From the Mayor's Desk - 30 August
30 August 2021
We saw excellent community support for the combined Australian Defence Force, Western NSW Local Health District COVID-19 vaccination clinic held at the Warren Sporting and Cultural Centre on Monday 23rd August and Tuesday 24th August. Six hundred and twenty two eligible people were vaccinated over the two days.
The high take up rate is testament to the degree of care that we as individuals have for our families, friends and the whole Warren Shire community.
The only way to keep safe is to be vaccinated. The clinic will return on 13th and 14th September.
It would be remiss of me to not thank the large group of people from different organisations who facilitated the clinic. These include the ADF, the Western NSW LHD, Warren MPHS Staff, the SES, Fire and Rescue NSW, Warren Shire Council staff and the Warren Police.
Marquees were provided by Warren Supa IGA, Macquarie Toyota, WRL, Three Rivers Machinery, the Cotton Growers Association and Warren Shire Council.
Warren Central School, St Mary’s Parish School and the Warren Youth Foundation were all able to promote the event on their electronic notice boards in the days leading up to the clinic.
I also acknowledge and thank staff at the Warren MPHS for their continuing work at the COVID-19 testing clinic and those at RaRMS for the AstraZeneca clinic on Friday 20th August.
Sewerage testing for COVID-19 fragments has begun at the Warren Shire Council Sewerage Treatment Plant as an adjunct in keeping our community safe as cases of new infection continue in neighbouring Local Government Areas. Council is responsible for sample collection, but all COVID-19 testing is performed by external laboratories under the auspices of NSW Health. This specialised testing is not done by Council. NSW Health is solely responsible for the release of results. It is Council’s expectation that we will not be notified of results unless there is a positive test result and in the case that there was a positive result that the information would be released in a timely manner to the public.
Council continues to lobby both the State and Federal Governments for the funding required to repair the Warren town levee after being unsuccessful in the first round of the National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program Funding. Council does have a contingency plan in place for emergency repair work that can be enacted quickly should the need arise so that the integrity of the levee is maintained. We also have a distinct advantage in dealing with the problem in that our current General Manager, Gary Woodman oversaw the design and construction of the levee during his previous tenure at Warren Shire Council as Manager Engineering Services. Resultantly, he has an intimate knowledge of its significant capabilities.
Clr Milton Quigley
Mayor