Connecting people & communities PAKENHAM OFFICER Thursday, 23 July, 2015
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Thursday, 23
July, 2015 Page
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Property ty Lift outt
FOR TH
Christmas on hold By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
Lenders in thick of it IT WAS a big day out for Lauren and Cory Lenders on Saturday as the Pakenham Football Netball Club husband and wife combination travelled to Robert Booth Reserve to take on Hampton Park. With such a beautiful smile, you would think Lauren was having a relaxing day on the court against the Redbacks, right? Well that wasn’t exactly the case, with Lauren and her Lions team-mates in the heat of battle in a thrilling contest that would eventually end in a draw. Cory, or Nugget to his mates, was also knee-deep in the action, kicking two goals and continuing a fine month of footy to lead the Lions to a 20-point victory over the South East Football Netball League cellardwellers. Turn to page 49 in sport for more on a weekend that was chock full of action.
Above: Lauren Lenders and (inset) Corey Lenders. 141901
Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS
CHRISTMAS magic will be left to Santa this December after the council decided not to fund community Christmas decorations in Cardinia Shire townships. In March, the council moved that it would consider the “potential allocation of $200,000 for the provision of Christmas decorations in townships as part of the deliberations on the 2015/2016 budget.” The council then contacted business and community groups, inviting them to respond to the proposal. After receiving limited feedback from just two business groups on the idea, the matter was withdrawn at Monday night’s meeting by Ranges Ward councillor Brett Owen. Cr Owen said it was disappointing that the community had not taken the opportunity to contribute. “There was a petition back in late December last year, where the petition went around requesting for council to install Christmas decorations in Beaconsfield,” he told council. There were a number of reports that came to council, and the latest was deferred to get feedback from the community.” He said the only community groups to respond to the call out were the Maryknoll Progress Association and the Emerald Village Committee, which both made it clear that Christmas decorations were not a priority. Cr Owen had also visited the original petitioner, a business owner in Beaconsfield. “I encouraged this person to get her fellow businesses to
provide further feedback on what they want. “Unfortunately, no correspondence was received.” “With very limited feedback to this, I think it’s appropriate that we defer this matter and if there is a community will in the future, we might make future budget allocations.” Many councillors commented that it was disappointing that so few groups within the community had responded to council’s request. Councillor Tania Baxter said it was a missed opportunity for community groups to express their views directly to council. “There’s no way that council can understand the needs of the community if they will not communicate with us.” News readers were overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of council-funded Christmas decorations. Through a Facebook post, Roslyn Watson said the money could be better spent. “Use the money to fund things like the SES perhaps?” However, Tony O’Hara believes that the real issue is Pakenham’s lack of a chamber of commerce. “If we had an active chamber of commerce for each of the major areas, maybe businesses could chip in,” he said. “If that happened, maybe a council contribution would be warranted. After all, businesses would also gain from the increased activity.” The council has not previously funded Christmas decorations within Cardinia Shire.
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