The following is from the Mayor's Report for the Council May meeting:

"On 19 April I met with a delegation from the Northern Territory to speak about the Coober Pedy Dry Area and problems associated with transients from the APY Lands. 

Amongst the visitors was the Mayor of Alice Springs Fran Kilgariff, CEO Rex Mooney, Alderman Jane Clark, Alderman Samih Habib, Mark Blackburn, Director Corporate and Community Services, Mayor Rod Swanson from Tennant Creek Council, from Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, Betty Pearce, Esther Pearce, and Marg Furber-Ross.

It appears that their communities are also experiencing problems simular to ours, with transients from the lands moving into their cities and towns and displaying anti-social behaviour. I explained the pros and cons of our dry area to the delegation, stressing that legislative changes need to be made before the dry area will become effective, as at present the only recourse is to issue an infringement notice to the offender, and we all know how effective that is. 

A range of other issues were discussed ranging from Transitional Accommodation and wet areas to the town camps that are in place in Alice Springs.

It was agreed that a united approach needs to be taken and a forum involving the Mayors and CEOs from all effected Councils in Australia was discussed.

It is envisaged that a task force be established made up of all effected Councils that would travel to Canberra to try and make the Federal and State Governments finally sit up and listen and acknowledge that changes need to be made on the lands to keep these people there, and assistance needs to be given to communities such as ours.

An invitation was extended by the Alice Springs Mayor for me to visit Alice Springs and see the problems that they are experiencing, and maintain the strong ties that our communities now have.

On  April I once again met with the Mayor of Ceduna, Ken McCarthy. The purpose of the meeting was to compare how each of our communities found the past summer, assist each other by exchanging ideas and information on strategies that each Council has/is implementing, and retain the relationship that our communities now experience. Mayor McCarthy explained how Ceduna are now looking at installing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in their Central Business Area, simular to what our Council tried to do several years ago. It appears that the cost of these systems has reduced significantly since we looked at them, and as such Council is once again exploring the feasibility of installing CCTV in Hutchison St and other areas in Coober Pedy. It appears that Ceduna also experienced a bad summer with increased numbers of transients and a higher incidence of anti-social behaviour and liquor related problems.

As a result of the meeting I had with the Minister for Police, Hon Paul Holloway, I met last week with two town planners from Planning SA. Over the Easter weekend I was able to take the opportunity of walking Hutchison St with the Minister and pointing out some of the problem areas that seem to attract drinkers, and experience a high incidence of anti-social behaviour as a result. The Minister promised that he would send someone from Planning SA to Coober Pedy to have a look at Hutchison St and work out some strategies that may deter people from congregating in these areas. I am pleased to advise that true to his word Mr Holloway sent two of his top people to assist us with this problem. The CEO and I met with these people, and after discussions with them to highlight our problems, we walked up and down Hutchison St pointing out areas of concern. They are now tasked by the Minister to come up with some strategies that could address the problems of anti-social behaviour that are prevalent in these places. We are also hopeful of grant funding to put their recommendations into effect."

Leaky Les' Poly Pipe Problem

His report for the May Council meeting follows.  

It is my opinion that all the original poly pipes in the reticulation system need renewing. I would suggest that the mains supply be prioritised in the first instance. Currently the following lengths of poly pipe need renewing:

This totals 7,500 metres of mains pipe requiring renewal. To date we have replaced approximately 2,000 m of varying sizes of pipe. Additionally there are about sixteen hundred services in town; all connected with 25 mm and 32 mm poly pipes. Approximately 25% of these services have been renewed. It is also my opinion that there are three (3) options available for consideration:  

Option 1 That the status quo remain and the Water Supply attends to leaks on an as needs basis. 

Option 2 Council engages contractors to undertake the work. It is estimated that replacement of the mains alone would be in the vicinity of $75,000 (labour and machinery only) with the cost of pipe, sand and overseeing an additional expense. This cost is based upon initial estimates of $1,000 per day, taking 75 days to complete the work. Additionally Council would no doubt be required to prepare tender documentation which would be an additional expense to that already mentioned. I do not believe that there are local contractors that are suitably compliant with Council’s OHS&W requirements to undertake this type of work.  

Option 3 Water Supply staff undertake a dedicated program of renewal of all poly pipes during the routine course of work. It is my contention that dedicating two men to the task would achieve the same result with a significant cost saving to Council. However, this must be contingent upon Council purchasing a new backhoe that can be further dedicated to this project. Quite frankly, it would be a nightmare to estimate the cost of replacement of the service connections. It would be more practical to present a verbal explanation of this comment at the meeting rather than attempt to explain it in writing.  I point out that during the preliminary budgetary discussions for 2005/2006 I identified the need to purchase an additional backhoe due to the increasing demand on its availability to the other departments. Due to other priorities and perhaps the need to be mindful of Council expenditure, the purchase of an additional backhoe was put on the backburner. I firmly believe that now is the time to seriously reconsider the purchase of a second backhoe in light of my recommendation that Water Supply staff undertake the replacement of poly pipes on a dedicated basis." 

Mr Hoad's monthly appearance at the Council Chambers consistently evokes big grins from elected members and staff, as they look forward to him relating his latest tales of battles with pipe leaks.

Oxiana Recruiting

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Breaking News (May 15).

Oxiana Mine Access Training Program Dates

Click this URL for Oxiana's page on Coober Pedy Football Club etc.:

http://www.oxiana.com.au/index.asp?pgid=165#top

Ron Barassi with Saints Treasurer and player Mark Bell, and Coober Pedy school students