Forty-two people attended Tenterfield's first Business Breakfast Meeting of 2020 at the Tenterfield Golf Club on Wednesday, January 22. The meeting set the scene for what is sure to be a productive year ahead.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Key speakers included Kelly Foran, community innovation co-ordinator for Hunter New England Local Health District (HNEW LHD), and Jodie Magner, recovery support officer with the Northern NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI).
Jodie was recently appointed by the DPI to assist with funding for fire affected residents. She is informing shire residents of what grants and loans are available. She can be phoned on 0429 995 189 or emailed at jodie.magner@dpi.nsw.gov.au .
Kelly Foran was recently appointed by the HNE LHD. Her role involves improving communication between the various services offered in Tenterfield, as well as to the community. She promotes and increases applications for the 'Empowering our Communities Grant' for local not for profit organisations to encourage community activities that involve social cohesion, whilst reducing the stigma associated with using health services. Kelly can be phoned on 02 6739 0200 or emailed at kelly.foran@health.nsw.gov.au.
READ ALSO:
Council staff from Community Engagement, Tourism, Economic Development, and Water & Waste provided informative updates about work carried out over the past couple of months, as well as an update on future goals and objectives.
Harry Bolton, Council's economic development and community engagement manager, introduced his team; Rebekah Kelly (community development officer), Caitlin Reid (tourism and marketing manager), Emma Johnson (tourism and marketing officer), and Charlie Mains (tourism and cultural services officer).
Meeting attendees were shown a sneak-preview of the soon-to-be-launched Visit Tenterfield and Tenterfield Shire Council websites. Both new websites will improve user-friendly experience and offer more to users in terms of business listing profiles, event calendars, video presentation, and image galleries.
Local businesses are encouraged to submit their business information, including business name, business summary, contact details (including website and social media links), opening hours and hi-resolution images to Caitlin Reid at council@tenterfield.nsw.gov.au if they haven't already done so, to ensure inclusion on the new Visit Tenterfield website, which will also display business listings for non-tourism related operators.
Council's Economic Development & Tourism team members are also developing a monthly e-newsletter to be released by the end of January. This will be distributed to local business operators to share regular updates about projects and campaigns, as well as how to get involved, industry-specific news, events, and helpful resources.
Council's Tourism and Marketing team provided an overview of the summer marketing campaign they implemented before Christmas. This included a detailed summary of each component of the campaign, as well as associated results.
The campaign was rolled out across host platforms, including social and digital media (website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify), radio, and television. Focus was placed on promoting Tenterfield's dining experiences (including local cafes, restaurants and hearty country pubs), country hospitality, small town soul, boutique shopping, history, and nature, encouraging visitors to reconnect, explore and enjoy life's simple pleasures.
The 15 second TV ads have appeared across NBN 9 Network channels into Lismore/Northern Rivers and the Gold Coast. More than 2000 ads (including 1169 bonus ads) have been shown to nearly two million television viewers. This campaign continues to run to the end of January.
A 30 second radio commercial was aired 84 times on Rebel FM into the Gold Coast. The same commercial was aired on Spotify, which included an image linked to the Visit Tenterfield Website. This ad reached 12,647 users, was heard by 79% of people, and more than 50 clicked through to the website.
During November and December, 33 posts were published on Facebook, many focusing on the boutique shopping, food and wine and arts and culture available in Tenterfield. A shopping video which was boosted (paid advertising) reached 19,990 people and saw 1,367 clicks to the Visit Tenterfield website. The TV commercial was posted on Facebook and also boosted, and reached 19,241 people.
The Tenterfield region was also promoted within feature articles of the December issues of Wanderer Magazine (Australia's largest RV Club magazine) and Caravan World magazine, which was attributed to Council's tourism marketing partnership with the New England High Country tourism brand - a joint marketing initiative of six NSW Councils, including Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Inverell, Guyra, Uralla, Walcha and Armidale. The group's collaborative approach to funding contributions increases media opportunities to market the region as a whole.
Council's technical projects engineer Melissa Blum said the recent boil water alert has now become a case study for other Shires to manage the effects of bushfire related water supply and contamination issues.
The boil water alert, which was in place for two months, was caused by an increase in turbidity levels, which the water treatment plant was initially unable to manage. These levels exceeded the NSW Health Guidelines for approximately three days, but the alert was not lifted for two months. The unpleasant taste, odour, and discolouration was caused by sediment, ash, and decaying vegetation entering the Dam after the heavy rainfall over the burnt out catchment.
NSW Health and DPI Water Departments assisted Council to test for, and rectify these issues. They used chlorine to remove manganese causing the discolouration.
Council has worked hard and applied considerable assets and time to meet health, safety and compliance requirements, as well as plan the town's water resources and supply. The dam is currently at 52%; recent rain raised the water level by 20%.
Council's Acting Chief Executive, Kylie Smith, advised that council had recently submitted 37 grant applications. Details of any successful applications will be released to the community.
Local business and industry representatives are invited to attend future meetings, which will be held quarterly throughout the year. Each event will feature guest speakers from industries and organisations.
