2014-03-25 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda Pages 168-231

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     25 MARCH 2014


1.     Top Tier Priority Strategies (first 6 months)

These top four issues have been identified as the most critical to get right as we begin our new
local government. The first two issues are related to our community and the second two issues
are related to the organisation. If we get these four issues right, we will be a long way down the
track towards a successful start.

2.     Second Tier Priorities

When examined on their own, issues in this list are significant. However, they are not as
significant as the top four issues identified for the first six months. This does not mean that these
issues cannot be advanced until the Council has been established for 6 months. Rather, it
simply identifies that they are not quite as critical as the top four issues. Work has begun on
quite a few of these already.

3.     Key Financial Focus

The key financial focus is to ensure that the 2014/15 budget process sets the new Council on a
path to financial sustainability. There is a lot of work to do as part of that budget process
including service reviews of some key areas and review of levies etc. The budget process and
detailed analysis has already begun with staff working to find savings and efficiencies in current
operations.

4.     Establishing a New Council

Although not particularly interesting to anyone outside of the Council, there are a significant
number of one-off issues that need to be addressed to establish a functioning local government.
From quite dry governance issues (e.g. establishing an Audit Committee and reviewing Local
Laws) to finalising ICT systems establishment (e.g. Planning Online and telephone system
reporting tools) there is still quite a lot to do to ensure that the back-office type issues are working
well.

5.     Finalising the De-amalgamation Process

There are a number of issues to resolve with the Sunshine Coast Regional Council before the
de-amalgamation process can be formally finalised. The most critical one of these is the cash
“true up”. Technical staff from both Councils are working on this process and it is critical that this
be resolved fairly and quickly. The other matters should be finalised relatively soon.

6.     “Business as Usual”

What is missing from the roadmap is, of course, all of the usual day to day issues that the
Council needs to deal with. This covers high profile issues (e.g. Kin Kin Quarry, Coles
application, Noosa on Weyba application, local flooding issues, helicopter noise, Tait Duke
Cottage etc) and also day-to-day customer service issues. We are presently receiving up to 700
customer interactions per day dealing with issues such as rates, barking dogs, missed wheelie
bin pick-ups, parking fines etc. These issues are very important to our community and it is critical
that we continue to provide excellent service on these day to day local government issues while
still establishing a new organisation.

Previous Council Consideration

Nil.



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