Federation Council yesterday endorsed a list of eligible projects to share in the $1 million Federal Government’s Drought Communities Program for the Federation Council area.
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The delivery of more reliable water for the Urana Aquatic Centre was one of the big-ticket items on the list with funding of $250,000 along with $140,000 also going towards refurbishing the Rand Recreation Reserve toilets. Funding for toilet upgrades for the Rand Memorial Hall and Oaklands Cemetery have also been added on the list.
The Morundah Theatre will receive $100,000 to go towards an electric truss hoist system, sound system including sound desk, microphones and speakers. A new projector and screen, stage lighting, show technology, storage shed, chairs, airconditioning and a stage curtain will also be purchased with the funding.
The Federation Council area will also receive $70,000 for a project aimed for building rural resilience and sustainability. This project will support farming communities, on how to maintain mental health in stressful times and how to detect issues with members of the farming business. Farmers have been surveyed to find out which topics would be relevant to their businesses.
The project will see Riverine Plains Inc partner with Lessons Learnt Consulting and House Paddock Training and Consulting to deliver a series of modules in workshops to farmers across the Federation Council.
Other projects on the list included the creation of two ABOM approved weather stations, park upgrades to irrigation systems for the Morundah Main Street Park and Boree Creek Park.
Council will now submit an application for funding of the projects after it was informed on July 29 its request for support under the Drought Communities Program was successful.
Council invited representatives of its drought committee to a meeting on October 2 to discuss a list of existing projects, identify any additional projects and provide feedback on the projects’ ability to benefit the broader communities of Federation Council and meet the funding guidelines.
The grant guidelines identify that projects must have no less than $25,000 of eligible expenditure and be completed by June 30, 2020.
In addition, projects must lead to the employment of locals, contribute to the economic activity of the area or lead to the retention of business, services and facilities. Forty-five community members from all of the towns and villages within the Federation Council area were invited to attend the meeting with a total of 20 in attendance on the day.
Federation Council’s director corporate and community services Jo Shannon advised council that 19 projects were considered on the day with attendees assessing the projects based on the broad community and financial benefits.
“Of the 19 projects considered, five were deemed ineligible, as they did not meet the funding guidelines,” she said.
“Projects were assessed and scored during the meeting, and subsequently ranked from highest to lowest based on their benefit to community.
“Council has followed up with various project owners where further discussion was needed to clarify project objectives and costs. Changes to the recommended amount have been based on feedback from those community representatives attending the meeting on the day and ensure that they could still go ahead within the allocated budget.”
An additional project, the Rand Memorial Hall Toilets was added to the list for projects to be considered. “The funds for this project, after discussion with the Rand Town Improvement Committee have come from the initial allocation for the Rand Town Improvement Projects, reducing the request for that project from $95,000 to $65,000,” Ms Shannon said.
“The Memorial Hall Toilets project has been an ongoing project with a shortfall of funding. This allocation will see the project completed.
“Council staff have been keen to ensure that both the funding criteria and the projects can be completed successfully in making a recommendation to council,” Ms Shannon said.
Councillors backed their staff’s recommendation for the following projects, in priority order:
$250,000 for Urana reliable water pipeline project - provides a pipeline to allow an alternate water supply to the Urana Aquatic Centre for a more stable supply. Allows for water-based recreation, which underpins the local tourism economy, environmental benefits, improvements to Corowa Park revenue and social/mental health benefits.
$70,000 for weather Stations - A BOM approved station would cost $35-50k per station (x2) not including ongoing operational costs. Ongoing costs $4-8k per annum per station.
$25,000 Morundah Main Street Park upgrade - would see installation of an irrigation system, an irrigation pump, new plantings and new culverts to allow overnight camping. This was a project in the strategic plan for the Urana Shire;
$25,000 for Boree Creek Park Sprinklers. Installation of an irrigation system to ensure the Tim Fischer Park remains green all year round.
