Orange City Life - CityWatch

The NSW Government gave councils an extra month to 31st July 2020 for the adoption of their Operational Plan and budget as a result of COVID-19. It is disappointing that Orange City Council decided to take 3 of those extra weeks to spend more time on the process internally, rather than give members of the community more time to consider the proposals. It is also disappointing that there were no changes to the draft Operational Plan despite the changes to the draft budget in those extra 3 weeks. It is extremely disappointing that the decision was to place the plans on public exhibition for a minimum of 28 days, with no proposals to actively engage the community and seek views.

Orange City Council is lacking Leadership with a Capital L.

Whast are the priorities for Orange?

What are the priorities for Orange?

Community submissions to Orange City Council's budget closed on Wednesday 10th June. One of the submissions was from Put Orange First.

I am reliably informed that Orange's combined rates are the highest in Australia. So how do they compare with Bathurst?

Orange City Council approved its 2020-2021 budget after deferring increases to Councillor allowances.

Orange City Council is seeking comments on its Heritage Review that proposes some new Heritage Conservation Areas and some new heritage buildings. It's the kind of thing that divides opinion.

The Orange Future City project has been under development for some time, involving community engagement and focus groups and is described as - 'Begun in a bold attempt to re-vitalise Orange’s central Business district, the Future City project has evolved to take up a broader opportunity to encourage more people to come to Orange CBD and spend more time there, to build a CBD the people of Orange can be proud of.'

Some Councillors handle themselves better than others in Council meetings and is good for the community to understand what good performance would look like,

Some Councillors handle themselves better than others in Council meetings and is good for the community to understand what good performance would look like,

Put Orange First submission and how can we get the ball rolling?

There seems to have been a lot of controversy about the Sports Stadium from the start when the Premier offered $25 million to Orange in February 2019 to build a Sports Stadium conditional on the community electing the Nationals candidate to the NSW Parliament.

A recent Council meeting considered some information about the progress Council is making on the long list of projects it is committed to over the next 4 years.

The asbestos issue has raised its head again in Orange. At last week’s Council meeting, asbestos in Council buildings was mentioned. The role of councils in managing asbestos has been a bit of a thorny issue over the last few years.

Orange City Council will raise some $713,000 in CBD Special Rates this year and it remains unclear what this money is spent on.

It is often confusing to know what councillors can and can't do

It is often confusing to know what councillors can and can't do

Orange City Council is considering nose in parking in the CBD to make it more walkable. I apologise for getting my sums wrong.

The NSW Government is campaigning for more women to stand for election.

City Watch is persuading people to think about standing for Council as it should be more diverse reflecting the diversity of the people it represents. People need to think about whether they want to make this commitment a long time in advance. I like the idea of getting people talking about this openly as it would be good if like-minded people could get together so that we have fewer tickets and less than the 88 candidates who stood in the last elections in 2017 much to everyone’s confusion.

Orange City Council provides many services to the public, so I thought we should concentrate on one area at a time. So, let’s look at the Community, Recreation and Cultural Services Department that provides the following services: Central West Libraries, City Presentation, Community Services, Cultural Services (Art Gallery and Museum) and Performing Arts and Venues. Most of these services are widely recognised as excellent.

How lucky are we to live in Orange, particularly with our health services

How lucky are we to live in Orange, particularly with our high level health services?