A word from our Mayor…Trevor Pickering Hi to all in incredible Croydon! Kim Gaynor, Bill Kerwin and I went to Karumba on the 8th of October for a FNQROC meeting. The meeting venue is shared around a bit so at the very least, the town hosting the meeting will get some out of town money for their businesses. It would be remiss for me not to explain what these acronyms stand for. FNQROC stands for Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils. It is made up of 13 shires; Carpentaria Shire to Hinchinbrook Shire, down the coast to Cook and Hopevale Shires and everyone in between, including Cairns and the Tablelands. The 13 Shires and 13 Mayors make up 17% of Queensland Councils, some 316,663 square kilometres of the state and represent about 270,000 people. Along with a very professional secretariat, we are a very powerful unit when we are together because believe it or not, we all have almost the same problems that we are actively lobbying both State and Federal Governments about, and it’s a well-known fact that it takes a long time to build up the relationship with Ministers and Senators that is needed in the job of being a successful Mayor. So on the 15th of October, I, along with the FNQROC Mayors and Secretariat, flew to Brisbane to have another 16 meetings in two days. It would take forever to get through them all so I’ll stick to the better ones. Tuesday 9am we met with Kim Mahoney about grant reforms and how Croydon shire relies heavily on grants. The best model is “Works for Queensland’ as we don’t have to match the funds and we can use it for projects that we might not normally have money for. We then met with Tim Dunn and talked about electoral reforms and changes to laws and the dates for elections. We then set off to Parliament House for the day and I had a lovely surprise when I was going through security, I could hear someone calling my name and blow me down, it was the incredible kids of Croydon and their teacher and aides, so after a quick photo, it was off to meet Andrew Powell, Shadow Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning. I talked about road investment and Croydon’s frustration about social housing and more to the dissatisfaction with Cairns and District Regional Housing. I also told him of Croydon’s frustration with Telstra and the cable running through town that nobody can use. Of course it was a Telstra problem. The next meeting was with Stirling Hinchliffe, Minister for Local Government. We talked about waste levy impacts on local government, road planning in FNQ, digital connectivity and the poor state of it. The next two meetings were with the Minister and Shadow Minister for Transport and Main Roads. Both these gentlemen were left with no doubt about what we expected from them, I can tell you. 6pm and back to the hotel for debriefing and bed. Day two’s meetings started with Kate Jones, Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development. I talked about world trails and mountain biking and building a pump track that Council is trying to get funding for. I also gave her the complete business case and plans for both. Meeting 8 was with David Crisafulli, Shadow Minister for Environment, Science and the Great Barrier Reef and Shadow Minister for Tourism. I talked about all things tourism and as I have a long term relationship with David, I also gave him the business case and plans. Meeting 9 was with Mick de Brenni, Minister for Sport, Housing and Public Works. I had a real firm and down to earth chat with Mick as I very quickly worked out what type of man he was. I talked to him about our application for the pump track and he asked me to be patient as he was overhauling the way the applications were done, because 90% of funding seemed to be going to the Sunshine Coast, so I guess we have to be patient. Croydon’s Bush Telegraph Edition 9 - October 2018 T: 4748 7100 E: [email protected] W: www.croydon.qld.gov.au We had a lunch meeting with Curtis Pitt, Craig Crawford, Micheal Healy and Cynthia Lui. This was mainly for the coastal councils, but I did ask about the Cairns and District Housing mob but they were unaware about the housing in Croydon, so I think I’ll have to go at this from a different direction. Meeting 11 was a double with John Paul Langbroek and David Batt. They are Shadow Minister for Sport and Racing and Assistant Minister for State Development. I talked about road planning and investment in FNQ. Meeting 13 was with Brent Mickelberg, a very talented young man who I’m sure we will see a lot more of in the future. I talked to him about not being able to develop the Gulf without a lot of money being spent on the Gulf Developmental Road and the Gilbert