$70,000 Building rural resilience and sustainability in the Federation Council area - this project will support farming communities, on how to maintain mental health in stressful times and how to detect issues with members of the farming business. Farmers have been surveyed to find out which topics would be relevant to their businesses. Riverine Plains Inc would partner with Lessons Learnt Consulting and House Paddock Training & Consulting to deliver a series of modules to farmers across the Federation Council. Six full-day workshops are proposed focusing on building resilience and sustainability. The workshops would focus on topics such as mental health and communication, self-acknowledgement and health, financial management, strategic planning, legal requirements when employing staff, legal requirements when shifting machinery, tracking grain at harvest and getting paddock records to the office.
$140,000 Rand Recreation Reserve Toilets. Past project still to be completed. The requested $250K cost was based on a full rebuild. A refurbishment of the toilets could be undertaken for approximately $100K (according to local advice).
$100,000 Morundah Theatre Storage – to include an electric truss hoist system, $43,646.20, sound system including sound desk, microphones and speakers. $64,833.00, Projector and screen. $14,930.00, Stage lighting, show technology $14,182.72, a storage shed at $10,338.00, Civic Theatre Chairs $28,215.00, Airconditioning $26,000.00 and a front of house stage curtain $4,778.00;
$25,000 Yarrawonga Mulwala AIM Breakfast Series – approaches local women of all walks of life to speak of their experiences. It helps to recognise the achievements of local women and inspire those listening to strive to appreciate the depth of knowledge and experience in our area. The series promotes connection between women with in our region and the events provide a forum for women to develop networks and support each other which is so important during times of difficulty. This project would sponsor seasons’ passes for a person for a year at $100; 250 women could be included in the series if supported.
$65,000 Rand Town Improvement Projects. The Rand Town Improvement Planning Committee has developed a Town Improvement Plan which includes a number of projects including Silo Art and Town Beautification. This funding would allow a number of these projects to be funded.
$45,000 Drought Support Officer.
$25,000 Sustainable Livestock Production – Drought and Recovery Workshops. Corowa District Landcare is seeking a partnership with Federation Council, through the drought funding, to deliver a series of workshops/sessions that cover topics and issues such as livestock management, ground cover, soil health, grazing management, increasing production, new technologies, improved planning, labour allocation and prioritisation.
$25,000 Greater coverage of soil moisture data across the Federation Council, to increase the number of soil moisture probes installed within the Federation Council across areas and soil types not currently represented. All information will be available for public access through the Riverine Plains website.
$25,000 Training for better value from soil moisture probe measurements. Riverine Plains has a network of weather stations and soil moisture probes including in the Federation Council region. While farmers are very interested in the data, they are generally not confident in its interpretation, and what it means for their crop management decisions in dry years. It is proposed to review different options for enhanced user customisation for more meaningful presentation of data, conduct a series of informal training sessions and generate a one-page information sheet, on how to interpret the information to minimise risk and confidently make decisions across different soil types in variable seasonal conditions.
$80,000 Oaklands Cemetery Toilets. Long held local priority.
$30,000 Rand Memorial Hall Toilets. This longstanding project can now be completed.
Four projects on the initial list presented to the community meeting have not been recommended for funding. Three of these have been deemed ineligible for funding after consultation with the funding body, whilst the remaining project was not able to be considered as it could not be completed prior to the end of 30 June 2020.
Those projects were:
Natural Resource Management – establishing and restoring native vegetation for drought resilience. This Corowa District Landcare project ($40,000) was ineligible as the majority of the project costs were for plants.
Quantifying the benefit of pasture within the cropping rotation for increased resilience to variable climatic conditions This Riverine Plains project ($200,000) was ineligible as it was a research based project and not infrastructure-based.
Council wide Silo Art Project. This project ($250,000) has not been through the planning stages and would require a range of external approvals. These factors meant that the project could not be completed by the end of June 2020.
Balldale Water. This project relates to the provision of an alternative water supply option for Balldale that meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. The lowest cost option in the feasibility study conducted in 2008 involves finding a new source of groundwater, disinfecting the water and pumping to Balldale, costed at $725,600 in 2008 (estimated at $1.004m in today’s dollars). This project was excluded because it would utilise all of the available drought funding on one project and to the exclusion of all other projects. It was also considered that there may be other water funds and grants available for this type of project. The initial scoping and planning works required prior to infrastructure construction is estimated at $100,000 and was considered as an alternative. Planning and scoping work were not eligible funding activities under the guidelines.
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