Services & Organisation Committee Meeting - April 2023
Date: Tuesday, 11 April 2023 at 1:30PM
Location: Noosa Shire Council Chambers , 9 Pelican Street , Tewantin , QLD 4565 , Australia
Organiser: Noosa Shire Council
Duration: 02:15:03
Synopsis: Tourism Noosa: Performance‑tied deed, static funding, governance, contingency control, DMP reshape, Wastewater: End outfalls, 100% recycling, AMPs: Parks plan, data reset, MOU: Noosa‑Gympie waste.
Meeting Attendees
Committee Members
Joe Jurisevic Amelia Lorentson Clare Stewart Frank Wilkie Executive Officers
S Waters, Chief Executive Officer L Sengstock, Director Infrastructure Services K Rawlings, Director Environment & Sustainable Development A Hamblin, Acting Director Community Services AI-Generated Meeting Insight
Key Decisions & Discussions Joe Jurisevic: Committee authorised CEO to sign a Noosa–Gympie Waste Management MOU to collaborate on infrastructure, diversion and treatment; logistics and COMSEQ alignment noted (Item 5.2; 00:59–10:45). Frank Wilkie: Parks & Playgrounds Asset Management Plan approved as the final of eight AMPs, setting service levels, lifecycle and inspection regimes per Australian standards (Item 5.1; 11:56–21:17). Kim Rawlings: Peregian Digital Hub lease endorsed for Unit 5 (75m²) to Nabooki Pty Ltd for two years plus up to three 1‑year extensions after a market process (Item 5.4; 01:35:56–01:38:52). Amelia Lorentson: Council endorsed motion to ALGA NGA calling for a National Policy: no new ocean/estuarine sewerage outfalls and funding to recycle 100% of treated wastewater; Cr Lorentson to present (Item 5.5; 01:41:11–01:54:35). Scott Waters (CEO): Tourism Noosa Funding & Performance Deed proposed as 2+2 years at static funding with quarterly reporting, strategic/operational plans, efficiency/effectiveness review, and remedies up to termination; referred to General Committee (Item 5.3; 01:03:33–01:33:17). Joe Jurisevic: Centralised Legal Services Trial discussed in closed session under s254J(3)(e),(g) LGR 2012; referred to General Committee (Item 7.1; 01:55:39–02:14:19). Infrastructure Services: AMP discussion clarified “Condition 5” triggers inclusion in 10‑year renewal program, not immediate failure; asset audits and reclassification planned to correct age‑based overstatement of poor condition (30:17–36:23). Matt (Parks): Preventative vs reactive maintenance split about 60/40; urgent risks handled immediately; parts delays explained; improved public signage for maintenance timing planned in new amenities cleaning contract (43:12–44:56; 27:19–28:17). Amelia Lorentson: Accessibility and all‑abilities features to be integrated in renewals and Gympie Tce masterplan; example sites and wheelchair‑accessible tables flagged (16:39–20:22). Scott Waters (CEO): Limited future growth constrains LaGIP developer contributions; renewals will be largely self‑funded, reinforcing the need for robust AMP prioritisation (50:01–54:32). Infrastructure Services: Environmental/natural assets (trees) catalogued and managed but not monetised; urban greening program building a system for tree asset management (21:37–24:31). Committee: Minutes confirmed; attendance via Teams approved per s254K LGR 2012 (Attendance; 00:06–00:59). Contentious / Transparency Matters Scott Waters (CEO): Tourism Noosa deed shifts to performance‑contingent funding with quarterly reporting to Council; emphasis on governance, board review, and observer role to avoid conflicts (Item 5.3; 01:03:33–01:29:12). Amelia Lorentson: Questioned absence of CPI escalation; CEO defended static funding to drive efficiencies before additional funds considered (01:19:36–01:21:26). Frank Wilkie: Queried reduction of Tourism Noosa contingency reserve from $350k to $250k; CEO said full replenishment not currently feasible; revisit post-DMP (01:17:57–01:19:36). Committee: Events funding duplication acknowledged; Council to rationalise roles between Tourism Noosa grants and Council to avoid double-dipping (01:29:12–01:31:34). Committee: AMP graph showing ~$8.5m “Condition 5” assets challenged; officers explained age-based data skews and forthcoming whole-of-portfolio audit to reset conditions (30:17–34:24). Kim Rawlings: On Burgess Creek erosion attribution, stated no categorical evidence yet; USC model under development to test flow/velocity impacts (01:47:41–01:49:24). Legal / Risk Committee: MOU with Gympie is non‑binding; specific binding project agreements will return to Council for approval (06:35–06:53; 06:53–07:34; Item 5.2). Committee: Confidential legal item closed under LGR 2012 s254J(3)(e),(g) for legal advice and commercial negotiations; reopening resolved and referral to General Committee (Item 7.1; 01:55:39–02:14:19). Scott Waters (CEO): Tourism Noosa deed includes remedies up to termination for non‑performance; Council approval required for any draw on the $250k contingency (cl 11.1) as funds are public (01:23:18–01:23:49). Scott Waters (CEO): Councillor director roles on external boards discouraged due to LGA conflicts and directors’ liability; observer model retained (01:24:29–01:26:43). Parks Officers: Playground safety managed to Australian standards, with inspections and condition ratings; no public liability claims due to equipment failure reported (14:46–17:36). Committee: Justice responses to graffiti offenders not currently used; potential for Community Development exploration flagged (46:31–46:53). Conflicts of Interest Clare Stewart: Declared a declarable conflict for Tourism Noosa item due to friendship with Director Leigh McCready; exited for debate/vote per LGA Ch 5B; item referred to General (Item 5.3; 01:01:54–01:03:22). Environmental Concerns Amelia Lorentson: National push to end new ocean outfalls and fund 100% wastewater recycling; cited Clean Ocean Foundation data: 1,350 GL/year discharged in 2016 (01:41:11–01:51:06). Committee: DMP discussion paper imminent; extensive community engagement planned; DMP to inform potential reshaping of Tourism Noosa’s role and funding allocations (01:13:05–01:14:31; 01:14:31–01:15:14). Infrastructure Services: All‑abilities and accessibility upgrades to be embedded in renewals and masterplans; water points and amenities siting to reflect usage/demographics (16:39–21:17; 28:17–28:56). Committee: Tree assets mapped and managed (urban greening) but not monetised to avoid distorting Council’s asset base; risk/benefit acknowledged (21:37–24:31). Sunshine Beach / Burgess Creek Amelia Lorentson: Raised local impacts from STP discharges to Burgess Creek; Director confirmed no substantiated causal evidence yet; USC study underway (01:41:11–01:49:24; 01:47:41–01:49:24). Frank Wilkie: Supported national policy drive irrespective of unresolved local causation; scope is broader than Noosa (01:49:24–01:50:58). Events Funding & Governance Scott Waters (CEO): Current “scrambled” model acknowledged; Council elevating events within strategy team; to coordinate with Tourism Noosa to avoid duplicate grants from the same public funds (01:29:12–01:31:34). Amelia Lorentson: Noted Tourism Noosa sponsors 13 events annually, with eight delivering hinterland dispersal; CEO clarified these are ultimately Council funds administered by TN (01:31:34–01:32:25).
Official Meeting Minutes
MINUTES Services & Organisation Committee Meeting Tuesday, 11 April 2023 1:30 PM Council Chambers, 9 Pelican Street, Tewantin Committee: Crs Joe Jurisevic (Chair), Amelia Lorentson, Clare Stewart, Frank Wilkie “Noosa Shire – different by nature” SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 11 APRIL 2023 1. ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS Cr Joe Jurisevic (Chair) Cr Amelia Lorentson Cr Clare Stewart (via Microsoft Teams) Cr Frank Wilkie EXECUTIVE S Waters, Chief Executive Officer L Sengstock, Director Infrastructure Services K Rawlings, Director Environment & Sustainable Development A Hamblin, Acting Director Community Services APOLOGIES Nil Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Amelia Lorentson Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie That in accordance with Section 254K of the Local Government Regulation, Cr is approved to attend the Meeting dated 11/04/2023 via Microsoft Teams. Carried Unanimously The meeting commenced at 1.32pm. 2. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson The Minutes of the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting held on 7 March 2023 be received and confirmed. Carried Unanimously 3. PRESENTATIONS Nil 4. DEPUTATIONS Nil SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 11 APRIL 2023 5. REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE 5.2. NOOSA – GYMPIE WASTE MANAGEMENT MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That Council note the report by the Manager Waste and Environmental Health to the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting dated 11 April 2023 and authorise the CEO to progress and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Gympie Regional Council and subsequently work on mutually beneficial activities particularly, but not limited to, Waste Management. Carried Unanimously 5.1. PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Joe Jurisevic That Council note the report by the Civil and Asset Operations Manager to the Services Committee Meeting dated 11 April 2023 and approve the Parks and Playgrounds Asset Management Plan as a document that specifies the activities, resources and asset classes to achieve Noosa Council’s asset management objectives. Carried Unanimously 5.3. TOURISM NOOSA FUNDING AGREEMENT In accordance with Chapter 5B of the Local Government Act 2009, Cr Stewart provided the following declaration to the meeting of a declarable conflict of interest in this matter: I, Cr Stewart, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in this matter as Leigh McCready, a Director of Tourism Noosa is a personal friend. As a result of my conflict of interest I will now leave the meeting room while the matter is considered and voted on. Cr Stewart left the meeting. Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Amelia Lorentson Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie That Services & Organisation Committee Agenda Item 5.3 be referred to the General Committee due to the significance of the issue. Carried Unanimously Cr Stewart returned to the meeting. SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 11 APRIL 2023 5.4. PROPOSED LEASE TENANCY FOR PEREGIAN DIGITAL HUB Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That Council note the report by the Digital Hub Director to the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting dated 11 April 2023 regarding the commercial lease of office space at the Peregian Digital Hub and: A. Agree to enter a commercial lease of the Unit 5 premises of 75m2 to Nabooki Pty Ltd. for a two year term, as generally outlined in the report; B. Authorise the CEO to award up to three subsequent lease extensions each of 1 year, subject to the lessee complying with the terms of the lease. Carried Unanimously 5.5. MOTION TO ALGA NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2023 Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Amelia Lorentson Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting dated 11 April 2023 regarding a motion to the Australian Local Government Association National General Assembly 2023 and: A. Approve the following motion that has been submitted to the Australian Local Government Association: "This National General Assembly calls on the Australian Government to formulate a National Policy on Ocean Sewerage Outfalls that aims at NO new ocean and estuarine sewerage outfalls to be built/developed along the Australian coastline, and that dedicated funding is provided to support local regional governments and wastewater providers with existing ocean and estuarine outfalls, to develop new methods/technologies and make every effort to recycle 100% of all treated wastewater generated within their localities, and avoid the need to discharge in the ocean." B. Approve Cr Amelia Lorentson to present this motion at the National General Assembly noting Councillor Lorentson has formed this motion. Carried Unanimously 6. REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE Nil. 7. CONFIDENTIAL SESSION SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 11 APRIL 2023 7.1. CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE - CENTRALISED LEGAL SERVICES TRIAL Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Joe Jurisevic Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That the meeting be closed to the public pursuant to section 254J(3)(e&g) of the Local Government Regulation 2012 for the purpose of discussing Item 7.1 regarding legal advice and negotiations relating to commercial matters. Carried Unanimously RE-OPENING OF THE MEETING TO THE PUBLIC Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That the meeting be re-opened to the public. Carried Unanimously Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That Services & Organisation Committee Agenda Item 7.1 be referred to the General Committee due to the significance of the issue. Carried Unanimously 8. MEETING CLOSURE The meeting closed at 3.47pm.
