2020-09-14 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                              14 SEPTEMBER 2020


     A financial summary of budget progress so far in the project, including a breakdown of
      expenditure by project activity.
     Details of extensive community consultation to this point of the project.
     Current work priorities and pressures.
     Priorities for the upcoming period.
The report outlines the significant progress that has been made on the project, especially in the
past few months, in what has been a challenging year in terms of barriers to engagement due to
COVID-19. Most importantly, it highlights the breadth and extent of consultation occurring between
the Project Manager and key stakeholders in the community, and opportunities for public
involvement in the project moving forward.


Independent Scientific review of the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
At Noosa Council’s July Ordinary Meeting, Council approved the Project Management Plan for the
project, subject to Council appointing an independent scientific expert to provide a review of the
project’s Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Plan. The review is to include an assessment of the
effectiveness of the methodology, project’s goals, measures, outputs and outcomes within the
context of ecological restoration and the terms of the three year contract, and recommendations (if
any) for improvement to be included in the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan.
A scope of works based on the Council decision was prepared and Eberhard Consulting were
engaged to undertake this review at a cost of $5280.00.
This independent review is now complete, the review makes some suggestions for minor additions/
clarifications to the monitoring and evaluation plan however provides the following summary;
Overall, the review concludes that the MER plan is robust and comprehensive, and the proposed
indicators and monitoring methods likely to be effective. The MER Plan obviously reflects TNC’s
experience with similar oyster restoration projects in Australia and overseas.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Plan approved by Council at its July meeting is now being reviewed
and updated to take on board the minor suggested additions. The full report is in Attachment 2 for
information. Council officers will work with TNC to review and implement all the recommendations
of the review.


Noosa River Stakeholder Group
At Noosa Council’s July Ordinary Meeting, Council also decided to Establish a Noosa River
Stakeholder Reference Group to provide strategic input, local knowledge and expertise into River
Management initiatives, initially providing input into this Shellfish Restoration project and more
broadly into finalisation and implementation of the Noosa River Plan, and to Delegate to the CEO
to determine the Terms of Reference and undertake a process to establish the Noosa River
Stakeholder Reference Group together with the appropriate role for Councillor representation on
that Group.
Terms of Reference are being developed and will be finalised as soon as possible.


Previous Council Consideration
Previous Council reports have set out quite a lot of detail on this project and for ease of reference,
links to those previous reports are provided here:
     General         Committee         Agenda,          15        July       2019         -
      https://www.noosa.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/641/2019-07-15-general-committee-agenda-
      pdf



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