Lake Residents Start Talking About Council Services

Lake Macquarie City Council has kicked off a series of community workshops this evening with more than 60 residents attending a meeting at Morisset where they gave feedback on the Council services they value most.

 26/07/11

Lake Macquarie City Council has kicked off a series of community workshops this evening with more than 60 residents attending a meeting at Morisset where they gave feedback on the Council services they value most.

While residents from the western side of the lake confirmed that the traditional council services like 'roads, rates, and rubbish' remain important to them, they also highly value other important services like family day care, management of the lake and the foreshore, and the provision of a clean and safe city.

Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Councillor Greg Piper, said tonight's meeting was the first of three this week.

"It was great to see our community members really start to think about the types of services Council provides and then consider which services really enhance their lifestyle and which services they couldn't do without," Cr Piper said.

Council is undertaking a series of community forums this week where the community will receive information on Council's current financial challenges and have an opportunity to provide feedback on what services they think ratepayer funds should be spent on. The community forums are running in conjunction with the My Lake Macquarie - Securing our Future online forum www.haveyoursaylakemac.com.au.

"Our swimming centres and libraries are still highly valued, as are our footways and cycleways, but the community heard that we cannot continue to provide all our current services with existing levels of income," Cr Piper said.

"Participants were generally reluctant to see Council reduce services but if our income cannot be increased, we do have some feedback on the kinds of things they could do without, as well as some feedback on services that may not necessarily be Council's role to provide."

"Once we have finished this stage of community engagement, the challenge for Council will be finding the right balance when it comes to making a change to our income, making cuts to services, or striking the right mix of the two," Cr Piper concluded.

Council will hold two more community forums in this week:

Wed 27 July 2011 Belmont 16 Foot Sailing Club - The Parade, Belmont

Thu 28 July 2011 The Place: Charlestown Community Centre - Charlestown Square (Ground Floor) Cnr Frederick and Pearson Street, Charlestown

All the community forums will be held from 6.30pm to 8pm with light refreshments from 6pm.