Meeting Transcript
Joe Jurisevic 00:06.040
Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to today's service and organisational meeting, break 23, for this council. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, Kabi Kabi People, and pay respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. As attendants, we have the Mayor on line today, make clear, live from... Kim Rawlings 00:29.943
Morning everyone, afternoon from... Joe Jurisevic 00:32.543
Can we go through everything else before we do that, or do we need to do that at the beginning of the meeting? That's like a 10. Okay, well if I can, with the Mayor on line, we need a resolution to acknowledge that the Mayor is on line. Happy to have a mover. Councillor Lorentson, seconded by Councillor Wilkie to acknowledge and accept that the Mayor is attending via Teams. All in favour? Welcome on line. Thank you. Can I get a confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting? Moved by Councillor Wilkie, seconded by Councillor Lorentson. All in favour? That's an aye from you, Clare. Aye. Thank you. Moved by Councillor Wilkie, seconded by... Moved by Councillor Lorentson. All good, we've got her. There are no presentations or deputations that I'm aware of, Mr. City Manager? No, there are none, Chair. We move on to item 5, reports for consideration on the committee. Item 1 is the Parks and Playgrounds Asset Management Plan, but we've had a request to move to item 2 first, if no one objects. That is the Nursing Impact Waste Management Memorandum of Understanding. We welcome Kyle Raine to the table. Kyle Raine would you like to give us a bit of an overview of the Memorandum of Understanding and why it's needed? Kyle Raine 02:11.480
Thanks Councillor. The report table is authorised to see... to authorise the CEO to progress and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Gympie Regional Council, allowing council staff to work together on mutually beneficial activities, in particular but not limited to waste management. The goal from a waste management perspective is to identify partnerships within waste for infrastructure and waste management which would be beneficial to both parties. The goal... There are several benefits for Noosa and Gympie residents of which a major one is to utilise the waste capacity over both jurisdictions to support capital feasibility of many major infrastructures which in turn support potential funding for... support potential funding from entities such as Council of Mayors South East Queensland. The MOU is designed to drive project by project planning processes which will include the necessary council approvals required required while being led by a steering committee with representatives from both councils. Joe Jurisevic 03:12.373
I just want to understand, you mentioned in the report, the County Council is not a member The County Council is not a member of COMSEQ. We are currently dealing with the grant funding, but my understanding is that they have applied to become a member of COMSEQ. Chair, that's absolutely correct. We have applied to become an associate member of Council. Of Council of Mayors for South East Queensland. And there's a view that that will be accepted in the next COMSEQ meeting. And the CEO of Council of Mayors for South East Queensland is aware and has no concerns. Noosa Council form and relationship with Gympie Council in relation to waste. I assume that may not facilitate some of the funding opportunities for COMSEQ as well? It will too, absolutely. Any questions, councillors? Kyle Raine 03:56.458
Just the make-up of the steering committee in Cairo, what's proposed? I think it's pretty open at present, so we need to get the MOU signed for Gympie side. And then the first thing will be to get together and work out what that steering committee looks like. Would it involve sharing waste infrastructure like landfill? At present that hasn't been discussed, but there's always a potential. They're looking for a new landfill site, Gympie, right at this present time. We've obviously got our own landfill, but more and more it will be about treatment of waste, not necessarily landfill. That's the general sort of consensus that we're going for. Treatment facilities, waste diversion. We have capacity for another, is it 40 years? 50 years. Frank Wilkie 04:42.500
What about Gympie, how are they placed? Kyle Raine 04:45.360
At present I think they're pretty low in terms of years, but they're planning to look forward to something with a lot more potential than that opportunity. Frank Wilkie 04:55.126
Ultimately this is more about diversion and reuse than landfills? Exactly, landfill will be the bottom of the pile and effectively we'll be looking to divert as much as we can. In the report there's a reference to utilising land banks, what does that mean exactly? Kyle Raine 05:11.786
If we're producing organic streams, so the back end of composting or anaerobic digestion for argument's sake. The requirement is to spread that material to a land bank and that could be farming communities or known farming entities that we could pair up with and they'd be using that material for or in the replacement of fertiliser. Would that, would Council's gardens be one recipient of... That would be the intent yes we'd have to get to a certain quality parks and gardens require our material to meet that certain quality mainly for germination of weeds or anything like that but that's that quality we haven't yet been able to achieve with our current process. Joe Jurisevic 05:59.016
Thank you. that's obviously an opportunity going forward to look at what the needs of end-use would be of a product if we do go down that line and try to facilitate the means to produce that new product. Kyle Raine 06:11.314
Yeah I think that stretches not just from organic material but other materials concrete and so forth you know Gympie have a lot more industrial zones than we do potentially better uses for some of the material we produce and I think joining up with them will be a... I think joining up with them will be a big plus in that in exactly that. Joe Jurisevic 06:30.873
I see indeed drainage drainage for... Exactly. Amelia Lorentson 06:35.273
Yep in terms of the memorandum of understanding Cairo it's not a legally binding agreement in terms of cost are there any financial implications with signing an EMRU? Not that I'm aware of. I'd tell you none at present. Kyle Raine 06:52.871
It's a, yeah as you said it's not a legally binding document. The goal is to work on a project, work on a project by project basis to get us to a point where we would find something that is legally binding. So we get to a point at that point where we're looking at investment, we're looking at the arrangements and they may become, will have to become binding at that point I would have thought. That would come back to council before any of that. Exactly, yeah. One would assume the other is also there that economies of scale may actually produce savings in the long term for the size and scale of operations or even present opportunities because of the size and scale of operations by collaborating with another council. Yeah, I agree and part of that would be just the feasibility of some of the infrastructure requires that capacity. Frank Wilkie 07:38.517
Just to follow one question from Joe's that obviously there are advantages of cooperating with another council, that's fantastic. Was there discussions of a similar nature undertaken with Sunshine Coast Council and why was the decision to have an MOU with Gympie and all three councils? Kyle Raine 07:57.957
I think we're still talking to Sunshine Coast, it's not the day to talk to them. I think that that is on its on its way in terms of that that level of agreement. They've got processes and infrastructure that's well advanced about and we are involved in some of that infrastructure. To the level that we're talking to Gympie is I would say it's not at that level just yet but we are working towards it. Joe Jurisevic 08:29.560
Clare, do you have any questions at all? Kim Rawlings 08:31.680
No, all good. I think it's a really positive step, you know, collaborating with our neighbour. Share resources, share costs, potentially it's good. Amelia Lorentson 08:39.700
Anything further? I do. I have another question, Chair. I'm just thinking some time ago when we first started with Council, Council engaged with Regional Council, Sunshine Coast, Gympie, to have a look at feasibility of actually working together and whether it was advised to go on your own or not. Has that report sort of resurfaced and guided this decision or not? Kyle Raine 09:07.086
I think this decision's been taken purely with COMSEQ in mind. Okay. COMSEQ's relatively new to us in Noosa Council, but one of the key criteria The key criteria of COMSEQ is we are working in unison with our neighbours, and Gympie being one of those, and Sunshine Coast as well. So I think we will end up down this sort of path with Sunshine Coast. But that is one of the key criterias. So I wouldn't say that that report's driven this, but that's probably more of a result of COMSEQ rather than the report. Scott Waters 09:46.058
With Gympie's positioning to the west and to the north, there's really not a lot of bigger towns. You know, there's Umeri and like little tiny towns. So it just really makes sense that we work with them. Like they're our kind of, our orbit, we're in our orbit of like seeing together. Going south, you know, they're much bigger councils, but it makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Kyle Raine 10:08.736
Well, I think that probably the biggest thing from a practical point of view, from my world anyway, is logistics. The logistics with Gympie, you know, from our landfill to the centre of Gympie's 35 minutes. That's a massive advantage in the waste world because everything's got to be treated. If you're moving material, whether that's organic material to a land bank or material to some sort of treatment facility, whether it's coming here or going there, that 35 minutes is a massive benefit for a financial model and I think that's where we're looking to in terms of getting to a project by project basis that the financial model stacks up. sort of waste sharing and waste resource sharing helps us with that financial feasibility. Joe Jurisevic 10:57.184
I know we've looked at or we've spoken about the opportunity before with regard to services on the North Shore, in particular Teewah. My understanding is that YIMBY facilitates the waste services on the North Shore? Yes, I'm and that's this Kyle Raine 11:11.290
Believe they do, yes. Joe Jurisevic 11:12.970
So there may be an opportunity for further enhanced discussion with regard to Teewah recycling may be incorporated into all recycling services on the North Shore? Kyle Raine 11:22.730
Yep, something to think about, definitely. Thank you. Joe Jurisevic 11:25.450
Any further councillors? If not, we'll move on. Councillor Wilkie, Senator, Councillor Lorentson, all in favour? Kim Rawlings 11:33.830
Yes. Thank you, Clare. Mayor Clare? Thank you, Kyron. Frank Wilkie 11:40.216
Thanks, guys. Back to item one on the agenda, which is the Parks and Playground Asset Management Act. My name's Brian, and I'm here on holiday. Thank you. Good level. Brian, Matt, have you got a hand? Matt 11:59.126
I can, yes. So Brian was the author of the report. So I'll just give a quick summary. So Council has a statutory requirement to develop asset management plans for its major asset classes. So this is the last of eight. In the suite. And yeah, basically it considers some key objectives such as service levels, financial life cycle costs, things like that. And the objectives are aligned with our Council Asset Management Roadmap and also the Queensland Audit Office Asset. Amelia Lorentson 12:42.300
A simple one for you, Matt. Why are we undertaking this review and when was the last time Parks and Playgrounds Asset Management Plan was reviewed? Matt 12:54.240
I might have to defer. Adam, do you know the age when the previous one was? The previous one would be about five years. They're done on a five-year cycle, ideally. On a five-year cycle? Yeah, they are. That's correct. So we started, as I said before, this is the final of eight. So we started with our major asset classes such as roads and things like that and worked our way to this. So with Parks and Playgrounds, in terms of the overall value of the asset, the whole of the assets, this is probably the least in terms of the value, but it's probably one of... the value, but it's probably one of the ones where there's a lot, there's a high quantity of assets, they're just smaller assets and they make up, you know, there's, I think we have... 2,000 parks. We have 2,000 assets, so that's individual items, but it's across to around about 250 parks, so I think there's 80 playgrounds in the Shire. So that's sort of, getting back to your question about the importance of it, it is to bring everything together. It is to bring everything together and get a good framework around it all. Frank Wilkie 13:52.712
Yeah, I had a question about what that 2,000 parks and playground assets encompasses. So you said there's 250 parks, 80 playgrounds. So the assets include equipment? Matt 14:03.432
It does, yes. Items, individual items. What else would you include? Yeah, so you have playgrounds are the obvious one, but we also have park shelters, which is a lot of. We have barbecues, we have individual... Also the furniture. The furniture. So if you think about Gympie Terrace, for an example, how much furniture we have down there, you know, just individual items. So one chair would be one asset? Yes, that's correct. And one chair, one table, one shelter? Correct. Correct. One swing, one slippery dip? That's right. Yeah. SPEAKER_05 14:31.552
Or, correct, yes. That's right. That's right. Amelia Lorentson 14:35.792
Are there any state or federal requirements regarding management of playgrounds in the open space or reserves, or is this just something we undertake as a council? Matt 14:46.652
