Newsletter September 2020
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MOUNT ISA NEWS September 2020 Your community newsletter MountAwarded no. 2 in Australia Isa for stargazing! - Tourism Australia Phone 07 4747 3200 | email [email protected] | www.mountisa.qld.gov.au | www.facebook.com/MountIsaCityCouncil/ MAYOR’S DESK... I am pleased to welcome and introduce our new Interim Chief Executive Officer, David Keenan, to Mount Isa City Council. David started at Council on Monday September 28, with a handover period in place until CEO Sharon Ibardolaza’s last day on Friday, October 9. In the past few months, Sharon has done an amazing job leading Council's COVID-19 Response Group, the decisions of which have kept community members and Council staff members safe. She has also been in regular communication with Councils regularly recalculate the rate-in-the-dollar the District Disaster Management Group, amount they use to calculate how much they Queensland Health and State Disaster Coordination collect in rates in any given year. Centre, to ensure the response group's decisions are based on the most up-to-date advice and It’s important to remember that councils do not information. base their revenue from property revaluations – they collect the amount determined in their On behalf of Council staff and elected members, budgets. we wish Sharon the very best as she begins a new chapter of her career in Brisbane. In this financial year’s Budget, we implemented a zero overall residential rate increase, in recognition David was previously CEO at Southern Downs of the challenges many people are facing during Regional Council and has more than 25 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. experience working within local government, and we look forward to working with him over the I encourage anyone who has any further questions coming months. about their rates notices to give our Finance team a call on 4747 3200 during business hours. He will lead Council while our organisation undertakes a recruitment process for our next Chief It was encouraging to hear earlier this month that Executive Officer in late October. an agreement has been reached between the Queensland Government and Glencore to extend The latest rates notices began arriving in ratepayers’ the operation of the Mount Isa Mines Copper letterboxes in late September (or earlier for some Smelter beyond 2022, guaranteeing thousands of customers who use an online payment system), and direct and indirect local jobs and giving certainty to there may be some confusion about the State Mount Isa families. Government’s latest residential property valuations for Mount Isa that came into effect earlier this year. It was vital that the life of the Copper Smelter was extended. Because of this, 1600 jobs from Mount Isa Councils need to continue to provide essential all the way to Townsville have been saved. services – such as residential rubbish collections, roadworks, and repairing and maintaining water I thank and congratulate the State Government and sewerage systems – to all residents, and the and Glencore for this excellent outcome and look costs associated with that remain fairly constant. forward to Glencore’s continued investment in Mount Isa Mines going forward. Property values can vary significantly – for example, there was a 154.6 percent increase in 2011, a 0.6 percent increase in 2012, and a 17.9 percent Her Worship Danielle Slade decrease in 2016 – however, these values don’t Mayor of Mount Isa necessarily translate to a comparable change in the amount a Council collects in rates. Danielle Slade Mayor of Mount Isa Email [email protected] Phone 4747 3200 (Office) Councillor Phil Barwick Councillor Peta MacRae Deputy Mayor Portfolio - Corporate & Financial Portfolio - Tourism, Events, Sport Services, Economic Development, and Recreation, Library Promotions and Development Email Email [email protected] [email protected] Councillor Kim Coghlan Councillor Paul Stretton Portfolio - Youth, Beautification, Parks & Gardens Portfolio - Camooweal Environmental Management Email Email [email protected] [email protected] Councillor George Fortune Councillor Mick Tully Portfolio - Business Development Portfolio - Works and Construction and Town Planning Email Email [email protected] [email protected] Council Meetings Wednesday 14 OCT 2020 12:00 pm - Council Chamber, 23 West Street Wednesday 11 NOV 2020 12:00 pm - Council Chamber, 23 West Street Wednesday 25 NOV 2020 12:00 pm - Camooweal Town Hall Wednesday 02 DEC 2020 12:00 pm - Council Chamber, 23 West Street CEO’S DESK... After three years as Mount Isa City Council’s Chief Executive Officer, this will be my final column for Mount Isa News. I have been with Council for the past 12 years and next month will be moving to Brisbane to begin the next chapter of my career. Earlier this month, we carried out community consultation for the proposed $895,000 Gallipoli Park Pump Track and Recreation Development, with an online