Tamworth council to decide on Connors Creek Dam future

The dam is more than 80 years old and requires council-funded maintenance to get up to the state’s safety standards.

The dam use to be Barraba’s emergency water supply, however is no longer used since the town was connected to Split Rock Dam via a pipeline.

Tamworth councillors will consider three options; decommissioning the dam, redesigning the dam or spending $225,000 on minor capital works.

Should councillors decide to go with the capital works, which an investigation found to be the most cost-effective option, it will come with an additional $130,000 worth of reviews over the next decade.

Councillors will be updated of cost blow out in council’s public amenities replacement program. The final cost to upgrade the 14 public toilets has come back at more than $1.9m, about $445,000 over budget.

A council report recommends deferring the upgrade of the public toilets at the Marsupial Park, Attunga rest stop, Barraba Rotary Park and Moonbi Lookout until additional funds become available.

Council will also discuss standardising the opening hours of its nine waste management facilities, with morning opening hours of 9am to 12pm and afternoon hours of 1pm to 4pm.

The opening hours across the facilities are inconsistent, a lasting legacy of the amalgamation of former councils in 2004.

The new proposed hours resolve a number of work health and safety issues, and will save council approximately $50,000 a year in employee overtime.

“It is expected that a minimum of 15 hours of overtime, based on current staffing levels, could be removed or reallocated for maintenance activities,” the report states.

If approved, the new tip times will come in to affect for Barraba, Bendemeer, Dungowan, Duri, Kootingal, Manilla, Nundle and Somerton on September 1.