Community citizen awards

Did you hear the news that two outstanding St Marys residents were presented with awards at Mitcham’s Australia Day Celebration? Jody Moate received the Active Citizen of the Year award and Sudhashree Somers received the Young Citizen of the Year award. Both work tirelessly in our community, making it an enhanced place to live. Congratulations!

Pasadena Community Centre progress

In February, the Council Assessment Panel approved planning consent for the redevelopment of the Pasadena Community Centre, which we hope will commence development in mid-2024.

Concerns addressed were:

• The toilets are proposed to support the community centre operating hours, not 24-hours.
• The “Changing Places” room included a disability toilet which may be accessible throughout to people with a MLAK key.
• Though indicated on the plans, the footpath link (Phase 3) is a concept at this stage and not being developed as part of the application.

Budgets

In February I voted against approving the revised 23-24 budget because I wanted to include in the motion that Council instructs the administration to report on potential deferments or reductions in capital works that could be considered. To me, reports such as that are important to consider before making decisions about future spending and setting future rates. Sadly, there were only four councillors who felt that was important.

The 2024-25 budget is underway and as always there are many conversations about what is needed. Please lobby for what you consider essential.

Requests for funding for new projects in Babbage include:

• Implement stage 2 and 3 of revitalising Donald and St Marys Streets Reserves by removing part of Donald Street and joining the two reserves to create a larger more connected community site.
• Implement Stage 2 and 3 of CC Hood Reserve Masterplan.
• Provide Wi-Fi and IT services at Pasadena Community Centre.
• Provide ongoing funding to maintain garden beds along east side of South Road from Shepherds Hill Road to Riverside Drive.
• Landscape the Pasadena Community Centre storm water reserve and carpark.

I support a request for a tree assistance fund for owners of large trees. Large trees require regular maintenance and arborist reports, but currently that is at the owner’s expense, while the tree benefit is for the whole community. This could assist and encourage tree owners to hold onto their large trees, for the community benefit.

Two recent petitions have been received and may be of interest:

• A request for speed humps in Meriton Avenue, St Marys, was received and because of this, administration will undertake traffic counting.
• A request for the use of Council facilities for safe haven for residents and their pets on extreme and catastrophic bushfire days resulted in a future report to Council.

Council staff undertake a massive amount of work so before you complain please understand the complexity and demand on staff. Using the website to Report an Issue or Make a Request is an easy way to inform staff what you need.

Please call or email me if you have issues to discuss.

This article may contain personal views or opinions held by individual Council Members, and may not necessarily represent the formal position of the Council