From Hilltops Council – Mayor Brian Ingram

It is pleasing to some more rain around the region. This will certainly help toward a much better year for our farmers.

We were excited to welcome Sam Mac and the Sunrise weather team to Young on Tuesday. This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase Young and the Hilltops Region to a national audience. Ideally, we would have been able to invite the community along to watch, however keeping the community safe was our priority.

On Friday, Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke announced $2,536,010 from the Fixing Local Roads program for 11 road rehabilitation and sealing projects across the shire. Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has also announced over $500,000 in road safety funding for Hilltops Council.

This funding is to deliver local road and infrastructure projects that can impact local communities – projects that will drive valuable jobs in our region over the next 12 months. Roads to receive funding in the Hilltops include Frogmore Road, Little Plains Road, Ironbark Lane, Grassy Creek Road, Maryvale Road, Kenny’s Creek Road and Rye Park Road in the Boorowa area and Dundas Street, McMahons Reef Road, various Jugiong streets ,Trafalgar Street, Moppity Road, Bribbaree Road, Tubbul Road, Scenic Road, Colorado Road, Berthong Road, Back Creek Road and Hintons Road in the Young and Harden areas. This is great news for our region. Improvements to local roads that result in increased safety is a win for the community. I thank both the State and Federal Governments for their assistance in securing this funding.

On Friday, General Manager Anthony O’Reilly and I met with Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor in Boorowa to discuss several projects in the area and the availability of potential funding for these projects. We also visited the Boorowa Bulk Water Dispensing Station that was funded through the Drought Communities Program – Extension and is a great asset for our rural landholders.

With the current situation in Victoria and now some parts of NSW, it is important that we all play our part in keeping the community safe. To protect ourselves and others, we all need to maintain social distancing and strict hygiene practices. If you are unwell or it is suspected that you may have been in contact with someone who has been exposed to COVID-19, you should stay home and immediately phone the COVID-19 hotline on 1800 020 080 to seek their advice. Our businesses are doing a great job adapting to the ever-changing environment and I commend all business owners who have registered their business as COVID Safe.

I remind residents that our draft Operational Plan for 2020-21 is currently on public exhibition and open for submissions until this Friday 31 July 2020. The plan can be viewed on Council’s website www.hilltops.nsw.gov.au under ‘policies and plans on display’

– Mayor Brian Ingram

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• Local Council