Johns River

With a generous unanimous vote at Greater Taree City Council chambers on Wednesday, August 17th, our Councillors made sure the $2.6 million in handover funds from the RTA would be reserved for Johns River and Moorland.

As part of the routine handover negotiations between the RTA and Council, issues such as how much Council should recieve and how much money roads will cost to maintain are addressed.

For over a year, GTCC management and staff battled hard for the funds, with negotiations sometimes breaking down over deadlocks on how much funding should be turned over to Council for ongoing road maintenance for the next ten years.

Councillor David Keegan Drafted the Conditions for the New Reserve Fund

The negotiations were fierce because senior Council staff knew how much the new roads being "given" to them would cost in maintenance into the future.  In the end, the amount handed over will probably not be sufficient to meet the ongoing maintenance costs of the roads.  This "cost-shifting" onto local governments was an issue addressed recently by the Deputy Premier in Port Macquarie at the Coalition Cabinet.  

After consulting with fellow councillors and senior staff, Councillor David Keegan put together the wording and put forward the needed additions to staff recommendations.  Councillor Mave Richardson PSM, also assisted on behalf of the community.

 Cr Alan Tickle and Cr Keegan currently serve on the Investment Committee, headed by the Mayor, Paul Hogan, General Manager Gerard José, and Executive Leader Resource Planning, Craig Swift-McNair. 

 The Mayor and Councillors, in conjunction with executive staff, will manage and monitor the Johns River and Moorland Reserve Fund (as they do with all such reserve funds under Council management).  The Investment Committee members will jointly ensure that projects qualify according to the Council's own internal conditions placed on the reserve fund.

Funding for Roads AND Village Plans

Fortunately, funding is not just for the roads in the villages, but may also be used for projects arising from the village plans

As the GTCC website  notes, "Village Plans have been prepared for the townships of Coopernook, Moorland and Johns River to provide direction for the expenditure of RTA funds" .  At the March 2009 meeting of Council, the Johns River Implementation Group (JRIG) was created to perform "active negotiation with the RTA on handover funding ensuring the Johns River Village Plan is a key objective in these negotiations", as·well as ongoing "implementation of the village plan".

An initial portion of the funding, as well as ongoing interest earned from the new Johns River and Moorland Reserve fund, may now be used to fund projects for facilities in the villages, as well as providing matching funding for grant applications to state an federal bodies.

Early Draft Sketch from Village Plan for Intersection

Projects Prioritised!

Both the Moorland Community Association and the Johns River Community Progress Association have lists of projects arising from their village plans, many of which are "shovel-ready".

Whilst most of the funding will be wisely kept in the bank to earn interest for roads maintenance in the villages (a number-one issue amongst villagers), a small portion may be used in the short term for a handful projects at Moorland and Johns River.

Click here for an overview of Projects in Johns River, and contact the Moorland Community Association for information on their plans and projects

If you have a project idea, check out our current projects list here, or right in a comment below!