Shire councillors have called for an investigation into potential upgrades for Rangari and Mount Kaputar roads.
The issues were brought up in two separate items at the last council meeting in 2023.
Council will also write to Member for Barwon Roy Butler, and arrange a meeting with the state MP as well as other relevant state and federal ministers to seek funding or co-funding for two upgrades.
The two notices of motion were moved by Cr Lisa Richardson and seconded by Cr Rohan Boehm.
Addressing the two matters, Cr Richardson said she would not be able to live with herself if she didn’t advocate for the items and a fatality occurred on either road.
Speaking about her push to have Rangari Road sealed, Cr Richardson noted the volume of traffic the road receives as well as safety concerns.
“It’s not sustainable to have a council grader there 24/7 and it’s getting to the point that’s what it needs,” she said.
“I know we have written to local members and ministers in the past unfortunately with no assistance in response.
“I don’t see how relevant ministers can say that Rangari Road is a high safety concern and co-contribute with Tamworth and Gunnedah Shire.
“Now that Narrabri has a bit of a surplus that they could use to co-contribute, they can’t help us.”
Cr Richardson said the road is still a safety issue.
“We need to advocate for Rangari Road … to investigate how we are going to get it sealed,” she said.
Cr Boehm echoed similar concerns about road safety and said he strongly supported the two matters.
“We desperately need some very good quality shovel ready projects,” he said.
“At the very least, this needs to go into next year’s budget.
“It’s not a safe road, particularly when there’s traffic on it.
“At the very least, we should be scoping now what the actual cost of getting it to a shovel ready project is.”
General manager Rob Williams addressed both items and cautioned the impact of including projects not included in council’s delivery plan.
“It would be remiss of me not to provide some sobering advice and to take a step back to June this year when we approved the operational plan,” he said.
“I want to point out that Rangari Road wasn’t even in the delivery plan which is the three year horizon where we discuss our operational plan.
“Our operational plan was projecting expenditure of about 70 something million dollars. When staff went through it we presented a picture of some $60 million worth of expenditure to our councillors at that point in time and it didn’t include either of these two projects.
“We managed to trim last year’s budget to $45 million through last year’s operational plan approvals and then we had to add another $18 million to that from carry forwards from the previous year which then took this year’s operational plan delivery to something of the order of … if my maths is right … $63 million.
“Rangari Road would be in the order of $10 million to deliver plus Kaputar Road which I’m advised is significantly more work.”
Mr Williams said while he is in favour of doing good infrastructure for the community, it is the job of the councillors to try and budget prudently and to not overload not only the staff within the organisation but also contractors.
Cr Greg Lamont said the intention of this notice of motion is the council seeking to get parties at the table “so there’s good background information before it’s raised in the budget session going forward”.
“My experience has always been that you do not touch what the community told you in your community strategic plan,” he said.
“When you develop your delivery program, that’s what you stick to for the budget going forward.
“I support in principle the motion but I also endorse what the general manager is saying.”
Cr Lamont said if council received information about the projects, it may be in a better position next year to be good budget managers and look at what projects can be done.
Cr Brett Dickinson commended Cr Richardson for raising the matters, however, voiced concern with taking on such projects when council has a backlog of flood repairs.
“It just worries me that we’re going to get bogged down in this road and that road, and we’re going to not concentrate on getting done what we should have already got done by now,” he said.
“I just ask that we try get some of the backlog out of the way before we push forward into some of the extra roads we need to take care of.”
Cr Richardson acknowledged the work underway by staff addressing flood damage in the shire.
“My intention of this is we need a shovel ready project,” she said.
Addressing Mount Kaputar Road, Cr Richardson said it is the gateway to one of the shire’s biggest tourist attractions.
“This road, especially in heinous weather conditions, is at the peak of use for cars and trucks using it.
“There is not enough width for a truck and a car to pass.
“You will see people go up in wet weather to see the elusive pink slug. It think it would be a very big shame for that road to be deemed unusable.”
Cr Richardson said the Mount Kaputar Road motion was to avoid getting to a situation where the road is shut.
The bitumised portion of the road leading to the Kaputar summit is maintained by National Parks while the remainder is the responsibility of council.
Acting director Evan Harris said council had conducted a preliminary look at both roads and suggested upgrades to Mount Kaputar Road would be in the range of $17 million and then $11 million for Rangari Road.
Addressing the Mount Kaputar Road motion, Cr Redding voiced similar concerns to Cr Dickinson in regards to council’s backlog of flood repairs.
Cr Redding also voiced worries about spending funds on investigating the upgrades when it has not been allocated in the budget.
“For the present time, I’m just not comfortable with putting this additional pressure on our staff, finding this additional money, because it’s got to come from somewhere,” she said.
“Something’s got to give to give to somewhere else.”
In his closing remarks in relation to the matters, Cr Darrell Tiemens said it is clear it is of a nature of pure advocacy.
“There is no intention of any expenditure as a result of that motion. There is no delivery as part of that motion otherwise I would not have agreed to it,” he said.
The two motions regarding Rangari Road and Mount Kaputar Road were carried by council, with Crs Tiemens, Boehm, Lamont and Richardson voting in favour and Crs Dickinson and Redding voting against.
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