2014-12-09 Infrastructure & Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                            9 DECEMBER 2014


5.   Emergency Operations Team

As well as being responsible for coordinating disaster operations of all emergency services
during an event Council is required under the Act to maintain a response capability in order
to:

       “provide equipment and a suitable number of trained persons, using the resources
       available to the local government, to effectively deal with, or help another entity deal
       with, an emergency situation or a disaster in the local governments area”.

In order to meet this responsibility the CEO established an Emergency Operations team
(EOT) to develop and coordinate Council’s emergency response capability. This group which
is chaired by Martin Drydale, held its first meeting on 28 February 2014. It meets every six
weeks and has been activated in response to events in March and April and in response to
the October Sunshine Beach bush fires.

6.   Support to SES

The Noosa SES consists of four units comprising 50 to 60 volunteers. The units are located
at Tewantin, Cooroy, Pomona and Boreen Point. Stan Ryan is the SES controller and Carol
Watkins is his deputy. It is worthy of note that Carol was recently named SES “volunteer of
the year”.

This year the SES has attended approximately 40 activations with the main responses being
storm damage, traffic accidents and flooding, they have also assisted other agencies with
land searches, rescues and bushfire response.

Council provides financial support to meet the costs of operating and maintaining the SES
buildings, vehicles, trailers and operational equipment as well as the purchase of goods
materials used by the SES during activations. (See Finance section for further details)

In addition to Council’s contribution the SES raise their own funds by assisting at community
events and through donations. Using these funds the SES has recently purchased a trailer
mounted generator to use during periods of power outages across the Shire.

7.   Local Disaster Management Plan

It is a requirement of the Act that every Local Government endorse a Local Disaster
Management Plan. These plans are audited annually by Queensland Police Service (QPS)
and the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) and are also reviewed annually
by the LDMG.

The Sunshine Coast and Noosa Local Disaster Management Plan was developed as a joint
plan for both the Sunshine Coast and Noosa Local Government areas in order to facilitate
the de amalgamation. It was audited by QPS and QFES in August 2014 and a number of
recommendations for improvements made.

At the time of the August audit the Sunshine Coast indicated that in 2015 it would be
pursuing the development of a stand alone plan for its local government area.

As a joint plan requires the approval of all participating local governments a new Noosa
Local Disaster Management Plan will have to be developed. This stand alone plan will be
written by the Local Disaster Coordinator following the 2014/15 wet season and presented to
the LDMG for their input and then Council for their endorsement by 30 June 2015.



                                                                                    Page 18 of 32