From Hilltops Council – John Horton

The bright light is still at the end of the tunnel as coronavirus continues to fight back. Once more, Hilltops residents are to be congratulated for adhering to self isolation, social distancing and hand washing. Congratulations all! To date – no coronavirus infections in Hilltops.

Council meetings are being conducted by new technology Zoom, which means we all stay in our individual homes, look at each other on a computer screen and raise a hand when we want to speak. It is a strange sensation meeting this way, however it does work and it keeps all Councillors and staff isolated from each other and assists with preventing the spread of this deadly virus.

The good news is this Winter is far superior to the 2019 season. Green pasture everywhere, dams full of fresh water, sheep and cattle fat and contented and Hilltops crops are looking good with more rain on the way. If the farmers are doing well, everyone living in the Hilltops benefit. Good on our farmers!

A concerned lady stopped me in the street recently and asked if it was true that sewerage rates were going to increase. After explaining no decision had been made in this regard, my thoughts wandered back to the early 1940’s when I was a young boy. On my grandfather’s farm, our toilet was an earth closet well away from the home (for the younger generation, that was a deep hole in the ground with a toilet seat constructed on top). Yes, they were home to redbacks on the toilet seat and even worse snakes often took up residency.

In 1945 when I moved into town for schooling, our toilet was a large tin can we called a dunny can. It was in a little shed well away from the house and a dunny man called twice a week to empty – very smelly days!

Now when I use the toilet, I simply push a little chrome button and fresh beautiful, clear water flushes the waste away. No problem for me a small sewerage rate increase!

– Councillor John Horton

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• Local Council