Yeah, so in terms of the assets themselves, particularly playgrounds, they do have Australian standards around them, mainly around safety and risk, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, so we try our best to meet those standards. And those standards involve frequencies as well, like frequencies of inspections and then condition ratings and things like that. So that's what informs our renewal programs. I imagine the manufacturers would also have requirements on the frequency of... They do, yeah, because every piece of gear is a little bit different. You know, you have the different companies that have their own individual styles and models and things like that. A bit like your car, but when you get a very small change, whether it's a 10,000 kcms or 15,000 kcms. That's the line, yeah, man. Kim Rawlings 15:42.740
I guess this is quite separate, isn't it, to funding that we put towards obviously our parks and gardens going forward. This is just the plan, isn't it? This doesn't take into account, if we want to add additional funding, this is basically just the overarching plan. Matt 15:58.580
That's right, yes. Joe Jurisevic 16:01.560
But having said that, there's an element in this that is mentioned. With regard to future planning, with regard to needs. Future capital works are in there as part of the dollar figures, but nothing for grants or anything like that will be forecasted just yet. As far as future needs, where additional equipment may be required or the overview? Or the overview of whether the level of equipment is sufficient for a Yes, that goes with the hierarchy of the park. And that's one of my questions. If you guys are finished, I've got a series of questions. Amelia Lorentson 16:39.318
I've got a series of questions too. Where am I going to start? Okay, I'm going to start with accessibility. So we we assess hazards. Do we assess accessibility of our playgrounds? I was just recently approached by some residents who asked why don't we don't have any wheelchair access picnic tables at any of our parks? How is that information captured? How are community expectations captured or collated? And that probably links with my next question, Matt, so I'll throw this one in. Have we had any public liability claims attributable to council playgrounds? Again, where is that information collated and does that guide future needs? Yeah, I'll answer that one since it's... so we don't, to my knowledge, have any public liability claims. We have had some very minor incidents where, you know, children have fallen off a swing and hurt themselves, but it hasn't been due to failure of our equipment or failure of our service standards. It's just, you know, the nature of a playground. That's kind of what they're like. Sorry, the first part of your question. Oh, the disability stuff. Yes, yes. I'm not quite sure about what's happened in the past, but it's certainly something that's now front of mind when we're thinking about renewals and upgrades and things like that. So it's sort of become a fairly standard, I suppose, consideration. And there's a lot of new technology. There's a lot of new technology and new designs that do incorporate. We have one that I'm aware of in the Shire in terms of in the playground. We've got the, it's called a Liberty Swing down at the Pirate Playground at Gympie Terrace. But it's one of the older, it's like one of the original, I think, versions of that style of thing. And yeah, and the playground hasn't been renewed or upgraded since that was installed and the whole playground. So obviously going forward. We certainly factor in things like specific requests from families or whatever that have children with disabilities. The Hinterland Playground incorporated certain elements into that and I know that we're looking at renewing some tables and shelters down Gympie Terrace for example and we're just working with the design team on tweaking the design. The design team on tweaking the designs of the the tables to allow for wheelchair access yeah so it's all about dimensions inside in between the post and the slab and the approach and the sort of the entry and exit points yeah so certainly something that's that's been being incorporated into our work. Fantastic. Can I just share some information the area outside the a lot boathouse of that's where the seahorse nipper families congregate on a Friday afternoon so there's a picnic table right near there so it's part of that investigation that would that area be ideal. Thank you. Matt? Joe Jurisevic 20:06.079
I'm glad you mentioned the access element. I'm assuming pathway links and actually linking to the shelter. That's right, exactly. Larry Sengstock 20:15.379
Just to answer that Just to answer that one too, Councillor. As you know, we're doing a full master plan of Gympie Terrace as well. So that will incorporate a number of those types of things as we go forward and making sure that we do allow for or if there's ideas. And you know how much, if you think back 20 years, 10 years and now, how much playgrounds have changed and park furniture has changed. And it's just a gradual thing. And as we renew, replace, we look for the... for the bigger and better or, you know, more accessible or whatever it might be, types of equipment, so that's... it's really just a rolling program. Yeah, there's a number of... So we just need to have that in mind. And, you know, there's some more specific disability type furniture equipment that can be incorporated. So we just need to make sure that we've got that on our on our list as we go forward. Matt 21:10.167
All abilities is the term I was looking for. All abilities. Yes. Amelia Lorentson 21:17.900
2,000 Parks and playground assets are on financial, on council's financial register. Natural assets, trees. Where are trees captured? In particular, you know, trees are near Trees are near these picnic tables. Where is that captured in our asset management plan? So trees aren't considered financial assets. But however we are, we're working on it. So we've done audits in a lot of our precinct. So Gympie Terrace for an example. A few years ago we audited all the trees and captured them all. We assigned them an asset number and they are in our system mapped as assets and able to be referred to. So they are logged and they are managed accordingly but they are not financial assets. We kind of have to treat them separately and I know that we are working on it at the moment as part of the urban greening project. We are working with some of the other staff and council on a bit of a system there because we are going to be doing a lot of new planting throughout the urban area of Noosa and both road reserves parks. So we're working on a system there and I'm having regular meetings about developing that. that's exciting yeah that's good yeah from that perspective i recall one from that question whilst they're that might clearly not be a fine an asset absolutely absolutely we should document and capture and understand them and that way the condition assessments and all the rest of the specific that's right yeah and those sort of things to follow through so that would be an advantage to yourself with regards to how you manage that asset gap. Joe Jurisevic 22:57.475
That's right and they're a major benefit to any open space with what they provide and the shade component in itself you know if you put them See ya. Matt 23:05.032
If you put them close enough to an asset that they're not going to actually damage it through root, root contact but the shade itself you, yeah, that's the way to go. I'd like to get a note from a mate of mine. Tree was known by, as tree number one. two, three, four, that you know that the limbs are, it's being audited, it's been assessed, the arborist has gone there, you know the limbs are secure or whether it needs trimming and the like so. That's the benefit of it. But in terms of financial, there is a financial element with managing natural assets when you look at their life cycles or life management. When you look at future risk, climate change... We know bushfires, water scarcity has been one of the number one climate, future climate risk, and that's got financial impact on trees when we've got thousands and thousands of trees in the Shire. change. So somehow I think that's got to be captured somewhere in our financial asset management plan. Larry Sengstock 24:08.413
There's a lot of spin-offs though. A lot of consequences. If you monetise your assets then it goes into our overall asset base as a council which has a whole lot of other implications and risk. So that's the decision that's been taken in the past is we don't monetise them but we certainly manage them. They're on a register but they're not monetised as such. Amelia Lorentson 24:38.200
In terms of demographics, precinct demographics, a lot of our suburbs have changed a lot and the people living in those suburbs have changed. I note in the report you've got usage but do we actually understand who are using it and whether they're suitable for the demographic of that precinct? Matt 24:58.420
Yeah, we try to get a handle on- Yeah, we try to get a handle on that as we go but it is quite difficult without doing actual, I suppose, surveys or that type of thing. Or the census. We've got the 2021 census yeah. Yeah, we probably need to do a bit more work in that space too. To get a better handle on that, yeah, as things change. Joe Jurisevic 25:16.821
Okay. I ask a similar question. Amelia Lorentson 25:19.601
Yeah. And in terms of even dogs, I've got a situation at Rainbow Park where it's frequented by both residents and lots and lots of dog owners with dogs on lead and there's no fresh water tap there. In fact, there are no taps at all at Rainbow Creek. So it'd be great, again, in terms of usage to break it down to not just kids and people that use it but also who've got pets. Matt 25:54.404
Yeah, Rainbow Park. Yeah, Rainbow Park doesn't have a tap. It's just to do with the accessibility to the nearest mains and the cost involved. It's on my list of council initiatives, Jase, I remember that. I'm going to need you to say, absolutely it is. Yeah, that's right. You see where I'm going with all my questions. And just another idea that I'll throw at you while I have the opportunity. Do we have a sign Do we have a sign, you know, I'm thinking of public toilets. When you go into a public toilet at a shopping centre, for example, it'll say the last time that someone visited and maintained. Can we do something similar? Because again, one of When the many was requests that I get is the last time we actually had council staff maintain and I was in a situation just recently at North Orient Park and I really commend Ryan, some Kelsey, you've fantastic got staff that work in parks and playground but they had been there recently but no one in the community knew so that's just an idea if there's an access or a public information sign or where next we could just make next visit will be such-and-such a date yeah so I manage that I oversee the management of the cleaning of public amenities contract which is our major cleaning contract covers all the park amenities blocks and a few other things it's coming up for the tenders expiring at the end of August so the 1st of September will the procurement be a new a new and and we're doing developing and refining as the specifications for that at the moment and that what you just suggested is something that we we've already identified in terms of something similar to what the shopping mall toilets last have cleaned with a and signed by the cleaning contractor you know I agree it would definitely sort out a lot of those complaints that we all get I know you guys receive a few that we get a few as well and and a lot of the time it's they're They're asking making that the question but the reality is that the cleaner has just been in within a few within a few hours previous yeah so yeah it'll definitely help What drives where an amenities block may or may not be situated? Joe Jurisevic 28:32.270
That's all the time we have. That's a good question and that's part of the planning and master planning exercise that's going on for the for the bigger areas I guess I am. So that's one of the questions I saw. Amenities wasn't something I specifically mentioned. Larry Sengstock 28:48.723
And I guess that's part of with the changing changing environment changing demographic we need to consider all those you know some of the parks may no longer meet. Some of the parks may no longer need to be the type of park that they are. They could be something totally different. Some may need amenities because they become bigger or they're in a different a different area now or different you know there's a different demographic around them. All that needs to be considered we're certainly considering the all abilities change rooms toilets that type of stuff going into some of our parks as well because you know we've recognised that that but there that there there's a need for those things but again it all comes down to planning budgets and and time to get it done so you know we've got it on our radar but we just not Joe Jurisevic 29:28.676
Yeah, of course the times I've been asked is usually mum with young kids or mum suddenly someone needs to go to the toilet, what do you do? Yeah, yeah, it must it must be we've we've the the teams that we've got now in place we're far more able to react and able to plan for that that type of change now than we ever have. Frank Wilkie 29:50.191
Thanks for the report. Thank you for the report. The most striking thing about it is the condition asset value by asset type graph on page three. And if I'm reading it correctly, it shows that $9 million worth of the assets are in reasonably good condition. Condition two, but about eight- and a half million are in really poor condition. Have I read that right? SPEAKER_05 30:17.150
