Agnes and Ecstasy

May 2008

So far, May has been a great month and the 1770 Discovery Coast Festival doesn't even start for a week!

Our New Council

We are finally joined at the hip to Gladstone and a posse of the new Councilors came down to mingle with the locals last week. The name over the local building hasn't changed yet and I hope the staff never do cos they should be cloned and spread throughout our village as best practice in service with a smile.

None of the new Councilors reside in this area although I was pleased to see one of them, Matt Burnett, attended the Dawn Service on Anzac Day at Agnes Water.

We spoke at length with Councilor Craig Butler who was very approachable and didn't mince words or shuffle opinions. Looks like a workable solution to our area's water shortage issues is going to be addressed this time without undue influence from fly-in/fly-out developers so that will be worthwhile.

I was really delighted to hear recognition and possible rectification, albeit a way off yet, of the utter stupidly (aka greed) of selling off every scrape of foreshore to developers leaving Agnes Water without any public beach frontage. Mind you, perhaps equally necessary for an area trying to promote itself as a seaside attraction, is the dearth of any facility at the one and only crowded boat ramp which is located at 1770 - it may have been there when Cook landed....

Tom and I got the strong impression that the New Broom was on the ball. This had already been indicated by the number of Councillors who replied positively to Tom's email (reproduced below) regarding potential faux-councillors or self interest groups taken out of a total area concept and objective:

Attention: Executive Office.

I read with a deal of concern that a meeting has been called by ex Miriam Vale councilor Mr Greg Relf.

According to my press report this meeting is scheduled for tomorrow evening in Miriam Vale to form a representative committee which would present to council the views and aspirations of the residents and organisations within the previous Miriam Vale Council district.

I trust that your Council will formulate future policy utilising the new Council representatives together with the combined administrative staff.   Your Council will, I trust, encompass  the same  views and aspirations  in  a truly democratic manner.

May I suggest that if, in time, Council felt a need to have regional sub-group advice duly constituted representation would then be appropriate.I have no knowledge of Mr Relf and concede  that his actions may well be totally unselfishly motivated but I strongly believe that it should be the 'dog waving the tail - not the tail waving the dog'.

Good luck with your new endeavors.

Regards

Tom Green Agnes Water

Bottom line - I think we have a good group with the new Council and hopefully Agnes Water 1770 can really start to progress in a manner that is supported with infrastructure and planning for the future of the residents in mind.

I received an email from Andrew of Sydney with an interesting observation and recommendation to improve our little area and with his permission I have reproduced it in the side column. More bike paths basically - and with petrol heading for dizzy heights let alone global warming it could bring a whole new tourism aspect to our area. As they say in Sunriver :

Leave your car parked at your vacation rental, and go exploring by bike! Over 30 miles of paved biking and walking trails circle the Sunriver resort area. Bike riding is one of the favorite past times of a Sunriver vacation.

Of course, it would bight a little into the ubiquitous Agnes Water scooter tours but is that all bad? *smile*