SEVERAL members of the Orange Ratepayers Association (ORA) are considering standing as independents at the upcoming local government election in September.
We wish them well as we believe change is needed to ensure transparency and accountability of all areas of Orange City Council. However, ORA does not endorse any platform candidates may choose in their bid for election, nor do their views necessarily reflect those of ORA.
Our aquatic centre has still not been completed and we continue to pay for the daily running costs to keep the outdoor pool open.
We believe that it should be closed and the monies spent on heating be allocated to other more pressing issues, e.g. roads.
Two residents have approached members to complain about the state of the roads near Spring Terrace Public School. This is a main artery to the airport and needs to be repaired as a matter of priority.
Several members raised concerns regarding Kearneys Drive and the lack of footpaths, as well as concerns over the site of the new Centrelink building with its lack of parking and access difficulties for people with no form of transport. We support the business owners in this block regarding the potential for accidents on this busy section of road.
The new proposed upgrade of Wade Park (the previous one was only completed relatively recently) again illustrates the blatant waste of monies by council and lack of consideration for the many users of the adjoining tennis complex, which will be removed if the plan goes ahead.
On a positive note, we congratulate council on considering Gosling Creek reservoir as part of Orange’s water supply. ORA supports this initiative and may arrange to meet with council at a later date.
Also, it’s great to hear that Ploughmans Wetlands has been retained and is attracting varied bird life to the area. In the past we have supported groups such as ECCO in their work to have the area established.
We have been very fortunate to have the services of a web designer to update our web page. He has generously offered his expertise and preliminary views show it is a professional and easy to access page which will provide factual information about the association. We believe it will be up and running before our annual general meeting and users will be able to access it via Google.
Recently there have been some changes to the executive and committee make-up but we believe these have had a positive effect on meetings and communication in general. There has been a lot of misinformation circulated over the past several months and ORA is in the process of obtaining legal advice.
The association’s AGM will be held on July 24 at the Orange City Bowling Club at 7.30pm. We invite as many members to attend as possible.
Membership fees are due now.