You have? Yeah. I'll field this one if that's all right. Sure. Yeah, so the question I have is, we seem to be doing record capital works programs every year. for when they've got it. They're, a lot of them are age-based. Now, with the data we have, a lot of those are your seats or wood that's out there on your tables and so on. Now, I believe a lot of those have been replaced over the course of... their life cycle. That's an audit we're going to undertake as well with Matt's team, and we may go out to contract for that as well. So, the high volume there, I do believe they are lower than that, just based on age and how we capture things in the system. We know the date. We know the date of when it was installed, but you can have an age of 10 years for your useful life on these tables or chairs, but they can go past that as well. But that's just purely how long we expect them to last. Frank Wilkie 31:49.366
Are we sweating these assets too long? No. And do we need to allocate money in a different way to ensure that we keep... Yeah. these assets in a better condition when it comes to the budget for... Yeah, look... Is it... The $4 million and a half annually is... I don't know if I read that right in the report. Matt 32:09.391
Yeah. So, again, I think it comes... Again, I think it comes down to the hierarchy of where the parks are located and the overall usage. No. We have, as I said, we've got a lot of parks. I think there's about 20 plus, around about 20 parks just in Noosa Waters alone. They're all pocket parks from... They're all pocket parks from developers and things like that. So they will have assets in them to some degree. They might just have one table, but the park doesn't get used as often as others. And so you renew your assets, your condition deteriorates. They can deteriorate just from the weather or they can deteriorate from use. So where they're deteriorating from use, obviously the parks that are more... popular and highly frequented, the assets, the condition drops quicker and that's when we tend to do the renewals and the replacements. Frank Wilkie 32:59.086
So what Adam was saying, age-based assessment, if they're in these parks that are rarely used, there can be an asset that is 10 years old and that's technically the end of its life, but it's still got a life in it because they're often being used that way. Matt 33:12.646
And it can have a lick of paint or a bit of a sand... And it can have a lick of paint or a bit of a sand and oil and then it's good to go for another few years. And we know that it's not getting the pressure of the wear and tear on it. It might just be the sun and the rain that makes it sort of weather a bit and we can just do it. We can just do a maintenance repair. So is there another way of assessing these assets that would give a profile that's more, that doesn't give such an alarming picture because I'm sure you would have proposed those assets in if poor they were condition. SPEAKER_05 33:42.712
We can manually change the condition of an asset within the system. Just a full audit would need to be undertaken with 2,000 separate assets. It's getting the right stuff, or whether we go to contract for that, to look at those, and then it is a task, but it's one that we're planning for. Joe Jurisevic 34:04.898
As you go to take an inspection, you can see... You can see that the asset is, does need maintenance, doesn't need maintenance, needs replacing, and then, as a result of that inspection, you can go back and reclassify that asset as per what its actual condition is, as opposed to... Correct, and that's a discussion you have with your team. So it's the reclassification that needs to happen. That's where we're heading to, to try and get into a more inspected and identified level of asset knowledge. You have to move it here. So that feeds into another question I had on page two. There was, it said any assets that have reached condition five will be included in the development and renewals program of the 10-year capital works program. So my... So my understanding is you want to renew it before it reaches, in an ideal world, you want to renew it before it reaches condition five? Larry Sengstock 34:55.684
Not necessarily. So this is one we talked about as well. But level five, level five is essentially the trigger. To then put it in. Yeah. And when we say it goes into the 10-year capital plan, it doesn't mean it goes into year nine of the capital plan. It just means that that's how we have a 10-year capital plan. So it just goes into the plan, if you call it the plan. And if it's really, like if it's a wooden seat that's down in Gympie Terrace that's subject to weather and usage and just wears out quicker, and it gets to level five and it might be that we know it's got a year left and then we've got to replace it. Or if it's something in a small park that's not used but we know it's at level five because of time, you then put it into the 10-year program and it might be at year four or five because we know it's got plenty of life left in it. That's what that means. It's just a trigger. Level five doesn't mean that it's the end of its life, it just means it's a trigger to then be addressed. Okay. Joe Jurisevic 35:48.837
It's exactly how I read the same question that I asked, right? Condition five to me is, it's too late. Yeah. Yes, it's reaching. In your, in the way this asset management plan is working, condition five is the time when you say, "Right, now is the time we need to plan for its replacement." So, condition's not necessarily for its... it's approaching the replacement time. Yeah. Life cycle. Yeah. And it needs to be addressed. It now needs to be scheduled for... Correct. SPEAKER_05 36:15.602
Condition five is when you make the assessment. Is it disposal? Is it replacement? Yeah. Yeah. Or is it... Larry Sengstock 36:23.696
That's right, exactly. Yeah, thank you. All of those. Joe Jurisevic 36:25.936
That clarifies it. Thank you, because that was one of my questions as well. You know... Amelia Lorentson 36:29.916
In terms of the Cooroy Hinterland Playground, has... Has the cost of that impacted on levels of services and management of the other parks within the Shire? Matt 36:42.125
Yeah, so the Cooroy Playground is still on maintenance, so it's still within its first 12 months. It's coming off pretty soon, but it's still on being maintained by the contractor that built it. Amelia Lorentson 36:56.175
So the impacts will be seen next year? Yes, we've factored it into the next financial year, all those costs, the maintenance costs and things. Larry Sengstock 37:05.195
So we've got additional staff. This is always part of the overall plan when it gets handed over. We have additional staff and additional resource that goes into that. So in terms of staff, I've had some concerns raised in the community, in particular after the realignment. Our parks and gardens, I think, are merging. And the question I've been asked by a resident is, does that mean will our parks and gardens be adequately staffed. Scott Waters 37:40.394
Through the Chair, Councillor Lorentson, that's actually off topic from an asset management plan. Oh, excuse me. But we're very happy to respond in that there is specific work that's being undertaken. within our depot environment at the moment, and that's to work towards a multi-skilled workforce. Very happy to work with that particular resident that may have some concerns, but please note that the standards of service that this council today is the standard of service. What we're trying to work towards and achieve, and there's very significant work that Larry, Brian and the team are delivering in the depot, is how can we have our workforce more skilled to deliver more and very different types of works, taking away from an old traditional structure which made us be, if you're parks and gardens, that's all you do, and if you're a civil ops, that is all you do. So a more modern way of delivering local government outdoor services on a multiscale basis. So MSWs, or multiscale workers, is a process that is being undertaken. We're working closely with the unions on that as well because it is a change, but please note that is somewhat different to the functional realignment that the organisation has gone through, and it's specific to the depot. Joe Jurisevic 38:58.439
I'll challenge you a bit on that, because the tone of asset management is maintenance of the assets and that kind of thing, so having the workforce and the capability to and the capability of delivering on that maintenance and the assessments and the like requires an honest workforce to be able to not only prepare them, but to be able to assess them and see how they go through. So I welcome the opportunity. I think that offers a variety of challenges in the everyday work environment as well. I thought employees would welcome that opportunity as well. Well, Chair, through Larry, Brian and also Matt, that's what the team's working towards. We've gone to the days of the silo. You do one thing, you'll go on one thing only. But we're working towards that. It is a sensitive issue. We're talking about long-term employees that are having changes to their day-to-day work. So there is some elements there but note that the team that are managing and leading the depot are taking this task. It's somewhat difficult but working with unions and key leaders within that workforce that they're doing... they're doing a great job to transition to what is a more modern contemporary way of delivering an outside multi-skilled workforce. Kim Rawlings 40:10.811
Clare's got her hand up. Scott Waters 40:12.911
Hang on, I'm trying to see if Amelia's finished first. Amelia Lorentson 40:15.791
Oh good, thank you. Joe? Amelia, are you clear? Kim Rawlings 40:19.053
Oh, thanks, Joe. Quick question, Lara. When you're talking about those levels, the conditions, sort of condition four, condition five and, you know, we look then and determine whether it's a new renewal upgrade. Some of those things you're talking about, and they are minor works with, you know, park benches or, you know, latticework in a rotunda or something in a park, can that potentially be brought into to those, what we're looking at in the budget, which is potentially, I mean, those pools of funds for minor capital works, and that can sort of be a follow over from that. So if we do see something that needs immediate attention or, you know, a community member draws it to our attention, we can action it pretty quickly through through potentially that new pool of funding. Larry Sengstock 41:04.670
I don't know the new pool. No, no, I think, sorry, I think the, the answer to that is, if it's if it's urgent work, then we get it done anyway, through our own, our own maintenance programs, we've got the ability to do that. That's, that's how we're set up. So we can do that. If it's something that's a little bit left of centre that may may not be prioritised right now that that needs to be brought forward, then that's, that's certainly something we're talking about in terms of our budgets going forward and how we how we have that that ability to do that. So yeah, we will cover it no matter what I think is probably the thing if it's urgent, emergent and, and risk to council, then we would we would sort that through our own day to day because we have the ability to do that. And then there's there's other things that are, you know, maybe lower down on the priority list that for some for whatever reason, because we're going to get limited budget, then they're the things we can talk about in the in the in the in the in the in the new budget as we go forward. Joe Jurisevic 42:02.450
Okay, thank you. No, thanks Shane, you've got some questions. Yeah, so along the lines of what the Mayor was asking, one of the questions I asked is annual reactive versus preventative maintenance budget. Obviously, timber assets require oiling on a preventive maintenance, and you would schedule that in for, I don't know, an annual, six-monthly, two-year, whatever. Yeah, depending on the... Periodic maintenance. Periodic maintenance. Versus, we come to the asset, we're going to do the painting, we go, oh, we can see the rock here, there's no point applying the oil until this piece of the timber is replaced. Reactive maintenance. So that element comes in. So in... Not quite the pools of the maintenance, but how the division of the maintenance budget, there's got to be an element of reactive maintenance and an element of preventative maintenance or ongoing maintenance. Do we have a break-up of that within that maintenance budget, or do we specifically just have a maintenance budget and reactive elements handled in a different way? Matt 43:12.678
So I can answer that one, Chair. So within our operational maintenance budget, which we sort of manage internally in my team, we do have those situations covered for. We have probably, I'd say it's at a guess, it's probably about 60% that preventative schedule sort of proactive. So it's your sanding and your oiling and your painting. and your soft wall replacements. Grease and oil. And then we do find things, as you say, through our inspections and our attendance at the parks, we find things that are broken and a bit of vandalism. Graffiti, things like that. They get covered as well within, so there's elements of our budget where we're allowed for an itemised, you know, broken bits of equipment and having to buy replacement parts for playgrounds, some timber, you know, just things like that. They definitely get factored into it, so we allow for both, and I reckon it's about a 60, 60%, 60-40, yeah. Joe Jurisevic 44:18.722
Okay, that answers that question. Now that's one of the things I often get asked is that how come that's not getting repaired? Isn't there any money in the budget? Clearly there is. There's often delays There's often delays. Matt 44:30.457
As well because some of your specialist parts for playgrounds can take a few months to order, so we'll order them as soon as we're aware of the issue, but then we might have to secure that. you know, secure that. Secure that piece of it, you know, bunt it off, make sure that no one can use it. And we are starting to now also put signs giving a bit of a why and a bit of a time frame so we don't get all the complaints and the CRMs yet. Joe Jurisevic 44:55.873
