2018-19 A Year in Review

Other Initiatives to enable Council to achieve its goal for this theme

   Council launched and operated, in conjunction           tenure arrangements. By 30 June 2019, there
    with a range of community partners, the Social          were no community groups without tenure
    Services Hub at Tait Duke House, Tewantin.              arrangements in place and only 5 leases still
    The Hub serves as a one stop shop for a range           awaiting renewal.
    of     services   for   people       experiencing      Council undertook an Expression of Interest
    homelessness or at risk of homelessness, and            process for the upstairs section of the Peregian
    for community members who may face barriers             Beach Surf Lifesaving Club building which
    to accessing social services.                           generated significant public interest. Following
   Council continues to focus on recognising the           that expression of interest process, Council
    important role of volunteers in our community.          agreed to issue a 3 year trustee permit to Surf
    A series of videos were produced highlighting           Lifesaving Queensland Sunshine Coast
    examples of the work undertaken by volunteers           Branch.
    and a “volunteer recognition” event was hosted         Council continued to invest in the maintenance
    by Council.                                             of our community halls and facilities. We
   Council has undertaken two community Council            undertook periodic painting of community halls
    meetings during 2018/19. In November 2018,              including the Tinbeerwah Hall.          We also
    we held a Council meeting at Pomona and in              undertook some upgrades of community
    May 2019, we held a Council meeting at                  facilities    including   upgrading    the   air-
    Cooran. This continues Council’s ongoing                conditioning and electrical systems at the
    commitment to open decision making and                  Pomona Community House.
    provides an opportunity for more members of            Council completed a detailed review of an
    the public to attend Council meetings. In               Events Policy for our Shire. This included an
    keeping with our ongoing commitment to                  extensive community engagement process
    transparency to the community, during the year          which culminated in the adoption of Noosa
    we only closed Council meetings on two                  Events Policy which is designed to provide
    occasions to deal with confidential matters.            clarity about the number and location of annual
    Council also improved our community’s access            events.
    to Council meetings by instituting live streaming
                                                           Council has reviewed and updated its
    of Council meetings and our General
                                                            Community Engagement Policy. Significant
    Committee meeting from February 2019.
                                                            community engagement projects in 2018/19
    These videos are also available on Council’s
                                                            included:
    YouTube channel for later viewing.
                                                            o      The draft Noosa Planning Scheme
   Council passed a resolution in November 2018
    declaring Noosa as a Refugee Welcome Zone               o      Proposal for a local law on advertising
    and signed the Refugee Council of Australia’s                  signage
    Refugee Welcome Zone Declaration.                       o      Events Policy
   Council has been active in supporting the local         o      Environment Strategy
    communities who have been affected by                   o      Draft Noosa River Plan
    proposals for the new Sunshine Coast airport            o      Pioneer Park Upgrade at Cooran
    flight paths. Council has worked closely with
    Flight Path Forum Inc. as part of the community         o      Hinterland Park at Cooroy.
    based campaign to review the proposed flight           Council has undertaken numerous Library and
    paths and improve the level of community                Gallery programs to support our community.
    engagement by Airservices Australia as part of          Our Library Services have physically issued
    that process.                                           over 437,982 items to our community during the
   There has been significant progress on the              last 12 months.
    backlog of community lease renewals.
    Following de-amalgamation, we inherited more
    than 28 expired leases and had quite a number
    of other community groups with no formal