River Bridge. The last meeting was with Deb Frecklington, Leader of the Opposition and Tim Mander, Shadow Treasurer, Dale Last and Anne Leahy, where we just repeated just about everything we talked about in the last two days so by the time we got out of there it was after 6pm. I flew back to Cairns the next day and drove back to Croydon that night with the Mayor of Carpentaria. If I was to summarise the two delegations to Canberra and Brisbane, I would say we were fairly successful for our first time in an advocacy role with the FNQROC and I can say that the two trips cost Croydon Shire very little as the FNQROC covered about 99% of them. So back home now and ready for the final push for Council to the end of the year and I can report that the CEO has had some promising news about our battle with Telstra but I will hold back a bit until I’m certain that they won’t change their mind. Speaking of the CEO, Bill and Deputy Mayor Kim Gaynor, were at the annual conference in Brisbane last week, pushing Croydon’s issues and networking with other councils. The beef roads job is coming along nicely, tenders have gone out for the bitumen and I would say that we will complete this job on time (weather permitting). I will say the boys are getting stuck in as the temperature rises and you have to admire men that walk beside a stabiliser all day, sometimes up to 9 km a day in 45 degree heat, just to make sure the correct amount of moisture is getting used. That’s not the only crew we have working in the extreme heat, Hans and his crew are further out ploughing along, as is Cedric and his crew, so as you can all see, we are very busy and will be until break up. On a lighter note, I hope you all had a great night at the Melbourne Cup Dance and I hope to hear from someone that they had a big win in the cup. One thing that blows me away is how stunning the ladies always look. We live in a hard country and at this time of year when people are doing or finishing their second round with the heat and the dust, it must be good for the soul to dress up and for one night forget about the hardships of life. Well that’s enough from me and remember If you need to know anything about council or you need help with anything, give me a call and I’ll try my hardest. See you in the next tele, Cheers Trevor Mayor Trevor Pickering Croydon Shire Council FINANCE OFFICER COUNCIL MEETINGS Croydon Shire Council In accordance with Section 277 of the Local Govern- ment Regulation 2012, Croydon Shire Council advis- es that its Ordinary Meetings will be held at the Relaxing Outback Lifestyle Council Chambers, 63 Samwell Street, Croydon Historic Gulf Savannah Region commencing at 9.30am unless otherwise notified, on Ideal Opportunity for Career Progression the following dates. Thursday 18 January 2018 Croydon is a beautiful quaint town located in the heart of the Gulf Savannah, just south of the base of Thursday 15 February 2018 the Gulf of Carpentaria in Far North Queensland, Thursday 15 March 2018 approximately 550km south-west of Cairns. Croydon Thursday 19 April 2018 offers a relaxing outback lifestyle. Thursday 17 May 2018 Thursday 21 June 2018 The Position: Reporting to the Finance Manager Thursday 19 July 2018 you will be responsible for processing the fortnightly Thursday 16 August 2018 and monthly payroll, job costing, accounts payable, Tuesday 25 September 2018 accounts receivable and the administration of rates. Thursday 25 October 2018 Skills / Experience Required: Thursday 15 November 2018 To be successful in this position you will have ad- Friday 14 December 2018 ministration and / or finance experience within Local Government along with: Meeting agendas and minutes are available on Knowledge and experience in accounts paya- Council’s website www.croydon.qld.gov.au ble and receivable; Experience in the preparation of payroll data; COUNCILLOR CONTACT DETAILS Experience in the operation of Microsoft Office Mayor Trevor Pickering along with experience in InfoXpert and or Mobile: 0427 456 188 Practical Plus (PCS) will be highly regarded; Mobile: 0409 456 235 Willingness to undertake further training and / Email: [email protected] or education; Deputy Mayor Kim Gaynor Sound numeracy skills with the ability to calcu- Ph: (07) 4745 3536 late figures, percentages, discounts and inter- Mobile: 0409 913 150 est; Email: [email protected] Ability to learn new tasks / procedures and ac- Councillor Jeffrey Norman quire knowledge quickly; Mobile: 0438 155 101 High level of professionalism, accuracy and Email: [email protected] attention to detail; and Councillor Wayne Bing Chew Tertiary qualification within a relevant field will Ph: (07) 4745 6287 be highly regarded.