The more information you provide, the better informed the public are to understand the wrongs and the reasons behind that issue. Well that's great, great to hear that. I'm glad you mentioned graffiti because one of the questions that came up as I was reading through... It suggested graffiti wasn't reactive maintenance. Graffiti clearly is reactive maintenance and even in the schedule there it said graffiti... I've seen graffiti within 24 hours or something else. So why is graffiti not considered reactive maintenance when clearly it is a reactive maintenance? That might be semantics in the way the report's written but I read that graffiti wasn't considered as reactive maintenance. But clearly the way it's... the way it's addressed is reactive maintenance. I think that cleared itself up there but again there's one element within the table that suggested it wasn't reactive maintenance. Page 24. Page Amelia Lorentson 45:50.378
24, Please. Page 24. Page 24, graffiti. That table does say it's reactive maintenance. It says it's reactive and responded, emergencies responded to the same day. Reactive maintenance. Matt 45:59.235
There was somewhere else where I didn't get that. Oh yeah, there is there. I didn't get that impression and then later on I did get that impression. There might be an element of semantics within the report where graffiti panel is just not referred to in the same way. Yeah, so just... There might be an element of semantics within the report where graffiti panel is just not referred to in the same way. So any graffiti in parks, we're on to it straight away as soon as it comes to our attention, depending obviously on the role of human... but anything that's obscene or anything like that, we're out straight away, get rid of it. If it's just something, a tag or something like that, we'll get to it within 10 days or as soon as we possibly can. Joe Jurisevic 46:31.666
Do we still use Youth Justice to deal with offenders of graffiti, dealing with graffiti? Matt 46:37.006
Yeah, we take photos of the graffiti and send it through to... there's a hotline for it. But do we actually get the offenders coming back clean? Not through council that we're aware of, no. Is that something we could... I know it has happened in the past, is that something we can look at again? Yeah, I'd have to look into that. Frank Wilkie 46:54.662
Community development. Joe Jurisevic 46:55.962
Yeah, I understand. Frank asked a question about the Condition 5, and that was sort of the way it read. We're waiting until it comes to the end of the slide before that, and that's clearly not the case. Condition 5, we know... Correct. So one would think that good preventative and reactive maintenance would help prolong the life of most equipment. Beyond that... beyond that time period, provided it's not abused or challenged in some other way, shape or form, and in a weather condition or the like. I've asked about... How do we determine renewal? Along the lines of what Amelia was asking. How do we determine renewal as like for like versus upgrades, or for more and better equipment, different, longer lasting materials... type and style, we actually look at what is better, longer lasting, more facilitated. Hardwood requires a lot of maintenance. Is hardwood the ideal product to stick in the ground, for example, or to make seats out of that need to be oiled on a frequent basis? I know that Noosa Look and Feel comes into this a lot, but time has moved on and hardwoods are a limited resource. Where does sustainability come into the elements of access? Matt 48:36.543
So just getting back to your original part of that is renewal in terms of that in the asset world is a like for like or a modern day equivalent replacement. An upgrade is a bigger and bigger and better or changing the, say it's a playground, changing it. Changing the function or adding an element, that sort of thing. So with renewal, when we renew something like-for-like, it's not absolute like-for-like, it's using the modern-day materials, the technologies that are, and we try, we always try to go for as lower maintenance As lower maintenance as possible and using- The opportunity for sustainability. Absolutely, yes. Using materials that are sustainable, environmentally friendly and all that. So, and at the moment the Noosa design principles is under review by the- is under review by the design run through the infrastructure planning and delivery design branch. And I've had- myself and Brian have had a lot of input into that. Yeah, and we've had a lot of input lately into it around the maintenance side of it and the materials side of it. So yeah, that's certainly something every time something comes up for renewal and is considered with design and all that, that we definitely try to incorporate the best possible solutions. Joe Jurisevic 50:01.129
One question I did have with regard to the graphs, figure six, and I think this boils down to how I interpret it. There are three lines below that 10 million figure. Yep. And there's one green line going up which is an accumulation. It's the only element of accumulation. Correct. Each of those is year on year and each of those... Each of those years has been totalled to the previous year to create that green line going forward. Yes. Yes. That's all right. I didn't get it the first time and when I looked at it again I thought this is the only way that this could make any sense. Larry Sengstock 50:34.052
Yes. Actual versus accrual. Yep. Joe Jurisevic 50:36.372
The last one is there's no mention of the legibility in the asset management plan. How do they relate? 2.4 mentions... 2.4 mentions identifying future demand forecasts, which we've spoken a bit about here. And Amelia's talked about existing parks and infrastructure. So what are the parameters that will determine future needs and how these will be determined? Is it through the legit? Is it... because that's... once assets have reached their end of life, is the legit still staying in play? Classification. Classification of parks and the like. How does the legit and the asset management plan come together? Scott Waters 51:18.002
I can help answer that for the chat. So the issue that we're facing around legit or our particular council is that we will have very limited growth into the future. So the legit is there for when we have future growth and development to be able to deliver across the local government area. Just for those online, local government infrastructure. Thank you. So the problem that we're facing is that we have very limited, if any, future growth and that the legit is there to be able to look at the forward utilisation. of developer contributions at the end of the day. How are we going to deliver those and what does that actually mean? Councils across Queensland are no longer sitting on large development contribution reserves that really aren't being spent and the developers aren't sure where they're going. We as a council will have to self fund our future renewals because we're not then in a position of receiving new equipment or new parts coming from the developer because we have limited development opportunities. So it is definitely one for us that from an asset management planning perspective this work is extremely important because it will then need to be able to inform what our future budget is going to be in the renewal, replacement, refurbishment. refurbishment have it what we will what we do with each individual and what particular park groups that we have so it's setting the standard what is what is the standard of service in each individual park what's the categorization of that park into the future and then how will we review that and we do know that when neighborhoods with young kids grow to older kids that mum and dad then pick up the phone to the council and saying that piece of equipment isn't really fit for purpose for us anymore. We want to see a basketball court or we want to see a skateball or something of the like. So legit into the future for us is not a tool that can be a predictor unless there is a change. So one of the things that we could potentially look at is across a suburb, for want of a better terminology, look at different categories. Of equipment within that, catering for younger, next age group, maybe four or five different categories of that with different elements catering for different age needs that might facilitate a range of uses. What would be more centrally located for the younger and as we facilitate out, what is it that could be travelled to? Larry Sengstock 53:49.042
That's part of the Brewer planning exercise as well because you've got to look at that hierarchy of parks and for these guys it's hierarchy of parks in terms of maintaining the furniture that's in there or the grass or the trees, whatever it might be. That's part of the Brewer... But then it's a matter of what equipment goes into those particular parks on hierarchy and that changes as we talked about before with demographics, you know, as a suburb becomes older or younger. You've got to provide the different, the different services. So we just need to provide a mix that caters for a blend. And that's why I use the Legip as the example, thinking as a CEO, because the Legip is what Legip is what starts us and gets us there in the first place. But once we're not growing anymore, the Legip ceases to give us that direction. So in that renewal process, exactly the sort of thing I'm alluding to here, how do we then look at what we upgrade to? What we upgrade to or change to or do, can we put in a blend and a mix that caters for a range of age groups or a range of uses? No question. That's what we are doing. And I guess I think. Gympie Terrace is a classic example of that. It's doing the master plan of that, understanding what the usage is. You know, that's the disabled or the all abilities tables. It's the all abilities swings and play equipment. It's just all of that needs to be brought. It's just all of that needs to be brought into it. And that, you know, gets its own, it gets its own master plan, own plan that we deliver against it. Joe Jurisevic 55:17.843
So from an all abilities perspective, how many all abilities and where do we situate them across the board? So that everybody has one within a particular, a particular reach, you know, within about five kilometres or 10 kilometres or in a suburban area that a park is no more than certain. 800 metres, for example, from the Ferds Residence or something like that. And we have a formula to find. Larry Sengstock 55:44.715
To be honest, I think we'll capture a lot of that. And this, Kim's going to head down on a computer, but the placemaking. Placemaking, absolutely. You know, we do it in Pomona first, but then as we move along, that's exactly what that should capture. Because that's the community feedback saying we want this and we need this and this is what suits our community. community. So If that's that's where our asset management plan for the future... Well, it all ties in together. It's a whole group. It's not just these guys who are selecting equipment and putting it in there. It's being advised by the other groups in council to say this is what we need. As to what's appropriate and where it's appropriate. Absolutely. Joe Jurisevic 56:16.670
And that's, again, the legit was the driver of that, so I'm looking for the future as to how we continue to view and review. And that's exactly what we're doing and that's part of the realignment it's all about. It's all about just making sure we all talk to each other and don't just go like for like, so there it is. That we aren't walking, you know, we aren't walking beyond. Absolutely. Talking to all the other elements. Absolutely. And the community does. Yep. To ensure that we move them. Yep. Another question, Amelia? Amelia Lorentson 56:41.251
In terms of the hierarchy, Matt, can I just ask a couple of questions? So the parks and playgrounds have been classified in accordance with the service that provides In accordance with the service that provides, there's a hierarchy or criteria that helps you understand which level a park fits into. Couple of questions. Environmental Environmental value. So we're looking at economic, we're looking at usage. Does the environmental, does that sit under cultural reasons? Sort of not spelled out that the environmental value of a park should be somehow mentor that. Again, I use Orient North Park where it's got identified casuarina trees for our vulnerable species, the glossy blacks. So how is the importance of the vegetation captured within the criteria? Matt 57:36.564
Good question. SPEAKER_05 57:43.223
So the hierarchy as it stands is based on the service it provides. So when we're bringing natural values into there, this is primarily looking at it. The asset management plan looks at it from the financial aspect and what we have on our register currently. So that's what drives that. So in terms of that. So in terms of purely, purely natural, it would not affect the hierarchy as much if it's just a purely an open space. Larry Sengstock 58:14.278
Okay. The way we structure it in this organisation, that's natural areas and environment that have that sitting under their watch, if you like. And that's where, you know, you've got to draw sort of lines somewhere, and that's where, in terms of the types of trees, if they've got a question on that, they would go to natural areas and environment to understand what those trees are used for currently, and if they need to be replaced, what they're replaced with, or should they be kept because they're of a certain value. But that's where we've got to work in together. There's not just one department, and that's where we are getting much better at, in making sure that we don't just go off on our own tangent. All right. Joe Jurisevic 58:56.605
So, just one other question. Page 7 of the Asset Management Plan, on Level 3, it refers to Heritage Park in Tewantin. I'm assuming that's Heritage Park. That should be Heritage Park or Heritage Park? Scott Waters 59:10.145
