Oallen Forde - The Good, The Bad and the "Really UGLY"

[backcreek]

Previously as far as the council was concerned the issue was out of sight out of mind and Mr Holloway was just floating along.

While I admire the efforts and intentions of the letter writers I think we need to be careful here because if the council sees the problem in the area as too big they might just lock us out.

It's been done before!

 

[Danielkrupski]

I agree with backcreek. Be careful with bombarding emails with council. If it is deemed too much of a cost or too much hassle rather than rectifying a problem they will lock it out. At the end of the day it all comes back to funding. It is much cheaper to say no rather than say yes !!

 

[pjg100]

Backcreek,

Fair cop with your post, but if there is no registration of complaints with any council about their assets nothing will come to light until there is claim and that is when they will claim ignorance. But if there is a history of emails, then they might just act in the positive to buffer any such claims to avoid embarrassment.

We can talk more about this matter around the fire at Tuena soon.

Peter.

 

[Imadogman]

Good job by the members who cleaned this crap up. This garbage is astonishing and reflects some very uneducated or antisocial citizens...

Dob in the dumpers I say...

but in the meantime, perhaps we should all carry a spare garbage bag and do our bit.

With two long weekends coming up, Easter and Anzac, this is well likely to repeat itself so be prepared to be observant and take it from there.

I really liked one of the earlier suggestions about a Clean up the Ford Weekend...that would be a good event. With a bit of wet work chucked in afterwards. Organised with the council perhaps...garbage truck etc.

If there is a member who lives in Bungendore perhaps they could go and see the council in person. There are a lot of fossicking areas in the Palerang Council area but Oallen is a gem and we need to safeguard access to it.

I have called into the council offices there previously to inquire about any fossicking tourism and there was very little knowledge or interest in anything about fossicking, but maybe that is just who I spoke with. This is a pity because their area covers Captains Flat, Araluan, Mongarlowe, Braidwood, Majors Creek, Nerriga etc. all areas with known gold.

 

[pjg100]

Hello all,
Yesterday, I was down at Oallen.
As previously posted, I took gear down to clean up the garbage pile. It only took three garbage bags and 20 minutes, how hard is it.

What I did find was that these grubs are readers of the Chronicle, newspaper from Queanbeyan, albeit slow readers. The dates were October 2013.

With only enough room for these bags with my gear, the fireplace with the bottles remains for next time.
The esky has managed to find it's way down the embankment near a ute who may have adopted it.

There was a few panners, who I hope that they clean-up after themselves.

The river was up, but not as high as expected.

Peter. :

 

[spottedgum]

Thanks for sharing that Wal it was a fantastic day out there but a shame a few threaten to spoil it for he rest of us.

The prospecting community is a great for sharing info and I hope this one will help solve some issues

I have just come across an APP in my council newsletter. It is called: Snap, Send, Solve By taking a photo on your mobile, it will allow you to report problems to councils from potholes to illegally dumped rubbish.
I have not used the App yet but it can be downloaded from https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/snap-send-solve/id377854149?mt=8 for Apple devices and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.outware.snapsendsolve for Android.

 

[HeadsUp]

did anyone get a reply to emails sent to the council ?

do we need to make follow up phone calls ?

public servants working hard with our tax dollars ~ ~ ~ ?

 

[penfooey]

did anyone get a reply to emails sent to the council ?

do we need to make follow up phone calls ?

public servants working hard with our tax dollars ~ ~ ~ ?

Nope, the only response I had was an email to say they received my email. Don't know if Pete has received anything back yet? Will do a follow up today.

 

[kleinman98]

Thanks for sharing that Wal it was a fantastic day out there but a shame a few threaten to spoil it for he rest of us.

The prospecting community is a great for sharing info and I hope this one will help solve some issues

I have just come across an APP in my council newsletter. It is called: Snap, Send, Solve By taking a photo on your mobile, it will allow you to report problems to councils from potholes to illegally dumped rubbish.
I have not used the App yet but it can be downloaded from https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/snap-send-solve/id377854149?mt=8 for Apple devices and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.outware.snapsendsolve for Android.

That app needs internet access and uses gps positioning. Ive got it and it does work when you have 3g but I havent tried it to report after the fact.

 

[penfooey]

Well so much for cleaning up....here is the response from Palerang Council - his majesty Simon Holloway. I guess what they are saying is, if we come across any rubbish left anywhere - LEAVE IT!!! While I can see his point legally (crap crap crap) I cannot see these idiots going through each smelly rubbish bag to even look for evidence of who it belonged to. He goes on to say the rubbish has to be seen NOT to be tampered with.....what happens then when an animal get's into it? It took numerous attempts to get a response from these people in the first place. I guess they put it in the too hard basket.....anyway I'll leave it to you all to make your own opinion.

"My apologies for not responding earlier your original email seems to have been tasked to the Works Department for clean up and never forwarded to Councils compliance section.

I passed the information to a compliance officer for assessment, however the evidence is unfortunately not sufficient to warrant further investigation in this case.

While I appreciate that you believed you were doing the right thing by removing the rubbish, from a legal perspective the evidence has consequently been tampered with and removed before it could be sighted and assessed by a compliance officer which makes a case very difficult to build. Even if rubbish is sighted in-situ by the officer they still need to be confident that it does not appear to have been tampered with.

In addition, the letter to the occupier is much less meaningful than something with a specific name on it.

I do sincerely thank you for removing the rubbish, however next time if you report it to your local Council without disturbing or removing it then the investigating officer may be able to assess the site as being un tampered with and hopefully obtain sufficient evidence to take legal action."

Simon Holloway

Environmental Services Coordinator

Palerang Council

Phone: (02) 6238 8111

 

[pjg100]

Penfooey,
Isn't amazing that you have got a reply, I am still waiting for mine.

The environmental Coordinator states a surprising thing; however next time if you report it to your local Council without disturbing or removing it then the investigating officer may be able to assess the site as being un tampered with and hopefully obtain sufficient evidence to take legal action.
If you tell your council about the mess, they would ignore this as it does fall under their boundaries in their LGA.
What more can be done?

Peter.

 

[penfooey]

Penfooey,
Isn't amazing that you have got a reply, I am still waiting for mine.

The environmental Coordinator states a surprising thing; however next time if you report it to your local Council without disturbing or removing it then the investigating officer may be able to assess the site as being un tampered with and hopefully obtain sufficient evidence to take legal action.
If you tell your council about the mess, they would ignore this as it does fall under their boundaries in their LGA.
What more can be done?

Peter.

Sort of like damned if you do and damned if you don't I suppose....