2020-03-19 Mayoral Minute - COVID-19

                                 MAYORAL MINUTE
I hereby give notice of my intention to move the following motion at the Ordinary Meeting on
Thursday, 19 March 2020:

1     RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) - DELEGATION TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
      OFFICER AND REQUEST FROM TOURISM NOOSA REGARDING ACCESS TO
      MARKETING CONTINGENCY RESERVE
      That in relation to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, Council:
      A.    Delegate to the Chief Executive Officer the power to make decisions on behalf of Council
            in relation to any matters arising from the Coronavirus Pandemic from 19 March 2020
            until the first Council meeting following the March 2020 local government election and
            further, that the CEO be requested to provide a report to that first Council meeting
            outlining all such decisions made by the CEO about the Coronavirus Pandemic that
            would otherwise have been made by Council in that period; and
      B.    Approve the request by Tourism Noosa for it to access the Marketing Contingency
            Reserve in accordance with section 7 of the Funding Agreement between Noosa Council
            and Tourism Noosa, noting that Tourism Noosa will determine the timing and approach
            of future marketing in consultation with the tourism sector and Council.



BACKGROUND
As Council would be aware, the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) is a rapidly developing scenario
affecting communities around the world. Like other governments and organisations, our Council has
implemented responses to ensure that essential services can continue to be provided to our community.
Council will continue to provide local support to our community recognising that the lead agency for
managing this pandemic in Queensland is Queensland Health.
However, for Queensland local governments, there is a particular timing issue, because the pandemic is
occurring at the same time as we are going through our 4 yearly election process. This meeting is the
last Council meeting until the new Council is sworn in and conducts its first meeting following the election.
The first meeting of the new Council is likely to be shortly after Easter depending upon when the Returning
Officer declares the poll results.
It is important for business continuity and good governance that decision-making can continue during this
period in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There may be a range of issues emerging over the next month or so that will require a Council decision,
but there is no scheduled Council decision-making process in place until the new Council is sworn in. As
such, it would be appropriate for Council to delegate to the Chief Executive Officer all decisions that would
otherwise be made by Council during this period that arise as a result of COVID-19. The Chief Executive
Officer would also be required to report to the incoming Council on all decisions made under this
delegation noting that such report would only address decisions that would have been required to be
made by Council and not operational decisions. The motion above is framed accordingly.

Request from Tourism Noosa
The need for the delegation outlined in the motion has been triggered by a request this week from Tourism
Noosa for Council to approve access to their “Marketing Cash Contingency” pursuant to their Funding
Deed with Council. If this request had been made in another week or so, a decision could not have been
made by Council until after Easter, hence the proposal to put the delegation to the CEO in place.

In the meantime, it would be appropriate for Council to consider the request from Tourism Noosa.