Our Place site option adopted
At a special meeting on Tuesday, council resolved to adopt site option one for the new iconic Our Place building.
Site option one is inside the Pioneer Settlement to the north of the Gem and will house the art gallery, visitor services, the Pioneer Settlement entrance and a new Aboriginal cultural experience. This option will be sympathetic to the natural setting of the site.
I’d like to thank all community members who participated in the consultation process.
The motion was carried and included a requirement to retain the windmill and locomotive on the Pioneer Settlement grounds, and that an investigation of the required repair works for the Pental Island Bridge is undertaken.
Council has since received a notice of rescission in respect to the decision.
Council will consider the rescission motion at the next ordinary council meeting on Tuesday, July 21.
New South Wales border closure
THE New South Wales border closure will obviously have a significant impact on our communities and businesses, especially for those of us that need to travel regularly between Victoria and New South Wales.
The New South Wales Government has announced there will be a permit system for those that need to travel between the two states.
This includes for work, study or other essential business.
Online permits are available through Service NSW.
The New South Wales Government Premier’s office has also said special provisions will be in place for border communities, as well as freight operations and other critical services.
For more information, including obtaining a permit to travel between the states, visit www.service.nsw.gov.au.
The New South Wales Police Commissioner has also warned there could be major delays when crossing the border, so please be aware of this.
We understand the reasons for this temporary closure, and as a community we will do our part to make sure we remain safe.
However, we hope that the temporary border closure is short-lived.
Library to no longer charge overdue fines
IN some good news, the Swan Hill Regional Library will no longer charge overdue fines for late items.
Eliminating fines for overdue items makes the library service more accessible to everyone.
The library wants to ensure families and others who need the library the most can enjoy borrowing without having to worry about returning their library items on time.
In fact, fines actually appear to be more of a deterrent from using the library than helping to get library items back on time.
Feedback from our community also indicated that overdue fines for late items often deterred people from using the library service.
Additionally, staff time that was previously spent administering overdue fines can now be spent helping customers with the many services that the library offers.
The new policy applies only to overdue items.
Payment is still required for lost, unreturned and damaged items. If items are not returned, members will be restricted from borrowing again until the library items are returned or paid for.
Overdue items may also impact on the library member’s usage of other library services such as access to the public computers.
