Goldenfields Council continues to work with local Councils by installing water refill stations to its constituent Councils for use in their local government areas and will continue to supply refill stations each year until 2021.
Refill stations provide community access to water while helping the environment by reducing the need for single-use plastic bottles.
Goldenfields Council Chairman and CGRC Deputy Mayor Dennis Palmer is excited to see the program continue to roll out, which Goldenfields started back in 2016.
Councillor Palmer said, “It has two drinking refill stations, one either side and you can actually water your pet underneath. You can drink out of the bubbler by pressing in the middle. Goldenfields elected to do this through the community engagement process where they will be rolled out across the whole network.”
Goldenfields currently has 20 stations which provide potable water to communities.
Councillor Palmer is in his third term as a Goldenfields Councillor, becoming Chairman in 2017. He has been a Cootamundra Councillor for approximately 20 years where he has seen many changes within Local Government. He said, “We are facing many challenges, we have to get on with the card we have been dealt. With Goldenfields, 8 Councils get together with a commonality for a business plan to make Goldenfields a very successful entity. It’s proof that 8 Councils can work together.”
He said that when there is a common goal and people are working together things are easier to achieve.
He said, “It’s rewarding to see the liveability of this town, we have second to none sporting facilities and Cootamundra is still one of the safest towns in NSW. We just need to attract some more business. We know the abattoirs are preparing to open soon. It’s predicted that there could be 300 workers, the loss of 220 jobs severely impacted the community.”
Councillor Palmer highlighted the continual replacement of the water mains as something the Council should be proud of with completion now sitting around 80 percent. We will continue to hear from our local Councillors, community leaders and business leaders in the coming weeks.