summer special edition - january 2014

The Bell Bunya Community Committee wish all our Patrons a Happy New Year and advise that the fully air conditioned Centre opens

every day of the week from 10.00am to 3.00pm

71 Maxwell Street, Cnr Wallace and Maxwell Streets, BELL

Ph. Ruth Storey 4663 1087 or 4663 1193 E: bellbunyacommunitycentre@gmail.com

Smell the roses and stay a while to browse through the Community Centre nestling in peaceful landscaped surroundings. Enjoy the arts, crafts, gallery, library and tourism features.

Group bookings welcome for the function room looking out to the Memorial Rose Garden

The Centre Coffee Shop, a delightful stop over to sample fresh country cooking and enjoy a delicious aromatic barista coffee.

How we are completing 30 years of roadworks in 16 monthsTo achieve the demanding Operation Road Restore schedule Council has modernised how it conducts roadworks by using a range of innovative practices, starting with extensive planning and resourcing solutions, through to working on several roads at once, to stabilising the top of the black soil, and much more.

Project Area Before Operation Road Restore For Operation Road Restore Achievements

Planning Jobs were small so only basic planning was needed

Extensive planning was done including surveying, design, and investigating utility placement (gas, water, electricity, and telecommunications)

Any potential problems were worked through in the planning stages rather than 'on-the-job' so that barely a day has been missed by Council crews, despite flood and rainfall events

Council Crews and Specialist Contractors

One Council Work Construction Crew of ten men would take three to four months to reconstruct roads on four urban blocks

Council crews coordinated and prepared on-site work with specialist sub-contractors coming in to complete profiling, stabilising and sealing work

By using two Council crews on one job (20 men) and sub-contractors to fast-track the specialist work, reconstructing roads on four urban blocks is being done in four to six weeks, also enabling multiple streets to be worked on at any one time

With sub-contractors booked two months ahead, it is crucial that Council crews ensure sites are ready on time so that contractors can complete the work on the day they arrive

Council has halved the time it takes to reconstruct roads on four urban blocks

Council crews have worked over and above their normal hours and workloads to ensure that schedules are maintained so that when specialist contractors arrive on-site there are no delays. This is a testament to Council workers’ determination to ensure schedules are met

How we’ve handled issues to minimise impacts

Issue Process Outcome

2013 Flood events

In January and March this year Dalby experienced some flooding with water inundating some work sites

Crews and contractors worked extra hours to minimise any set-backs and ensured that Operation Road Restore stayed on schedule

Reworking some streets

Gravel material which wasn’t to grade and which was related to an earlier blast at Council’s Jimbour Quarry was first used to reconstruct Edward, Wood and Bunya Streets

This was identified early and steps taken to rectify the issue, such as minimising pavement stress and ensuring processes were in place so this won’t happen again

Council decided to re-do the surfacing on Edward, Wood and Bunya Streets and undertook an effective engineering solution to prevent the longer term deterioration of the new asset. This also ensures a high quality road for residents to use now, rather than leaving the problem to worsen and be dealt with in years to come

Minor defects in road surface

Council ensures that all contractors comply with approved quality assurance systems when constructing roads, however given the nature of road construction and the size of the project, from time–to–time minor defects can appear

Whenever defects have occurred, Council crews have worked with contractors to rectify the issue at the time

Feedback from residents

We are pleased to report that residents have been very cooperative and understanding throughout the project

Council has received very few formal complaints, which is a credit to the staff working on Operation Road Restore given its magnitude

FARMER wants a LIFE

Coming to a town near

you in February 2014.

the

Once upon

a time...

...And they all

lived happily

ever after.

“The Farmer Wants a Life” – a

brought to you by the BMO Business Centre.

Coming to...Taroom Wednesday 12 Feb

Condamine Thursday 13 FebDirranbandi Tuesday 18 Feb Moonie Wednesday 19 Feb

Dalby Thursday 20 Feb

RSVP now for one of the free “THE FARMER WANTS A LIFE” seminars.

10 February via:

POSITION VACANT

FREELANCE JOURNALISTCasual Position - Immediate Start

A position is available for a casual freelance journalist to work

with the team at Western Downs Magazines.

The successful applicant will be required to prepare

high quality written content for magazines

distributed across the Western Downs Region.

Email your Portfolio and CV to:

editor@westerndownsmagazines.com

www.westerndownsmagazines.com

ThankyouThankyouThankyou to all my friends in Jandowae for the emails, letters, cards, phone calls and get well messages during my recent stay in hospital. All very much appreciated and confirms my opinion that Jandowae is the capital of caring, kindness and good will. Love and kindest regards to you all. Margaret Atkinson