The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Atitjere Municipal Works Team have just taken delivery of a new Kubota SVL75 skid steer.
Shane White, Nathan Fishook and David Rankine got familiar with the new machine on Tuesday, 28 September.
The new machine has a higher lifting capacity and is tracked making it more suitable for landfill works than the older JCB wheeled skid steer that it replaces. The control layout and cabin is very similar to the old machine making the change over easy. The cabin in the new skid steer is air conditioned and has an adjustable suspension seat that makes operation comfortable. It also has an auger attachment and extension forks for the front end loader making it very versatile.
The Work Health and Safety (WHS) October Safe Work Month film competition was hotly contested this year, with the dominant themes around vehicles and personal protective equipment (PPE).
At the September Council meeting the Councillors watched all the movies and deliberated over the outcome and there was a dead heat between two movies. Luckily, the Hon. Chansey Paech was in attendance for the swearing in of the new Councillors and was asked to choose the winner.
The winner as chosen by the Council and the Minister were the Community Development Program (CDP) team for their film, ‘Think Safe and Drive Safe’. Congratulations to the CDP team.
The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Safety Patrol (CSP) team held a barbecue on Saturday night to introduce the new CSP vehicle for Engawala.
“The BBQ was a huge success. We had over 45 people come along, and the CSP Team Members did a lot of the heavy lifting with cooking, setting up the tables, and serving people,” said CSP Team Leader in Engawala, Stephen Royes. “And they love the new car!” he added.
The new vehicle is a Toyota Fortuna, an SUV version of the Hilux that it is replacing, with capacity to carry seven people. A new one will go to each of the CDRC CSP communities.
Engawala got the first vehicle of the new set, because the team took such good care of their last vehicle.
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) welcomes the newly elected Councillors to the fourth CDRC Council, who were sworn in on 30 September in Alice Springs, with Chansey Paech MLA in attendance.
Cr Adrian Dixon was elected President once again by the Council, with Cr Warren Williams returning to the role of Deputy President.
Adrian Dixon, Warren Williams, James Glenn, William Liddle, April Martin, Jacob Spencer and Freddy Williams all return to the Council, with Adrian Dixon and James Glenn having served on Council since its beginning in 2008.
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Youth, Sport and Recreation (YSR) staff attended a three day training week to complete various courses and planning sessions from 21 – 23 September. There was a total of twenty participants including staff from Laramba, Yuelamu, Atitjere, Pmara Jutunta, Nturiya, Wilora, Engawala and Alice Springs.
Over the three days the group completed an internal planning session to discuss what is working in the program and what requires further improvement. Strategies discussed will be implemented by staff across CDRC sites to further enhance the program.
On Thursday 9 September Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Aged Care staff attended the Graduation ceremony at Batchelor – Desert People Centre Campus Alice Springs to graduate their Certificate II in Family Well Being.
There were four staff from Anmatjere, three staff from Engawala and two staff from Atitjere.
Congratulations to all the graduates.
The first round of the new breakfast all staff meetings were conducted throughout all nine Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) council centres on 31 August. For Engawala and Atitjere egg and bacon sandwiches and fruit juice were on the menu. Engawala utilised the Aged Care facility while Atitjere were able to make use of their barbecue to get the job done.
All staff in attendance appreciated the opportunity to have a feed and discuss any local matters prior to the Council wide phone link up being conducted. This round Engawala was supported by Aged Care and Atitjere by Municipal.
The 2021 Local Government Elections for the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) were held in August and the results are now out.
Northern Tanami
There were only two nominations for two positions, so no election necessary. These were Andrew Johnson and Cyril Tasman.
Southern Tanami
There were four nominations for four positions, all by returning councillors. These are Warren Williams, April Martin, Fred Williams and Jacob Spencer.
Anmatjere
The Laramba Local Authority (LA) proposed to plant some indigenous trees along the main road into the community, from the Childcare to the turn off at the school. The approved sacred site clearance is for trees on both sides of the road however the other side next to the oval has a power line, so there are plans to get shade trees that will not grow tall so as not to disturb the overhead line.
A contractor planted 17 trees with tree guards a few weeks ago and the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) was tasked with the tree maintenance and management. On 31 August Francis Madonko, Program Manager CDP Activities, visited Laramba to see how best they could manage the tree maintenance.
“I realised the contractor didn’t put basins around the trees, which is very important to allow water to collect so it can sink deep to encourage good root development and give the tree good anchoring,” he said.
A recent visit to Engawala Community by the Atitjere Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) works crew sparked some inter-community rivalry when they saw some of the new landfill improvement works there. One thing in particular that interested them was the new cardboard burn pit. The Engawala CDRC works crew have used some recycled materials to construct a very impressive new pit.
Since then, the Atitjere crew took on the challenge and designed a burn pit that they feel has lifted the bar even higher! They sourced some old leftover materials and have put together what they believe to be an even bigger and better cardboard pit.