Yes, probably. Joe Jurisevic 59:12.665
Parklands is the... Parklands is the region, Heritage Park is the park within it? Yeah. Yep. Can we just clarify that and make sure that that's actually correctly just referred by the park manager? Can we just clarify that? Larry Sengstock 59:21.572
Yep, sure. Joe Jurisevic 59:23.372
I don't think any... When I looked at Heritage Park, I was going, well, the only park he could be referring to is Heritage Park. Matt 59:28.792
Yeah, there's no Heritage Park at all there. I think that's just a technical typo. That's right. Amelia Lorentson 59:36.190
And just one last question with a criteria description. Level four, infrequent use each week. It'd be... It'd be interesting why the park isn't used a lot and it could be as simple as, and again this is just on the street, it doesn't have a barbecue facility, it doesn't have a basketball hoop, doesn't have a tap for the dogs to walk through. So it'd be great to break that down because to me it's a wasted asset and maybe we can maximise the use if we look at, you know, what needs to be added there. One would think that if a park is underutilised, maybe we need to get a talk with the community and say what do we need to put in this park to make it more accessible or more interesting. Or more valuable to the community as an asset to be used. Matt 01:00:27.528
I know of some parks that my staff go to maintain and the softfall doesn't even have a footprint in it. And so it's clear that no one's using it. And the softfall underutilised, I think, is the reason why the park is underutilised. And it could be that the demographics have changed and there's no young kids there anymore. Joe Jurisevic 01:00:47.999
So it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. So it's clear that the demographics have changed. Frank Wilkie 01:01:06.881
And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. Joe Jurisevic 01:01:10.421
And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's clear that the demographics have changed. And so it's Amelia Lorentson 01:01:25.311
I didn't realise you were three other students. That's right. It's an important asset. Yeah, absolutely. It is. Scott Waters 01:01:34.411
Thanks, guys. I think they're cutting it off. Joe Jurisevic 01:01:38.391
Thank you. Item three. Tourism Noosa Funding Agreement. Kim Rawlings 01:01:55.120
I have a declarable conflict of interest in this matter, so I don't know what happened to the wall, but can you see it? I can. Joe Jurisevic 01:02:05.160
Can you see it on your screen? Kim Rawlings 01:02:09.980
No, I can't. I have a declarable conflict of interest. I have a conflict of interest in this matter because I have a friendship with, hang on, Kat, is it up there? It should be on the board view, on your board view. Joe Jurisevic 01:02:21.250
On your board view. Those online, if you're prepared with us, we're using a new system this month for the first time, and we're just coming to terms with some of the challenges of some of the views that we've got. I'll just share it through Teams, might be a moment. Can you see that, Clare? Is that better? Clare, can you see that? Kim Rawlings 01:02:50.240
Um, hang on, Joe, I'm just--- In through Teams. Is it email through Cat? In through Teams. I'm sharing it in your Teams. Joe Jurisevic 01:02:57.560
It's in Teams. Oh, thanks. Kim Rawlings 01:03:06.380
Okay, so yes, thank you, Cat. In accordance with-- I, Councillor Stewart, inform the meeting after a parallel conflict of interest in this matter, as Linda Creedy, a director of tourism at Noosa, is a friend. As a result of my conflict of interest, I will now leave the meeting room while the matter is considered and voted on. Thank you, Councillor Joe. Joe Jurisevic 01:03:22.520
Thank you, Mayor Clegg. We'll wait till the meeting is--- And done. All right, Mr. CEO, item 5.3 has your name as those, Adam, can we get the summary of the item? Scott Waters 01:03:41.660
Chair, thank you. I understand the intent is to have this particular item referred to the general committee, so council's very happy to be able to talk through the report for you and take any questions that you might have to be able to help you go through that. process for further consideration of the general committee. Joe Jurisevic 01:03:58.525
Do you mean the first letter goes through the general committee? Yes. The advice that I have is that yes. I just haven't been informed, sorry. Scott Waters 01:04:04.485
Second letter of resolution. Joe Jurisevic 01:04:05.685
Yep, I would have expected a two footer. Yes, yes. Scott Waters 01:04:09.165
Council, is tourism Noosa? Joe Jurisevic 01:04:10.785
Noosa for the chair's award. Scott Waters 01:04:12.705
Tourism Noosa, the single largest contribution of funding that this council makes for any organisation. This is not a decision for this council to take lightly. This is not a decision for the council. Council does need time to be able to work through and deliberate the provision of funds to an entity that, yes, is the largest economic contributor to our local government area, but also an entity with 600 members. Those members also need to have the ability to be able to start to shoulder the load when it comes to funding and marketing. And the delivery of services for this particular industry and sector for me, just over 12 months in the role and having a background within tourism, I've taken a particular interest in this item for our council to ensure that we're able to enhance how we have governance overarching and overriding everything that we do. For this particular funding that we provide. Tourism Noosa is an organisation that externally within the tourism sector has a fantastic reputation. Marketing is what they do and they do that very well. We know that because as a community we see the high level of tourism that comes through our particular community day in day out and it's why us as a doctor. It's why us as not just elected members of the council but council officers, our community as a whole are undergoing a destination management process. We do not want to see Noosa love to death. But we do need to be able to have a strong tourism sector and a strong representative body. At this point in time to have that representative body continue this council has to make a decision as to how it funds that tourism body into the future. that you have before you is about funding tourism Noosa at the same level that we have through previous agreements and through this current year into future years. It doesn't preclude us to have special projects or other elements of funding added to tourism Noosa but I do believe within the time that I've been here that it is prudent that we work with tourism Noosa on not only their efficiency and effectiveness as an organisation but also their governance as an organisation as well too. The efficiency and effectiveness of tourism Noosa and future funding should be dependent on how they run their business because let's face it, we because let's face it, they are running a business. It's a representative business of a cooperative of tourism businesses overall but it's still a business that is 90% funded by this council. council. We do need to see how they will manage future funds and through efficiency and effectiveness they can have further funding available for the different pieces of work that tourism and Noosa do. But they need to be able to which start to look internally first and look at what savings are available before coming to council and asking for more money or going to their members and working through what a new membership scheme or a membership program may be. Some of the great work that Tourism Noosa does, how do they monetize that work better for them and create better products, have strong relationships with the numerous associations and representative bodies that our local government area has? How can they be leaders? For Council to be able to provide these funds, really the basis of the funding and performance deed that you had before you is just that it's providing funding, but it's contingent on performance. Performance for tourism Noosa means that they need to have a four year strategic plan as approved by this council. They need to have an operating plan, very similar to what our council has to deal with with our governments. An operating plan that governs their 12 months aligned to budget so we know exactly what they're doing and they also know exactly what they're doing and where they're going. And then a quarterly report to this council delivered by Tourism Noosa either to this committee or to the P &E committee that demonstrates that Tourism Noosa has delivered against what that operating plan is so three pieces of governance work that Tourism Noosa will need to do. They'll also need to do an efficiency and effectiveness review as part of this agreement and they'll also need to take regulatory also need to take regular reviews of their board and the performance of the board as well. So there is a lot that we have been there. We have briefed this through to you on three separate occasions and we've done our very best We've done our very best to work with Tourism Noosa as the funding receiver and taking account all of the views and requests from the council. There are some elements though that we haven't been able to achieve. You know one is having specific funding. Go to specific areas. Tourism Noosa is just not that advanced and at this point in time until they have a strategic plan, an operational plan, quarterly reporting, it's very difficult for us to fund one or two specific areas and put that into a particular project bucket or piece of work. I think in the future we can get there by working with them. The agreement and the way it's been negotiated is a two plus two deal. So it pushes this through funding of this financial year and also next financial year and it will be the second year of the next term of council before this needs to be decided upon by the council again. My recommendation to the council though is we start a lot earlier. My recommendation is that it be a two plus two deal. We don't get to the stage where we are now in April and we're unsure as to how tourism booths will be able to operate if we don't provide that funding overall. The other element to this is that past 30 June 2025 there if this is operating and working well there's the ability to continue this for another two years so it's a two plus two deal. Funding remains static throughout that role. Time. Tourism Noosa will need to find their own efficiencies within their own business if they are to look at having more funds available for marketing or wanting to do more activations or different projects. It doesn't preclude them from coming to this council with a great idea or coming to this council and saying we'd like to take on some of the work that you're doing and do this on your behalf if that's an opportunity it's for this council table to decide on the strategic basis. I do know that there's two parts to our community that there's a part here that's very much saying look let's get in and let's support our tourism sector and there's a big part of our community that's saying well you know this has impacted our lifestyle, this is causing amenity issues for us. I think this though is now a great opportunity to really set a line in the sand for tourism Noosa to be able to say here are the very clear expectations of this council for what we want you to do with the money that we provide. Here are the clear governance elements that we now have in place to ensure that we do that. Should you not do that that should you not do that there are mechanisms for remedy by this council within this agreement. Those can even be as much as cancellation of this particular agreement overall terminated. So it's a serious job. It's a serious document. It puts parameters around Churras and Noosa that they haven't had before. It still provides the same level of funding for Churras and Noosa. And our hope as a council is now that with very clear direction they can get an and deliver for our community. One part that I haven't touched on though is the destination management plan. Once the destination management plan is completed our council and Churras and Noosa have the ability to be able to sit around the table, review the outcomes of the destination management plan and upon review of that we can make amendments and changes to the submarine that's enshrined within this document there for you as well too. So councillors, not voted upon today, that I absolutely understand, a referral to too. general, but I'm happy to take any questions that you may have and we try to make a fair and balanced agreement with Trewisa Noosa, but it is one that is very much within the council's favour is the way that I've come out for it. I'm happy to take any questions. Frank Wilkie 01:12:21.177
Thank you Mr. CEO for the report. Excellent, a lot of work involved in it and I have some clarifying questions and I'll save my debate for next week. Could you elaborate on the DMP timeframe? When do we expect this work to be done and how that will, at what phase of the agreement will that potentially affect the the agreement? Will it be at the end of the first two-year term or could it be earlier? I don't know. Scott Waters 01:12:47.333
Deputy Mayor, through the Chair, I'll take that question in two parts. I might defer to the Director for the timeframe around the DMP and then I can add some advice on the basis of that as to how that will affect and be delivered. So, Kim, if I could defer to you on the Kim Rawlings 01:13:05.660
