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Speaker 1: Now joining us in the studio is the Mayor of Palmerston,

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Speaker 1: Athena Pasco Bell. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning now, Mayor.

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Speaker 1: We have just been speaking about the Molden Oval concerns

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Speaker 1: obviously raised with us a couple of weeks ago by

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Speaker 1: both of the sporting clubs when it comes to Molden

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Speaker 1: Oval and the state of the oval and now not

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Speaker 1: being able to use it. The Council doesn't have management

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Speaker 1: over that oval that I.

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Speaker 2: Do though, no, and we never have. It's always been

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Speaker 2: the school oval, so you know, it's never been under

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Speaker 2: council's management.

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Speaker 1: So what was the Chief Minister talking about when she

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Speaker 1: was talking about the boar.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so council was managing the boar and then at

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Speaker 2: the end of the wet season we realized that there

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Speaker 2: was a problem with it, so it wasn't operational, but

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Speaker 2: Council did get it up and running again as soon

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Speaker 2: as we could. It did take a little bit of

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Speaker 2: time to get replacement parts in to get it operational,

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Speaker 2: and then once we realized that the only group that

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Speaker 2: was using it was the school and the boar wasn't

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Speaker 2: even on council land right, So we discussed it with

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Speaker 2: Dipple and we've handed it back to Dipple to manage

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Speaker 2: that now because it is on Crown land, we're not

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Speaker 2: using the boar. We just restored it to working condition

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Speaker 2: before we handed it back to the government. But it's

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Speaker 2: always been the school's responsibility to maintain the oval.

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Speaker 1: So you said then that when you realize that the

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Speaker 1: school was the only ones using the oval, but there

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Speaker 1: are the sporting clubs using the oval as well, that

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter though from like that doesn't come into it

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Speaker 1: from council's perspective.

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Speaker 2: No, because I mean it's up to them who manages

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Speaker 2: what between the sporting groups and the school, and that's

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Speaker 2: completely out of Council's hands. The only thing that we

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Speaker 2: did was, you know, we managed the boar there. But

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Speaker 2: these bores are getting old. So we've had a number

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Speaker 2: of bar failures in the last couple of years, so

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Speaker 2: one at Marlow Lagoon, one in Driver so they've had

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Speaker 2: to be refurbished and while that happens, unfortunately things brown

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Speaker 2: off because we can't use them. So it's problematic because

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Speaker 2: we have a lot of bores in Palmerston. It is groundwater.

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Speaker 2: I heard the Chief Minister mention that you don't actually

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Speaker 2: pay for the water, which is correct, just paying for

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Speaker 2: the maintenance and the electricity. Yeah, but they are getting

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Speaker 2: to an age now where they're just unreliable and they

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Speaker 2: could collapse at any time, or there could be some

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Speaker 2: electrical failure or failure with the pump. And then you know,

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Speaker 2: these are serious sized pumps and not the small pumps

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Speaker 2: that you get out in the rural area because we're

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Speaker 2: watering vast areas.

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Speaker 1: So is that so from your perspective, Council's handed the

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Speaker 1: boar you've just said to dipple, so in working condition? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: so it's it's good to go again now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know the condition it's in, they're going

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Speaker 2: to have to sort out watering times and top dressing

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Speaker 2: and getting it all back up to a standard that's

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Speaker 2: you know, workable.

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Speaker 1: So from your perspective, from council's perspective, you guys have managed,

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Speaker 1: you know, given the fact that it's not actually your land,

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Speaker 1: you have managed that the bear that you can. Yeah. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean we're I'm a bit confused because we're being

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Speaker 1: told by some that the boor's not working, but from

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Speaker 1: what you are saying, it is working now.

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Speaker 2: Well, when we handed it over it was working so well,

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Speaker 2: that's as far as I know. It was working when

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Speaker 2: we handed it over.

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Speaker 1: All, right, we'll follow it up now we had we

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Speaker 1: had some concerns raised last week and Jerry would have

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Speaker 1: actually messaged us about this, questioning if councils should be

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Speaker 1: standing side by side with Polly's in the lead into

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Speaker 1: an election when they're making election promises, so not funding announcements,

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Speaker 1: but election promises like we'd seen with the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: out in Palmerston and the council obviously yourself standing there

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Speaker 1: side by side when she was making that election commitment.

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Speaker 1: Is that appropriate and the lead into an election?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it is. Council's not affiliated with any party.

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Speaker 2: We work to identify projects that are necessary for our community.

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Speaker 2: It's something that we have done in the past as well,

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Speaker 2: and we did it with the Liberal Nationals when they

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Speaker 2: announced an election commitment for Great Community Hall. We did

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Speaker 2: it with both Labor and the Liberal Nationals when they

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Speaker 2: announced funding for Swell as well, and if we've we

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Speaker 2: basically went to both parties and said these are the

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Speaker 2: projects that we are looking for support.

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Speaker 1: Ye.

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Speaker 2: So you know, Leah came to our offices as well

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Speaker 2: and sat with the council and we went through our projects,

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Speaker 2: so the office still there for the CLP if they

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Speaker 2: wanted to commit to our projects as well, and of

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Speaker 2: course I'll stand with Lea when they announce them because

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Speaker 2: these are actually council projects, they're not government, so.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't doesn't blur any lines from your perspective.

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Speaker 2: I don't think so, because that's part of council's job

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Speaker 2: is to lobby to get support for our community.

