Cr Cheryl Gaedtke – Ordinary Meeting 8 July 2020

Cr Cheryl Gaedtke – Ordinary Meeting 8 July 2020

Agenda Item # 5 Matters of Public Interest
I read with interest a report titled Public Libraries as generators of community value and economic activity. The report found that the benefits generated by public libraries are at least double their costs. The report included direct benefits to users and non-users, and the support of economic activity in their local economies. Public libraries also act as an important safety net for disadvantaged and marginalised community members, promoting social equity as well as economic efficiency.

On 3rd July, Kilcoy lost one of its legends, with the passing of Mr Kenneth Joseph Kuhn. At the age of 20 years (1942) Mr Kuhn enlisted into the Air Forces. He returned to Australia in 1946 and was discharged from the Services soon after. Ken met Iris McKay, and the couple were married in 1951 and who later moved to Kilcoy to run their own dairy farm. Money was very hard to come by, however they were successful in life working hard to make ends meet and to provide for their family of five children. Ken was always a very active member in the Kilcoy community. He was a real storyteller and very proud of his family and his life accomplishments. Ken would have celebrated his 98th birthday on 5th November. Rest in Peace Ken, I will miss your stoic and patriotic presence at our community events.

Tourism and businesses in our region have benefited from increased visitation to our towns and the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (BVRT) over the past few weeks. Car groups, families, walking groups, horse riders, bicycle riders and foodies are enjoying our region. One local accommodation business informed me that a group of walkers stayed overnight as part of their BVRT experience. The group normally fly overseas yearly to complete a walk, this year they stayed in their own country and even their own state to enjoy their hobby.

Agenda Item #29 Councillors’ Report
24 June Council Ordinary Meeting
24  June Council Workshop Meeting
25 June Hon Minister Stirling Hinchliffe MP visit to Somerset
The Minister was shown examples of Council working with community to deliver projects funded under COVID-19 Works for Qld.
25 June Local Recovery Group Meeting #1
25 June Storytime @ Home with Somerset Libraries recording
26 June Inaugural Local Recovery Group meeting
27 June Kilcoy District Progress Alliance Executive Committee meeting
30 June Kilcoy Interagency Meeting
30 June Community Builder Webinar
01 July Somerset Dam & District Progress Assn Committee meeting
Joan Bell and Frank Murray presented the association with a framed historic record of the Brennan family and their property Silverton Homestead.
02 July Brisbane Valley Heritage Trails Committee meeting – Kilcoy
The group provided a submission to the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Strategic Plan, and the need for heritage tourism to be included. A discussion took place around the perfect opportunity for our region to tell its story, based on the reply from the submission.
02 July COVID Recovery Human and Social Sub Group Meeting
07 July Community Builder Webinar
07 July Kilcoy Tennis Club AGM

There has been a great deal of community interest shown towards recent council initiatives – Christmas Decorations project, SEQ Food Trails and Grant Guru.

A news article describes a jobs bonanza will be rolled out in a national $1 billion plan to stop millions of tonnes of waste being shipped off overseas while tackling the growing unemployment crisis. For Queensland, it means tens of millions of dollars in new investment for recycling facilities right across the state. Queensland is a major exporter of almost one million tonnes of recyclables, and more than any other state except for Victoria.