2015-03-12 Ordinary Meeting Agenda

ORDINARY MEETING AGENDA                                                          12 MARCH 2015


6    ORDINARY MEETING REPORTS


1        UPDATE ON OUTCOMES OF DE-AMALGAMATION BALANCE SHEET ALLOCATION

Author            Chief Executive Officer, Brett de Chastel
                  Executive Office

Index             ECM/ Subject/ De-amalgamation Balance Sheet Allocation

Attachments       Nil.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the General Committee Meeting
dated 12 March 2015 and:
A.   Note the outcome of the five issues in dispute between Noosa Council and Sunshine Coast
     Regional Council as determined by the Minister for Local Government, Community
     Recovery and Resilience; and
B.   Note the legal advice received by the Chief Executive Officer in relation to the decision by
     the Minister for Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience.



REPORT
The purpose of this report is to inform Council about the finalisation of the split of assets and
liabilities as part of the de-amalgamation process.

Background

As Council would be aware, the implementation of the de-amalgamation was regulated by the
Local Government (De-Amalgamation Implementation) Regulation 2013 (“the regulation”).

The Regulation established a Transfer Committee which had a number of important roles
including approving de-amalgamation costs and also deciding on the assets and liabilities to be
transferred from Sunshine Coast Regional Council (SCRC) to Noosa Council. The Transfer
Committee completed its role on 30 June 2014.

At the completion of its term, there were five matters upon which the Transfer Committee could
not reach agreement. All of these were related to the allocation of cash reserves. In accordance
with the Regulation, these matters were referred to the Minister for determination. (Early in 2014,
three other relatively minor matters were referred to the Minister for determination and were
resolved by the Minister).

On 12 August 2014 the Department advised that the Minister had appointed an independent
consultant to examine the dispute and provide a report and advice to the Minister. The
independent consultant appointed was Mr Jeff Tate of Jeff Tate Consulting. Mr Tate was a
Transfer Manager previously appointed to establish Douglas Shire Council and had completed
his appointment in that role. Mr Tate was an experienced CEO from South Australia.



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