Hervey Bay Gossip

This comes under the heading of ‘better late than never’.

Two weekends ago Hervey Bay hosted the 2009 Queensland IRB Surf Rescue Championships. All the action was down on Torquay Beach from 8.30am on the Saturday. We got there a little early and caught some of the practice sessions as the sun came up.

Dissatisfaction with the Fraser Coast Regional Council continues to grow … and not just in Hervey Bay. Here Jim MacKellar voices some of that dissatisfaction that ratepayers who live on the fringes of the council’s area are feeling. 

At the time of the recent FCRC budget we were assured by the Mayor that people who experienced a rate increase in excess of the average 6.2% were compensated by the extra services they are receiving from the Council.

An examination of the budget documents shows that the largest rate increases are in the rural townships i.e. Tiaro, Bauple, Glenwood,  Broweena etc. In many cases the overall increase for these properties is between 15 and 20%. So it is fair to ask about the extra services these townships are receiving under the new regional Council.

One of the most important concerns for rural people is the improvement of the roads. It is both a service and a safety issue. Much has been made in the budget publicity of the $2.6 million to be spent on upgrading rural roads throughout the region. Lets put that into perspective. During the last year of Tiaro Shire our capital road works budget was $4 million. Now, $2.6 million for all rural roads in the region is seen as an improvement?

Previous to this budget we had free rubbish dumps in the rural areas. You paid your annual levy and you went to the dump whenever you wanted. Now you pay your annual levy and you are welcome to pay to visit the dump whenever you want.

Before amalgamation, in Tiaro shire, it was possible to speak with a member of the Planning department by simply ringing up for an appointment and driving to Tiaro at the appointed time. And it was free. Now you must drive to Maryborough, or even Hervey Bay, and it is going to cost you over $300 for a few minutes of their valuable time.

We had a pharmacy in Tiaro, supported by the Council. Now you have to drive to Maryborough or Gympie if you want to visit a chemist.

It was possible to talk to the building inspector, plumbing inspector, EHO, the works department etc. etc. just by ringing Tiaro and, if necessary, making an appointment. Now you must talk to someone in Maryborough or Hervey Bay and if you need an appointment once again, you are driving to them.

We used to get our rubbish picked up once a week for just over $100 a year. Now we get our rubbish picked up once a week for just over $200 per year.

So the question must be asked – what extra services were those, Mayor Mick?

Jim MacKellar

… and who gets the best value from their councilors

Although we’re a relatively small web design and search optimization business here in Hervey Bay we have a global reach. We have clients in Europe, Canada and the United States and a lot of our business comes through word of mouth as one satisfied customer goes on to tell their friends of the good service we gave them. So we weren’t surprised when we were approached by a small town council in North Dakota in the US to build a new website for their town.

While talking to the town councilor who contacted us I began to get an interesting insight into the town and the way it’s run by the people that the residents of the town elect. In that small town councilors are paid a total of $300 a year … that’s not a typing error … they get just $300 a year for the time they put in to managing the affairs of the town.

There are no car allowances for the councilors in that town. They get nothing for their phone bills and no one has ever suggested that the residents should pay for new computers for the councilors, any fuel for the councilor’s cars or anything else for that matter.

Most of the councilors are local business people and if the residents want to talk about a local problem they don’t email their representatives … they just walk into the councilor’s business and talk to them over the counter.

There are no endless meetings, committees and stalled decision making in that town. Instead the councilors work for the whole community and they work hard at keeping the community informed.

Their old website is simple and easy to use because the councilors know that not everyone can handle all the bells and whistles that are included in some council websites. The new site is going to incorporate features that allow locals to post local news and discuss matters of local importance and give them a chance to have even more input into the way the town is run.

Compare all that to the value that we get from our highly paid councilors. Imagine what it would be like for for Hervey Bay and the everyone else in the Fraser Coast Regional Council area if things went back to the way they used to be … when councilors where paid very little but served on council out of a sense of civic duty. That didn’t seem to impede local growth back then.

Bellavista, a new cafe in Hervey Bay has opened at 352 The Esplanade Scarness … in the same building as the old Soul-sa site. Bellavista is run by the same people who run the very popular Santini’s Italian restaurant.

Bellavista is open Wednesday to Sunday from 8am to 4pm

It’s not every day that you see a bunch of people partying on the roof of a house in Hervey Bay … but that’s what we came across yesterday. It was late afternoon but these guys were having a great time sitting around an open fire on the roof of their house in Hervey Bay.

While the current financial crisis, the rising cost of petrol and the growing competition from other centres that are cashing in on the whale watching market has certainly slowed the growth of Hervey Bay from tourism perspective Hervey Bay continues to be a very popular destination for those who want a sea change.

According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics the population of Hervey Bay grew at a rate of 5.4% and that was the highest figure for any Australian metropolitan region. It doesn’t take long to understand why Hervey Bay is so popular when you consider that in parts of the Central Tablelands of NSW yesterday the maximum temperature didn’t reach double figures while here the official maximum was 24C.

And then there’s the scenery … it’s fairly drab in the cities but here in Hervey Bay …

Sunrise over Fraser Island last Saturday morning