Murray Bridge council watch: Jervois netballers need new toilets

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There aren’t too many folks around who remember when the public toilets at the Jervois Combined Sports Club were built.

The town’s oval is reasonably busy year-round, with summer and winter sports and a playground for local children, and its status as a designated RV friendly location and bushfire refuge.

But its facilities aren’t up to scratch, Michelle Afford and Jo Flett say.

Netball SA agrees – an audit rated them as “poor”, wracked by problems and close to the end of their life.

The ancient toilet block has no lights and is inaccessible to people with mobility impairments.

There are no changerooms or first aid facilities, and not enough storage space or shade.

So, on behalf of Jervois’ netball and tennis clubs, the women approached the Murray Bridge council a fortnight ago to ask for help with a new building.

The clubs hoped to build a 27-by-four-metre building with six toilets, showers, change rooms, a small kitchen and a storage area.

Since the oval was owned by the sporting clubs, they would take the lead; the council would just provide its advocacy and a sum of money yet to be determined.

Councillors did not make any decision at their meeting, but Mayor Wayne Thorley – who said his father would have been a little boy when the toilets were built – agreed that a partnership between the council and the clubs would be the best way forward.

Third party will take over EV charging station

Meanwhile, the council plans to outsource the operation of an electric car charging station out the front of its office after a push by members of the public.

The council built the charging station in 2018 to attract tourists and demonstrate its commitment to reducing carbon emissions.

However, resident Robert Roach argued last year that it was unfair for ratepayers to subsidise the service.

So, at their January meeting, councillors voted to call for expressions of interest from a private company which might operate the station instead.

If nobody was interested, Mayor Wayne Thorley suggested, the chargers would just be switched off.

Shopping trolleys still cause trouble around Murray Bridge

What can be done about all the abandoned shopping trolleys littering the streets of Murray Bridge?

A years-long debate about the issue resumed at the council’s January meeting after Cr Tom Haig said he was “sick to death” of them.

Council staff had told him they’d rounded up 70 of the things, he said.

The councillor suggested that staff write a report on the problem, with some possible solutions.

But they had already done that, Cr Karen Eckermann pointed out, back in 2021; and although the state government had made some noise about the issue since then, nothing had changed.

Shopping trolleys were ultimately left out of an update to South Australia’s nuisance and litter regulations which is due to come into effect in April.

“If it was up to me, they’d all be on a boat on their way to be smelted in China,” Mayor Wayne Thorley said.

“But we can’t do that.”

Councillor wants acknowledgement of country changed

Finally, the Murray Bridge council should change an acknowledgement of country at the start of its meetings, a councillor says.

At present, council meetings start with a nominally Christian prayer, then an acknowledgement of the Ngarrindjeri people, then a statement about recognition of “global pioneers and community members”.

Cr Tom Haig suggested the council use a more generic acknowledgement of all past contributors to the community, including any prominent locals who had recently died.

“I’m not advocating that there be no reference to the traditional owners,” Cr Haig said.

“(But) there are multiple other individuals and community groups within Murray Bridge who are deserving of being recognised.”

Councillors agreed to discuss the idea further in private.

Quote of the month

“It’s taken more gestation than a blue whale, but we’re getting there.”

–Wayne Thorley, on the plan to outsource the council’s electric car charging facility