2015-05-26 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                   26 MAY 2015


Options for Council

Possible options relating to the Living Smart program are identified below for Council’s
consideration:

A.   Discontinue Council’s involvement in the program.
     This option will involve advising Noosa members of the discontinuation of the program and
     seeking their feedback and suggestions. Resources could be spent on workshops and
     events, engaging with the local community on social media as previous survey results
     revealed. Further consideration could be given to Council’s position in relation to
     promoting sustainability within the community and achieving broader sustainability
     objectives. This would include further engagement with the community and key
     stakeholders with the aim of developing a Sustainability Plan which utilises existing
     mechanisms (for example within the Noosa Biosphere) to deliver targeted sustainability
     actions and aligns the activities of different community groups. Under this scenario the
     Sustainability Officer could co-ordinate the development of the Plan with Council.

B.   Continue Council’s involvement in the program.
     Council could continue to be an active participant in the Living Smart Program along with
     the Sunshine Coast Council and Moreton Bay Regional Councils. If so a budget adjustment
     would need to be made in the 2015-16 budget as no provision has been made. The
     adjustment of approx. $12,000 would also need to recognise the contribution made by the
     Sustainability Officer in the delivery of the program. To resource the program sufficiently
     approximately 30% of the Sustainability Officer’s time valued at $25.7k would be required.


Previous Council Consideration

Ordinary Meeting, 28 August 2014, Item 7, Page 17

That Council note the report by the Sustainability Project Officer to the Planning & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 19 August 2014 and agree to continue with the Living Smart program
in the short term until the new Sustainability Plan can be developed and implemented, as
outlined in Option 3 of the report.


Finance & Risk

The total cost of Council continuing with the LS program would be approximately $12,000. This
is made up of $6,254 per year (per Council) depending on the service level agreement agreed
upon by all three Councils and the cost of a bi-annual report produced by the website providers,
costing approximately $3,000 per report. There will also be additional costs associated with
changes to the program to include Noosa Councils logo on the marketing material, banner,
advertising etc.

Council has paid $5,000 for the July-June 2015 financial year (this was a lesser amount as no
reports were produced). The total amount spent since January 2014 is $7,843.

To resource the program sufficiently there is also the requirement to provide support to the
program amounting to approximately 30% of the Sustainability Officer’s time valued at $25,700.




                                                                                Page 145 of 171