Thanks, Scott, and through the Chair. Councillor Wilkie, we are in the process of developing a discussion paper for the Destination Management Plan that will be the first stage of community engagement. community engagement on it. That needs to go through Council and through the PCG, which will happen, I'm hoping, in the next four to six weeks. And then we'll run a community engagement process around it. That process will very much inform the the development of the destination management plan. My hope, as you know, with community engagement processes, will go out for a certain amount of time. I think it will engender a lot of interest and potentially a lot of public debate. So it's a little hard to predict exactly how much time that process will take. We want to do it properly, thoroughly and get it right. really important piece so that could you know there could be a good couple of months in that process. Then there's the development of the draft destination management plan that will again be worked through with council and the PCG and consulted on. and consulted on. I'd hope that we'd have it by the end of the year for council endorsement and consideration. That's our current time frame. We are, that's what we're working to. where as you can see I'm sort of allowing a little bit of flexibility in that because of the nature of the topic and the amount of interest I think it's going to garner. Frank Wilkie 01:14:30.921
So out of that process could perhaps come a reshaping, a re-crafting of the role of tourism Noosa. Does this agreement give us any capacity to change the funding agreement? To change the funding agreement with tourism Noosa before the end of the first two-year term as the CEO, or is the agreement written away that allows intervention at an earlier point? Scott Waters 01:14:58.564
Do the Chair, Councillor Wilkie, absolutely does. So it's been written away that once the destination management plan is adopted by the council, I would recommend, albeit we are coming into a caretaker election period. But within three months of that DMP being adopted by the council, I think it would be proven for the council to be able to set a timeframe with tourism Noosa to look at adjustments to this agreement. Letting it go... Letting it go longer just leaves it more open for debate and once the council's made the decision on the DMP, I think three months, sit down with tourism Noosa and say the reshaping in our view is this and here's how... is this and here's how we'd like it to be taken forward and have tourism Noosa consider and come back with what they'd like to do. Frank Wilkie 01:15:44.246
Okay, thank you. My next question, the funding agreement and the report makes reference to reference to efficiency dividend which may involve, if they're demonstrated, if these efficiencies are demonstrated, may involve the waiving of Council's internal costs which are charged to tourism Noosa. Do we have a ballpark figure about that? Yeah. What amount that is? Scott Waters 01:16:08.781
Through the chair, it's about $130,000 per annum. So it is significant, and it is important that tourism Noosa, if, you know, we as a councillor, we're not going to fund you at any high-level tourism Noosa, but we're happy to help your bottom line. You also need to start to make efforts to improve your bottom line and your efficiency and effectiveness. So we're happy to start that process, to start to demonstrate that now. but it's for tourism Noosa. How can that business run better? By running a better business, there should be more funds and there should be a better outcome to the community. Frank Wilkie 01:16:44.266
There's a double incentive, so if they show these efficiency, improved efficiencies, which will free up cash within their organisation, we then will reward them with more cash. Potentially. Is that how it could work? Scott Waters 01:16:55.266
Yeah, definitely, and utilise it as a fairly standard tool. By waiving the internal costs? Yeah, and within government, that's a fairly standard clause that you would utilise for ongoing funding agreements to put in an efficiency dividend and that we either fund you less to that amount, but we're not forcing Tourism Noosa on that at the moment, but we're very much pushing them into that direction that if they want to have more funds, be more efficient. The next question is about the contingency fund. The former funding agreement made provision or made mandatory that Tourism Noosa set aside $350,000 for downturns and tourism visitation. They had to dip into those funds when COVID hit. Yes. So to reduce that amount by $100,000 to $250,000, are we and Tourism Noosa, is it suggested that we're, as partners, banking on a reduction in the frequency of perhaps climate-induced disasters or any other sort of downturn? Cost of living, like the two greatest global threats at the moment are climate-induced disasters and also cost of living. We both have the potential to... We both have the potential to impact on visitation. So by reducing the contingency to 250,000, are we banking that that's less likely or are we doing it? What discussions were there around the adequacy of that amount? through the chair deputy mayor it really is just capacity for tourism to be able to replenish that reserve. That reserve had been extinguished and the advice that they had provided was to be able to fully replenish that reserve would cause difficult within that business. So we negotiated at a lesser level of $250,000 and it's more so about how the business is running and operating and its capacity to have available free cash as opposed to taking those other elements into account. Something I think when the DMP is finalised, the potential for a revisit, DMP will also take into all of the other threats and changes to the tourism industry and impacts in the future and prudent to work through then but it was one of the key markers that came back when we had finalised the legal document that you have before you was specifically around the capacity to replenish that reserve to the full level and that was a concession that we made to help tourism whistle. Frank Wilkie 01:19:26.535
So if that reserve is-- So if that reserve is currently empty-- That's my understanding. Thank you. Amelia Lorentson 01:19:35.142
I'll just sort of follow on from where Frank's left in terms of the overhead costs that have been removed. In terms of CPI, Cost Consumer Price Index, I note that the agreement has no mention of CPI. question is why and is it reasonable to withhold CPI and in my three years in council I don't think I've ever seen an agreement that hasn't factored in a CPI increase or a capped amount increase. Scott Waters 01:20:09.417
Through the Chair, given that most of our agreements are year-to-year, that would be dealt with, Councillor Lorentson, within each of those. agreements at that time. We very rarely have a numerous multi-year agreement, so Tourism Noosa is an anomaly in that respect. So it's grant to grant is how we work, so that's why you won't see that CPI. But I think it's really important for Tourism Noosa receiving these funds that they are able to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness within their business. The ability for Tourism Noosa to free up cash in the future really is incumbent on Tourism Noosa for them as an entity to look at how they're running the business and for Tourism Noosa in the future to be able to demonstrate to this council of we've created these efficiencies and we've delivered these great outcomes council if you fund us more we can deliver these outcomes it shouldn't be a situation where council more money but we're still not changing our model or doing anything differently so that's where we take the view is it's reasonable it's been accepted by tourism Noosa at this point in time and we're happy to talk to the board tourism Noosa about that but I think it's a good safeguard for this council and it pushes more efficiency and effectiveness in the business again just following on with Frank's question the contingency fund I note that I've got the previous agreement in front of me it was called the marketing it was called the marketing cash contingency and the cause of the agreement actually stipulates that that the cash the marketing cash contingency be used only for marketing activity required outside so wording is quite different in this agreement can you explain or give me some details why and what give me some details why and what the implications of the that emission of marketing means. Through the Shire Council this is very much there for tourism Noosa to be able to have funds in reserve. In reserve for the future of tourism Noosa. Should there be an event or something that occurs for that business that it may no longer operate, it is proven for tourism Noosa to have some sort of safeguard in there. Um, no, this is a new agreement, totally redrafted into a funding and performance deed. There was the review of the previous agreement as part of this, but it was viewed to have a more more robust document, um, in a deed style, um, that has a number of different elements to it. Um, what does the $250,000 mean as a contingency fund? Well, ultimately it's there on an agreed basis. It's there on an agreed basis to work with council if there is some sort of event that can be utilised. But it also has, um, additional funds that then safeguard the business into the future. Um, and given that from a cash flow basis, um, we're providing funds immediately when... um, they become due for tourism Noosa, um, I think it's important for that business to have some funds available, um, should there be an issue in the future. Amelia Lorentson 01:23:17.456
And that I note in the agreement clause 11.1 number 2 um, the approval's got to be, um, sorry, any withdrawal funding out of the contingency fund has to actually meet with council approval, so it has to go through council. Scott Waters 01:23:36.133
Um, and through the chair of council, because it's ultimately our money. Excellent. Um, and that's what does need to be understood, that this is, these are council funds, um, so, um, yeah, there's an additional safeguard in there. Amelia Lorentson 01:23:47.257
Um, councillor observer position, so I sit as an observer, um, which means I'm excluded from any matters that are considered commercial in confidence. Um, the past agreement actually gave a councillor observer under course 20.5, um, the choice to either sit as a councillor observer or they can elect to sit as a board director. Um, that choice has been removed from this agreement. directly And can I ask, um... And I know the reasons. Yeah. Just some details as to, um, why this decision was made. Scott Waters 01:24:27.569
Um, to the chair, Councillor Lorentson, at the end of the day, I would dissuade any councillor from taking on a director position as a councillor. Um, director's liability first and foremost, um, becomes an issue for any body taking that particular role. There is the provision under the Local Government Act to be a director, um, on a board of an entity that we fund. Um, it immediately puts you, though, into a conflict of interest situation as well. Um, preclusion from budget or planning matters, but there are elements that, um, make it, um, what might seem as attractive to be on the director and, uh, director on a board and to be able to vote and have a high degree of input. Um, for a councillor, it actually creates a lot of impost for you delivering your role, um, the, the recommendation is always to, to be an observer, um, and to really be there to be able to, um, provide. Um, provide, um, advice and assistance, um, to be able to understand how council funds are being spent by the entity, um, and what the future for the entity is going to be in relation to how that affects council policy, um, and be able to. of policy, um, and be able to report back to the council. So it's really an assisting role as opposed to a decision-making role. Um, we've made the decision to fund. Um, we have a robust agreement in place as to how our funds are to be spent. The observer role is really to understand... to understand and ensure that that is being delivered at that level. Um, so I would not recommend that that be taken up. Um, there is a provision under the Act, um, that, um, there's only very few circumstances that that, um, really should be undertaken to be undertaken. Um, and...and that's why there's been that change there. Um, and... Um, in consultation with the Council, um, we've ensured, though, that, um, staff matters within tourism Noosa, um, have a degree of confidentiality about the local staff matters. Um, so it would be expected that you wouldn't be present for those staff matters. Um... Um, but if there are any financial matters that, um, are demonstrating difficulties, um, it is absolutely the role of the observer to be able to understand those, um, and... and it provides advice back to Council so it can help and assist and remedy any situation that might occur. Amelia Lorentson 01:26:42.655
Um, efficiencies and effectiveness review. I note on page 64, um, that that will be undertaken by Tourism Noosa, and they are also determining the scope and structure of the review. Um, was consideration given for an independent review? Um... was consideration given for an independent review? Scott Waters 01:27:05.370
Through the Chair, Councillor Lorentson, I believe that it would still be delivered independently. That's the view that I would take. Um, but allowed tourism... Noosa the latitude to be able to deliver that. Um, they know their business. They know their scope. Um, I'm not looking for, as a CEO, I'm not looking for anything in particular in relation to their efficiency and effectiveness. I just really want to be able to see them deliver a better business, um, for themselves. And then efficiency and effectiveness review, um, should deliver that. Um, but if it's not to the satisfaction of council, um, again, we have remedy to that and we can have a discussion with Jurisa Noosa about it. But, um, I know that they, um, through discussions with the chair and the acting CEO, they are committed, um, to be able to be delivering on that review and see that as an important part. Amelia Lorentson 01:27:51.844
And given it's an obligation that we've imposed on Jurisa Noosa, um, who's picking up the cost for the review? Um, Jurisa Noosa. Thank you. Frank Wilkie 01:28:05.114
