Well we are now at the end of November and the weather has warmed up.

With all the management team on board now, its full steam ahead and busier than ever.

In between day to day meetings and discussions, I have been focusing on a few major projects that I believe are integral for the future of Cloncurry.

One of those being the prospect of a biofuels industry in Cloncurry.

I have engaged MITEZ and they have submitted a funding application through the Queensland Department of State Development.

The project will investigate options to use:

· Treated effluent water on plants to produce biofuel or hardwood.

The potential is for a new ‘green’ industry to be established, creating local jobs.

We have secured a further $500,000 to do more work on the eastern storm water project.

This project will reduce the impact of storm water run-off on the roads and to residents.

This month saw the launch of the Shop Local Campaign, with Christmas shopping a perfect excuse to get involved and support the wonderful local businesses.

The campaign will run from November 14 until December 15 2016, and there are some great vouchers up for grabs.

The minor prize draw will be on Friday November 25 at the Christmas Festival and the final prize draw will be held on Friday December 16.

I encourage you all to get involved and support the local businesses.

Congratulations to the Year 12’s who completed school recently.

Presentation night at the precinct was a great success and I really enjoyed attending.

Extra congratulations to Emma Molloy, who won a number of Leadership and Academic awards, including Dux.

I wish all of the graduates the very best for their future.

I look forward to seeing everyone at Christmas events as we approach the festive season.

Greg.

From the mayor’s desk is a regular column in the North West Star from the mayor’s of Mount Isa City Council and Cloncurry Shire Council.