survey attracting hundreds of responses and a dedicated information page on our website that included a concept image, information flyer and frequently-asked-questions As Friday, October 9 – my last day at Council – section. rapidly approaches, I look back on my time at Council with much fondness. It has been an The feedback that we received during the amazing journey. community consultation phase has been overwhelmingly positive in favour of the project. As I pass over the reins to incoming Interim CEO David Keenan, I wish to sincerely thank the The suggestions and ideas provided by locals via Council staff and elected members I have worked the online survey will assist us in fine-tuning this with and got to know over the years, for the project to ensure the final result is a quality facility remarkable work they do and have done in the that meets the needs of a broad cross-section of community. the community. Thank you also to the many people who have This month, we were pleased to announce that a been passing on messages of well wishes and COVID Safe community event, Wonderland support since the announcement of my Under the Stars, would be held at Kruttschnitt Oval resignation earlier this month. from Friday October 23 to Sunday October 25. As a local who was born and raised in Mount Isa, I The show will include live music, thrilling circus will sign off with a "see you later" rather than a performances, cabaret acts, roving "goodbye"! entertainment and food stalls, and tickets have been selling briskly so far. All performances will be socially distanced, with people to be seated, and there will be family-friendly shows as well as adults- Sharon Ibardolaza only burlesque performances, offering something Chief Executive Officer for people of all ages. Due to COVID-19 event requirements, particularly around crowd control, our upcoming Christmas events will look very different this year. To kick off the festive season, we will have a small tree-lighting ceremony on the lawns of the Civic Centre in early November, followed by community Christmas events later in the month. We’ll have more details in next month’s Mount Isa News. IN THE NEWS Copper Smelter Announcement Great News for Mount Isa Mayor Danielle Slade has welcomed the recent Townsville over the coming years, and that the announcement that the copper smelter at Mount copper smelter will be re-bricked in 2022. Isa Mines will remain open and operational for the next few years, following an agreement reached "The copper smelter employs more than 300 local between the Queensland Government and workers, and is critical to the economy of not just Glencore. Mount Isa, but to the wider North West area and North Queensland. "Mount Isa Mines is the backbone of the city's economy, and the copper smelter is the "Incitec Pivot's Phosphate Hill and Acid Plant backbone of Mount Isa Mines," Cr Slade said. operations are also dependent on the Copper Smelter remaining open, and it's fantastic that their "I welcome the news of this commitment, which operations will also continue and there is job will safeguard thousands of direct and indirect jobs security for hundreds of their employees. in Mount Isa and secures the ongoing operation of the copper smelter beyond 2022. "I thank and congratulate Glencore and the Queensland Government for their efforts in "It's also pleasing to hear that the agreement will working together for this excellent outcome." enable Glencore to invest up to $500 million into the copper smelter and the copper refinery in IN THE NEWS Tourism Transition Group Looks Towards Future The newly formed Mount Isa Tourism Transition Cr MacRae said the meeting was positive and Group has taken the first steps towards constructive, with the group committed to strengthening and updating the local tourism developing a staged tourism structure model and sector when it met for the first time recently. setting out a constitution for the LTO. Transition group members - including Deputy "The Tourism Development Strategy recommends Mayor Phil Barwick, Councillor Peta MacRae, transitioning and evolving the Mount Isa Tourism representatives of the Mount Isa Tourism Association to a more sustainable, resourced LTO Association, Mount Isa Underground Hospital and and we are taking important steps towards local hotels, as well as Council staff - met with Judi achieving this," Cr MacRae, who looks after Lalor from Firstpoint Marketing recently to discuss Council's Tourism portfolio, said. the vision and mission goals for the establishment of a formal tourism industry body i.e. Local Tourism "We will be consulting with key stakeholders and Organisation (LTO). other LTOs and will consider issues such as membership, revenue streams and reporting The role of the transition group is to provide advice structures." and a recommended operating model to deliver a collaborative, coordinated LTO for Mount Isa to "There is an opportunity to position Mount Isa as a lead tourism management and marketing.