2021-11-09 Services & Organisation Committee Meeting Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                 9 NOVEMBER 2021


     being accessed in 2020. In hindsight, including this requirement in the 2017 agreement at that
     time was a good initiative.
    Improved reporting requirements including:
          Providing an annual report (including a copy of the audited financial statements) to
           Council by 30 November each year. These are reported to Council each year to ensure
           that these are a matter of public record.
          Providing an annual Business Plan to Council by 15 March each year. These Business
           Plans include detailed financial information including a statement of comprehensive
           income, statement of financial position and statement of cash flows and key performance
           measures that link to the Tourism Strategy Noosa 2017–2022.
          Twice a year (in February and August) Tourism Noosa were required to present to
           Councillors on their progress in relation to their activities, KPIs, financial progress and to
           keep the Councillors informed about Tourism Noosa’s activities. This has generally been
           undertaken over the life of the agreement except for some periods during the pandemic.
Over the life of the 2017- 2022 agreement, $12.6M of funding has been allocated to Tourism Noosa
making this one of Council’s most significant financial agreements.
2.   Proposed extension to the existing agreement
The intent was to negotiate a new long-term funding agreement between Council and Tourism Noosa
with that negotiation to be complete by December 2021. However, there is not enough certainty to
be able to plan for a longer term funding agreement given a number of current variables. These
current variables include:-
    Council is commencing a Destination Management project looking at its role as the Destination
     Management agency and how it can better define its expectations in terms of destination
     management from a resident/visitor perspective.
    Council is in the process of finalising its next local economic strategy. This strategy, when
     adopted, would be supported by action plans and assist Council in prioritising its focus for
     economic development matters.
    Tourism Noosa is in the process of reviewing and updating its constitution. Tourism Noosa
     was established 20 years ago and it is certainly timely to update and review the Constitution.
     Council is supportive of this process.
    As a result of the Constitution review, it is likely that there will be changes to the Tourism Noosa
     board - both in terms of the number of board members and also the membership of the board.
    As Council would be aware, the relationship between Tourism Noosa and Council has been
     managed at a CEO-to-CEO level. With the retirement of the Noosa Council CEO, it would
     make sense to allow the new Council CEO to review the current arrangements/relationships
     before entering into any long-term agreement.
Accordingly, this report recommends that the existing funding agreement between Tourism Noosa
and Noosa Council be extended for a further 12-month period on the same terms and conditions.
This will allow time for the above matters to be addressed and create a more certain environment
for negotiating a longer term agreement.
Previous Council Consideration
Ordinary Meeting, 7 May 2015, Item 8, Page 10
That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the General Committee Meeting dated
4 May 2015 and authorise the Chief Executive Officer to enter into a 2 year funding agreement with
Tourism Noosa in accordance with the proposed terms and conditions outlined in the report.
Ordinary Meeting, 7 August 2017, Item 3 Page 7
That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the Services and Organisation

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