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At last night's ordinary council meeting, the councillors voted to reduce water charges and give compensation for a leaking trough in Wallaby Trap and a fire main in the nursing home.
Both leaks had gone unnoticed for some time and the leak in the fire main, which services the Apex Road campus, more than doubled Mackellar Care's water usage.
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The councillors accepted the officer's recommendations to provide a credit for water usage to the value of $1181 for the Wallaby Trap issue, and to reduce a sewer usage charge from $13,816.78 to $5584.00 for the fire main problem.
The trough in Wallaby Trap is fed through the bulk water meter servicing of the village homes and the remnants of a connection installed before Mackellar Care took responsibility for the facilities' operations.
At the meeting, councillor Owen Hasler said Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group (GULG) installed two troughs at the Wallaby Trap in the early 2000s to provide water for wildlife.
He said the troughs were fed by a tank that was maintained by the council and motioned for the faulty bore pump in the leaking trough to be replaced.
Cr Hasler also said Mackellar Care had indicated the nursing home was happy to continue using the water connection, but it would like the water usage from the troughs to be deducted.
"Seeing as it’s all set up - all the infrastructure is there [and] all it needs is a new bore [pump] - I think we should continue to use it as originally intended," he said.
The fact we have a team of volunteers undertake these activities in our community, I think, should be commended.
- Councillor Ann Luke
Councillor Ann Luke seconded the motion and said that, as the council representative for GULG, she felt the volunteer group "should be recognised for their time and effort".
"I think the community would probably endorse having this sort of facility for our wildlife, and the fact we have a team of volunteers undertake these activities in our community, I think, should be commended," she said.