2014-01-13 Deamalgamation Report Attachment

Section 4 – Transfer Action Plan
Under Section 4.6 of the De-amalgamation Transfer Methodology, the Transfer Manager is
required to prepare and maintain a Transfer Action Plan (TAP) to facilitate this. Key deliverables of
the plan include a snapshot of the new Noosa Council and a section detailing actions under each
of the key deliverable areas. The TAP is a high level master plan containing the most important
elements that will need to be addressed. It provides structure to the task of planning and
implementing the necessary changes to create the new Noosa Council and ensure the transfer is
as effective and efficient as possible to enable the entity to act effectively from 1 January 2014.

The objectives of the Transfer Action Plan are to:
    Meet legislative requirements
    Adhere to the principles of the Transfer Committee
    Ensure no disruption or decline in services to the Noosa community on 1 January 2014
    Apply best practice principles as a basis for the development of the new council
    Keep councillors, organisational leaders, staff and the community informed.

The de-amalgamation transfer methodology section 47 sets out the framework for the Noosa
Council to de-amalgamate from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council on 1 January 2014; states
that

  “all instruments such as local laws, planning instruments, policies and procedures will on
  changeover day transfer to the new council pursuant to regulation”

As not all of these instruments will be tailored to the specific needs of the new Noosa Council, the
Transfer Action Plan will identify which of these transferring local laws, planning instruments,
policies and procedures are critical to day 1 operations, and amend accordingly.

Working teams were established in the seven major areas of the TAP including: Finance,
Assets, Services, Information Communication Technology, Human Resources, Planning, and
Governance. Staffing, interim organisational structure, establishment and continuity of business
systems, ICT strategies, the transfer of legal proceedings, planning and community engagement
and communications and financial matters, are all addressed in the TAP

The tasks for the working teams involved the following stages:
     gather information about existing operations and service delivery;
     review;
     determine any critical or high risk issues; and
     develop strategies to address the problems

4.1 Finance Transfer Action Plan (TAP)
Councils manage significant financial budgets on behalf of their communities, and responsible
financial management is essential to ensure that service levels provided to communities is both
affordable and sustainable over the long term.

This includes managing the associated financial risks in a sensible manner with regard to debt
levels, commercial business activities, asset management, stable income and expenditure policies,
having regard for intergenerational equity with respect to financial decisions, as well as ensuring
the provision of full and accurate disclosure of financial information in a timely manner.

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