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Speaker 1: I guess the way some people might see it is

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Speaker 1: that if you are standing side by side with a

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Speaker 1: political candidate, no matter whether it's the CLP or the ALP,

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Speaker 1: that you are, you know that you're that you're in

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Speaker 1: line with their views and in line with their commitments,

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Speaker 1: and that the council is aligned in some way.

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Speaker 2: Because we've got both men members of the Labor Party

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Speaker 2: and the CORP on our council. So we just focus

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Speaker 2: on what our community needs. And as I mentioned, if

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Speaker 2: Leah wanted to commit funding to these projects, and I'll

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Speaker 2: happily stand with her at these facilities and you know,

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Speaker 2: promote that they're supporting our projects as well.

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Speaker 1: All right, Athina, I want to move along and ask

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Speaker 1: about the parking out in Palmerston. There's been quite a

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Speaker 1: bit of discussion about parking in our CBD. People not

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Speaker 1: overly happy about the changing over of the parking meters

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Speaker 1: and the fact that they're no longer able to use cash.

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Speaker 1: But by the look of it, at this point in time,

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Speaker 1: council isn't well, you're not actually charging anyone for parking.

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Speaker 2: No, we've had free parking for a number of years

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Speaker 2: in our city center. We just asked that people stick

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Speaker 2: to the time limits, so you know it says two hours,

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Speaker 2: don't stay for more than two hours, because you could

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Speaker 2: still get a fine. We have the similar parking machines

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Speaker 2: that the City of Darwin has currently and you know,

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Speaker 2: cash is a nuisance unfortunately, because it adds extra cost

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Speaker 2: to people collecting fees and banking them and doing all

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Speaker 2: those sorts of transactions.

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Speaker 1: So there need to be a phase out of those machines.

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Speaker 2: There has to be. Unfortunately, we've been told that they

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Speaker 2: operate on three G networks, so we'd have to swap

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Speaker 2: out at least some of the components in them or

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Speaker 2: buy new machines. And they're not cheap. They're about seventy

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars permission.

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Speaker 1: Machine Geese.

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Speaker 2: So next year we'll work on a new parking strategy

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Speaker 2: and determine how we're going to move forward in our

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Speaker 2: city center.

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Speaker 1: But it is free, yeah, free at the moment. I

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Speaker 1: reckon people like that because then they don't need their

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Speaker 1: cash or their card to be able to pay. I

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Speaker 1: spite like, the point that keeps getting raised with us

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Speaker 1: is people are like, well, cash is still legal tender,

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Speaker 1: why can't we use it? But from what I'm hearing

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Speaker 1: really from the councils as well, is that it's a

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Speaker 1: pretty expensive exercise to be able to have that cash

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Speaker 1: collected from those meters. I guess you kind of it's

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Speaker 1: tough to find sort of a happy medium to keep

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Speaker 1: people happy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's why, you know, there've been all these

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Speaker 2: other new smart ways of doing things like the pace

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Speaker 2: day app, so you don't need cash, you can just

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Speaker 2: do it that way. And of course in some of

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Speaker 2: the other jurisdictions they use different types of machines as well,

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Speaker 2: so you know, you can just swipe your credit card

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Speaker 2: and put your regio in and.

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Speaker 1: Off you go.

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Speaker 2: So I think for us the issue is as well

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Speaker 2: that they print out tickets, which means that you need

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Speaker 2: someone to go and replace a ticket.

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Speaker 1: Role as well. Yeah, so they are.

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Speaker 2: You know, very labor intensive machines. And you know, we're

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Speaker 2: not sure where we're heading yet, but we'll find out

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Speaker 2: next year.

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Speaker 1: Well, we'll keep an ear out for that. Hey, before

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Speaker 1: I let you go this morning. The lame Way Management policy.

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Speaker 1: I know that Council is seeking input on the proposed

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Speaker 1: review of Council's laneway management. The review proposes a few

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Speaker 1: key highlights. From what I understand, what exactly is that

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Speaker 1: review looking at and how soon or how how long

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Speaker 1: have people got to be able to have their voices

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Speaker 1: heard on that.

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Speaker 2: So with the consultations open till the end of the month,

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Speaker 2: so the thirty first of July. We've introduced some basically

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Speaker 2: classifications for laneways based on an active transport category. So

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Speaker 2: these consider things like whether the laneway leads to a school,

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Speaker 2: a shop, bus stop, so people with places where people

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Speaker 2: need regular access to. And they've been classified into non essential,

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Speaker 2: low essential and essential laneways based on their proximity to

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Speaker 2: those attracting features like schools, shops, stops. And so there's

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Speaker 2: a slightly different way now that we'll be looking at

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Speaker 2: progressing applications. We do have about twenty laneways which are

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Speaker 2: currently under treatment at the moment, so that's part time

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Speaker 2: closures or full time closures or lighting, and that's to

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Speaker 2: have fixed up a lot of the communities concerned around

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Speaker 2: the laneways. And we're also moving to just review those

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Speaker 2: laneways about every four years instead of every year. Moving forward,

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Speaker 2: things have settled down quite a lot, but people adjacent

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Speaker 2: to the laneways should have been notified in writing that

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Speaker 2: the reviews underway. So if you haven't been notified, you

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Speaker 2: can contact council or jump onto our website and provide

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Speaker 2: feedback on the proposed changes to the policy.

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Speaker 1: All right, and so they can jump online and do

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Speaker 1: that well Athena Pasco Bell, the Mayor of Palmerston. We

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Speaker 1: are going to have to leave it there because we've

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Speaker 1: got to head across to the national news. Good to

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Speaker 1: catch up with you. Thank you, thank you,