Cobar Shire Council welcomed new coun-cillor Michael Prince to their Ordinary Council Meeting last Thursday afternoon.
The election of Mr Prince at the recent by-election now brings council up to its full complement of 12 councillors.
With only a small meeting agenda, Mr Prince’s first meeting as a new councillor was only a short one and the meeting was complet-ed in less than 40 minutes.
In the absence of the mayor Peter Abbott and deputy mayor Jarrod Marsden (who were both apologies for the meeting), councillors elected Cr Bob Sinclair to act as the meeting’s chair.
In discussions on the General Manager’s Operational Report presented to council, Cr Julie Payne raised concerns about the water budget deficit.
Council’s general manager Peter Vlatko advised that due to the significant cost of sup-plying water to Cobar residents, staff will be providing council with a true understanding of what will be required to ensure the water fund does not continue to be in deficit.
Mr Vlatko advised the complete budget will come before council and then go out for pub-lic comment before it is adopted.
In discussions about grant funded projects, Cr Lillian Simpson called for an update on the Town Hall Cinema Carpark which is on hold due to the structural integrity of the adjacent Town Hall Cinema building.
Mr Vlatko advised the hall roof appears to be collapsing. He said Council is awaiting a report from a structural engineer on the state of building before any repair work can be carried out or it needs to be demolished (if repairing it is not a viable option).
