tourism services.

Do as I did and randomly select a dozen centres and ask how they operate if you have any doubts.

We need to spend more on attracting visitors and less on administration, and anyone interested in the continuing wellbeing of our economy could not help but agree. These changes have the unanimous support of councillors.

A post-note: As late as last week I heard that someone still thought closing the centre was a consideration. Never was. Just mischievous misinformation, I'm afraid.

Clr Neil Burnside

Narooma  

Questions, answers, learnings

A few thoughts that have come to me and stayed with me since last week’s Q&A program.

It’s a program I value. I don’t always agree with the stance taken by some of the panel or members of the audience.

However I respect their right to hold differing views. Most of all it reassures me that democracy is being acknowledged in our land.

There was obviously an error of judgement in last week’s program.

We all make or have made such errors including our Prime Minister.

He has acknowledged them on a couple of occasions and continued on in his leadership position.

I’m trusting that the same freedom will be extended to Mr Tony Jones.

He has been doing a marvellous job for years. Programs such as the ABC’s Q&A are essential to our democracy.

Surely this is an opportunity for us to learn and grow from our mistakes and most of all to uphold the deeper values of democracy in our society.

It will be interesting to see the outcome.  Will we honour the freedoms of our democratic system or collapse into the fear space which restricts, vets, or shuts down?

P. DeLaney

Narooma

Sick of media bias

The funny thing about all this talk about not letting the ABC into HuntFest is 2 years ago all local newspapers, radio and TV stations were contacted and offered an interview with the President of the South Coast Hunters Club about HuntFest, with no questions off limits. All turned the offer down!

The same offer was made again to the editor of Narooma News earlier this year and again the offer was declined. The offer won’t be made again as the local media cannot see a story in it and we are sick of the bias demonstrated locally.

Also, at the last Council meeting I attended on behalf of the South Coast Hunters Club in regards to HuntFest, I offered to answer any questions Councillor Harding had about the Arms Fair Permit and HuntFest if she would just write them down and send them to me (check council minutes).

 But as of this date we have had nothing from the councillor, who, rather than outlining her questions to us, finds it more beneficial to her cause, to remain in ignorance to justify making outrageous and completely unfounded claims to whip-up controversy. So once again the offer is off the table as Clr Harding has had more than enough time to write a letter.

Finally, the ABC was not admitted to HuntFest because all rights to broadcasting of the event were sold to Aussie Hunting Adventures TV Series three years ago and they have been at every HuntFest and filmed each and every year.

Had the ABC called anytime within the last year to ask for an interview at the event maybe something could have been worked out beforehand.

As they chose to arrive unannounced, because we do not wish to have our security arrangements broadcast to the nation and because parents expressed concern about the filming of their children, the ABC’s request for access was declined.

 See you all at HuntFest 2016, which will bring even more economic benefit to the region next year!

Dan Field

President

South Coast Hunters Club

Terror, terror, terror!

Who is giving us the most goose bumps? The occasional ideological terror attack or should we pay as well attention to what else will give us the feeling of terror?

Climate change is one thing which may give us the feeling of horror and terror.

Why are both major parties giving it so little attention?

Yes, they have committed themselves to do the minimum so far, doing lots more would be so much wiser.

It does create terror when thousands die during a prolonged heat wave without a place to hide from it.

When sea levels are rising, more frequent droughts occur. Rainfalls, hail and storms becoming more and more destructive, to me this is also terror.

Yes we still prefer to believe it will not happen.

Believing that only human terror is threatening us at the moment and concentrating on it alone, makes little sense to me.

This climate change, man-made or not needs to be addressed since it will create more upheaval.

The Four Corners report on the issue of Myanmar's Muslim refugees presented terror to me, it is mob terror, does it concern us?

Does the UN act on it? Myanmar's government, including their famous Peace Nobel prize winner, have not the will power to do anything about the ethnic cleansing in my opinion.

Those people lived there for up to 300 years.

For us, this government can't say "we did our best to save lives ".

We do too little for the innocent children in this conflict, their parents need to protect them and give them a reasonable future, who wants to blame them for that.

Our present government and opposition believe that they are doing the right thing.

The public needs to have a healthy perspective for what gets thrown at them keeping their eyes peeled and help when help is needed for refugees.

We will be judged on what we do wrong now .Coming from Germany I know it is not right to follow a regime blindly. Compassion now, will help us too whenever we should need it.

Although the Australian government is not doing the ethnic cleansing I wish they could do more relieving those refugees from the terror of having no more homeland.

I believe that increased unrest in the world is feeding terroristic behaviour.

Are we and our Government really focusing on humanity? The attitude towards refugees makes me sick.

K.Kruger

Tilba

Mayor's say… Proud and fit

In the past few months I have written about the NSW’s Governments Fit for the Future program and in last week’s council meeting I was proud to be able to endorse our council’s Improvement Proposal which has now been submitted to the Independent Regulatory and Pricing Tribunal for review.

I was proud on a number of fronts. Firstly that despite working to a very tight timeframe between the rate variation being announced in May and the deadline for this document to be finalised last week, our general manager Dr Catherine Dale, her directors and the staff project team presented an outstanding, robust and professional proposal.

Throughout the process councillors were invited to numerous briefings where we could raise issues, ask questions, and make suggestions and comments so it’s fair to say that for those councillors who chose to be part of this, it was a collaborative effort.

Staff was also available outside of these set sessions to answer questions and provide information as well. I congratulate Dr Dale and her team for the way this was managed.

The process also included a review from our independent audit committee and I thank them again for the extra work they put into ensuring our financial processes were robust. 

You may be interested to know that I have spoken to many mayors across NSW about Fit for the Future and some councils have spent up to $200,000 to pay for external consultants to prepare their proposals.

Our staff volunteered to work through weekends and many late evening to have this proposal and the annual budget delivery and operational plans ready for last week’s meeting.

As further testament to the quality of our proposal, last week we received calls from other councils asking which external consultant we used!

Our proposal is one we can all be proud of as it is built from extensive consultation with our community since 2012 when you helped us develop the Community Strategic Plan.

I take the opportunity to thank all of you who have been able to attend our information sessions in the past few years and those of you who read and made submissions and valuable contributions to the development of major plans, projects and policies.

I also acknowledge the important contribution of all our advisory committees as this is an integral part of our consultation.

I am proud that the proposal showcases our successful efforts to strengthen our financial position and that we will be a council that can meet all seven of the Fit for the Future benchmarks within 10 years.

We already meet five prior to the start of our new Improvement Action Plan, and we have set out how we will progressively show improvement in the Building and Infrastructure Asset Renewal and the Infrastructure Backlog Ratios, and meet these in 10 years. You can read the proposal on our website.

Please let me know if there are any issues that Council can assist with. You can contact me at mayor@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au or phone 0418 279 215.

Clr Lindsay Brown

Mayor of Eurobodalla Shire