August 2018

Geoff O’Brien Awarded Lifetime Membership

President Kyle Chamberlain and Vice President Renato Mulhuyzen had the special honor of presenting one of our long standing Chamber members lifetime membership to the Picton Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday night.

Both Kyle and Renato took turns in highlighting Geoff O’Brien’s service to the Chamber and the broader community.

Most community groups and service clubs celebrate certain milestones of their members and ours is no different.We have a member amongst us who needs to be recognised, deserves to be recognised and, as of tonight, will be recognised.
This member has achieved longevity in this Chamber that none of us can match – over 20 years with an undetermined starting date due to the destruction of our records in the storm of 2016.
He made an enormous contribution to Picton after the storm, working tirelessly to restore businesses back to trading ability. He encouraged everyone to come to Picton to support local business and put in 24 hours a day for our Christmas in July promotion. Who doesn’t remember the many christmas trees and the snow? The car that was raffled during Flourish was obtained due to this member’s negotiation skills. I am, of course, talking about Geoff O’Brien.

Geoff has undertaken many leadership roles throughout his time in Chamber and his contribution will be everlasting. Both personally and through the company he represents, Bradcorp, Geoff is always willing to help financially. It would be fairly obvious to say this gesture is extremely appreciated by our Chamber.
And lastly, if we could all promote our Chamber within the community with as much positivity as Geoff does, membership numbers would go through the roof!

His wonderful attitude, continual contribution at meetings and events and sheer enthusiasm for the Chamber made it an easy decision for this committee to award Life Membership to Geoff O’Brien.

July 2018 Meeting Update

1st Guest Speaker: Michael Malone

Director of Infrastructure & Environment
Wollondilly Council

After our State Member Jai Rowel’s announcement of a $3 Million investigation into rerouting traffic around Picton, the Chamber of Commerce invited Michael Malone to provide a rundown of any information Council might be able to provide regarding future traffic matters in Picton.

Members were informed that Mr Malone had attended a meeting with the Roads and Maritime Authority to discuss the by-pass and provide the Authority with existing traffic data from Council.

In addition, Mr Malone discussed the various traffic areas around Picton that were likely to be rated unsafe or unusable by 2026. Some of the areas in question were pedestrian traffic on Argyle Street North in the CBD and at the Picton Public School, The Queen Victoria Bridge and everyone’s favourite, the intersection at Menagle and Argyle Streets.

Michael spent some time answering questions from the members.

The Chamber members thank Mr Malone for taking the time on Wednesday night to provide an informative briefing.

2nd Guest Speaker: Blair Briggs

Councillor, Wollondilly Council

Blair Briggs spoke in regard to the Council’s “Wollondilly Destination Management Plan”

Stafford Strategy was commissioned by Wollondilly Shire Council to complete a Destination Management Plan for Wollondilly Shire. The purpose of the DMP is to guide sustainable growth and to help ensure the viability and resilience of the tourism industry in the Shire.

Some game changing projects that were prioritised in the study were discussed.

These are noted as the following:

•  introduction of a major nationally branded destination holiday park;

•  encourage the development of a higher-end eco-lodge(s) with an integrated wellness centre/day spa;

•  investment prospectus to entice investors to invest in the Shire;

• development of a visitor economy awareness campaign to encourage the host community to be advocates for the Shire and to expand community understanding of the broad-ranging benefits generated through the visitor economy; and

• development of an overnight guided Great Walk experience, in collaboration with the Blue Mountains.

These projects are referred to as “game changers” because of their potential to have a major impact on the Shire’s visitor economy through increased visitor yield, growing visitor average length of stay, shifting visitation from day trips to overnight, the generation of new investment into the Shire as well as ensuring the community are advocates for the visitor economy.

The draft plan is available for comment currently and can be obtained at the Council’s website.

The Chamber members thank Mr Briggs for taking the time on Wednesday night to provide an informative briefing.