Sorry, just a clarifying question. Amelia, you were talking about the review of the board and the staff. Amelia Lorentson 01:28:10.414
Um, yep, it's a... Some of the... Tourism Noosa priority obligations and performance measures, one of their KPIs, Frank. Yeah. Um, by... 31st of December, they're required to undertake and provide a council and efficiency and effectiveness review. Um, scope and structure to be termed. So I'm envisaging that's going to have, um... Board skills. Board skills. Absolutely, so board will be reviewed, Tourism Noosa reviewed, their workplace, um, planning, um, everything will be reviewed. Yes, that's my understanding. My question was, who's going to do the review? Tourism Noosa, Hydrax. Scott Waters 01:28:59.774
It would be like all of you would have known. Yes, but they'd pay for it. Yeah, not recommend it. Yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah, that's true. Any further questions? Not from anybody in this chair. Councillor Stockwell, will the audience just make a question? Amelia Lorentson 01:29:14.013
I've got some more questions, thank you, through the chair. In terms of events, there's lots of reference in terms of duplication. Can you explain, so TN and Council will take reasonable steps to avoid any duplication of funding. So what does that mean? So currently we have some events that I've got some more questions. Put applications for funding through TN and also through Council. Does this preclude them, they've got to make a decision one or the other? Can you explain how that's going to work? Scott Waters 01:29:52.886
So look, events are, let's put it this way, it's a scramble egg right now is the issue that we're dealing with. We provide funds to Tourism Noosa. Tourism Noosa then administer those funds through a grant program to events and then we have those event organisers that may or may not be successful they come to the council and ask for more money. Ultimately it's still council money. So through the functional realignment of the organisation we've split events which split events within the council business we've elevated that to be within the environment strategy team led by Kim as our director in that department and it really is a sit-down with tourism Noosa to be able to look at the funding to be able to look at the funding that they are delivering for events, how events are being managed within Noosa and ultimately how we stop the duplication of roles and how we stop the duplication of funding. We can't be in the position to be able then fund through one entity and then provide funding through us as the primary entity. There needs to be a better way of doing this and we're really open to working with tourism Noosa around that. Is it a role that's best served with TN? Is it a role that's best around that? Is it a role that's best served just within council? Something for us to work through jointly. What doesn't leave council though is within our property team where the land use permit is delivered. That still stays there as merely a regulatory compliance function. That continues within that team. But how we look at let's say our top 20 events either on a profit or not for profit basis, how we help work with them with funding and what Tourism Noosa role is in that is something that we'll work through as an outcome of this agreement. Amelia Lorentson 01:31:34.309
And this is just for everyone's information. I don't think a lot of people know Tourism Noosa sponsor 13 1-3 events throughout the calendar year. Eight of those actually have regional and hinterland dispersal. land dispersal. person I just think that's a really important stat that needs to be shared. Scott Waters 01:31:54.954
And through the Chair, Councillor Lorentson, regional hinterland dispersal, ultimately council funds. So while Tourism Noosa is administering this, ultimately that money is council money going through. So important point to understand on that as well too. Joe Jurisevic 01:32:09.794
I just want to clarify, that's separate to tourism in advance of Queensland's funding of domains. Kim Rawlings 01:32:24.320
I've got a couple of queries in regard to the total quantum and allocation of funding. The specific nature of the two plus two is. So is it at TN's discretion to continue on the two years? Is it mutually agreed or is it council's discretion whether we continue on the agreement for the second two year period? Scott Waters 01:32:45.385
Well it would need to be mutually agreed and given that we now have very clear government's parameters it would become more clearer closer to the end of the agreement if not earlier if they were not being met it would be an easier decision and discussion for the council to have so now that we have there's no ambiguity in our relationship anymore but it should be a joint decision. through the Shack Council. As to whether the parties continue for the the next two years but yeah a decision for the future. and the second part then is currently as it sits there is no allocation allocation within within the different roles of TN but there's a requirement for them to adjust to the destination management plan so is it sufficient within within the the current drafting of the agreement such that when the destination management plan if council wants to shift the percentage of allocation between say marketing and sustainability and and other aspects of their business it does is there sufficient flexibility within the agreement as well to achieve that in years two three through the chair it's written with that intent Councillor Stockwell that we can't wait for the DMP is the issue so I spoke about scrambled eggs before we've got chicken and eggs here we would dearly love to have the DMP inform this now we're just not there yet. Tourism Noosa need funding certainly coming into the new financial year but the very clear market point within this agreement is the DMP and it is a sit-down of what the outcomes of what the DMP was what is the role of Tourism Noosa in the future and how we work together to be able to deliver that but yes it's written with the intent that the destination management plan is a very important component and it's a point for both parties to sit down and discuss what the future then. That's it, do we have any further councillors? Amelia Lorentson 01:34:54.300
Happy to move. Joe Jurisevic 01:34:55.780
Moving councillor, Laurence Stubbs. Moving to general. Yes to move to general. Yep, yep. And seconded by who? And seconded by... Councillor Wilkie. Councillor Wilkie seconded. That would be, this week was, to go to general. All in favour? Carried. Inanimate. Scott Waters 01:35:14.886
We'll have to get the Mayor back in. I'll just cancel it. Joe Jurisevic 01:35:25.380
Are you ready to jump in now? I've still got another 22 minutes. Thanks mate. Scott Waters 01:35:43.200
All right, we're going to move to item four, item four, the proposed lease tenancy for the Peregian Digital Hub. Our director, give us a bit of an overview. Kim Rawlings 01:35:55.880
Sure, thanks Councillor Jurisevic. Chris Bowden, our director of Digital Hub is on a well-reserved break, so that's why I'm stepping in for him. This report recommends Council agree to a commercial lease for a space that's become available at the Digital Hub. with our construction of our new AI lab next door we've been able to move some of our CoLab functions so that space where the wooden seating is at the moment where there's guest speakers and things that were happening in the existing hub we're repurposing that space and tentating proposing to tenant part of it so this lease it takes up about 75 square metres of that. As per usual we've run a process through our provider who works with us on these colliers to run a market process and they have attracted a local tech company called Nabooki through that process and the report recommends that we enter into a lease with Nabooki with this option of three potential extensions a two-year lease with options of three potential extensions. That's it. Frank Wilkie 01:37:19.529
We have some special questions. Where are they situated currently? Kim Rawlings 01:37:24.962
I knew someone was going to ask that. I should have checked. I've got the answer. You've got the answer? There you go. So they've got 12 staff. Staff are located in Sydney, Holland, Philippines, and an advisory board in the US and UK. They are local though, so they do have a presence here. They do. They're based in Peregian, according to their link design. I did a little bit of looking around. Great. Frank Wilkie 01:37:51.794
No, it's fantastic that a local business is doing so well, selling at a global high. It's exactly the sort of business that we're attracted to. Very aligned. Digital hub. It's great that they're expanding. Yep. And perhaps after two years they'll be even bigger and be able to take up other premises in the civic or somewhere else here. That's the hope for them. Amelia Lorentson 01:38:23.355
I'm reading, so they're white labels. So they're white label marketplaces and I think my understanding of what they do, online bookings and marketplace technology that helps local tourism operators gain exposure. Am I right? Kim Rawlings 01:38:36.829
Yeah, absolutely. They do marketplace, they do booking platforms, tours. They do booking platforms, so tours and classes, those sorts of things. tools. Like Groupon and Scoop. Yeah. Great. Joe Jurisevic 01:38:47.703
Clare, any questions at all? Kim Rawlings 01:38:50.603
All good, thank you. Joe Jurisevic 01:38:52.363
Nothing further? I'll move it. I'll move Councillor Wilkie's seconder. Councillor Wilkie's seconder, Councillor Lorentson. All in favour? That's an aye from Clare. Can we hear the verbal aye please, Clare? Yes. Thank you. Thanks both. Amelia Lorentson 01:39:06.722
Thanks councillors. Thank you. Joe Jurisevic 01:39:12.500
This motion has been published. Which is item five, the motion to the ALGA National General Assembly 2023. Scott Waters 01:39:21.380
Chair, I'll present this, but ultimately it's a motion that's been brought to the council table by Councillor Lorentson. And Councillor Lorentson will be attending the Australian Local Government Association's National General Assembly in Canberra this year. and like the Local Government Association of Queensland, there's the ability to be able to have motions put before the National General Assembly for consideration of the assembly that forms policy at a national level. So it needs to be at a federal government policy level to be able to have firstly it be accepted by the Australian Local Government Association, then debated. And then the Australian Local Government Association policy executive, which is made up of all of the presidents of the local government associations of each state and territory, then work through a process as to whether this is accepted as policy for lobbying with the Australian Federal Government. Councillor Lorentson spoke to me about a number of proposed motions and I worked with Councillor Lorentson to get what we thought would be the better fit within the guidelines and as you'll note from the report, they are quite clear as to what is required and why, because they are national level. So through the Chair, I may... I may ask if Councillor Lorentson can speak to Councillor Lorentson's motion and what Councillor Lorentson is wanting to achieve, but this report is really to bring this to the Council table from the operational element of the Council for strategic... the Council to be able to make a decision to take that forward. Joe Jurisevic 01:41:04.361
I think that would be wholly prudent for the Council to turn around and speak to our own motion. Thank you Chair. Amelia Lorentson 01:41:10.741
I'll speak to it. This is something that... I think everyone knows I'm quite passionate about. I went to the LGAQ with a similar motion in Cairns just recently in October 2022 and my purpose there... My purpose there was to get wastewater reuse on the State's list of priorities and that was upheld almost unanimously. So this is sort of at the next step. So I'm going to read what I wrote and I think that will be clearer. clearer in my intent and why it's important for me to do this on behalf of Noosa. Our beaches and coastline are some of our most important public places. It's unacceptable that in 2023 treated and untreated sewage is still being discharged into our oceans, a practice that commenced in Australia in the 60s. Our environment and community demand a better way of managing waste. Wastewater creates management problems for local regional governments and wastewater providers that has environmental, socio-economic and public health consequences. Wastewater reuse, however, creates enormous opportunity for local regional governments, advocating for a national policy and strategy that aims at one, no new ocean and estuarine sewerage outfalls to be built or developed along the Australian coastline and two, dedicated funding to develop new methods and technologies and make every effort to recycle 100% of all treated wastewater generated to avoid the need to discharge in the ocean. bitch By advocating this, we encourage the wastewater reuse and we ensure that our ocean outfalls are not used. used. The Clean Ocean Foundation, the Outfall Database, data gathered by this group in 2008 by this group in 2016 from 165 of the 175 ocean outfalls provided the first national snapshot of wastewater discharges to Australian coastal environments. The total volume of wastewater discharge to Australia's oceans in 2016 was 1350 gigalitres, equivalent to to 2.7 Sydney Harbours. The potential value of this water would have been more than $1 billion had as little as 20% been recycled. Again, that data's come from the Clean Ocean Foundation Outfall Database. Why I'm going to Canberra is because of what's happening in our backyard here in Noosa. We've got a sewage treatment plant at Burgess Creek that discharges treated effluent directly into the coral sea at Sunshine Beach. We've got a sewage tree. The significant volume of discharge and constant outflow going into Burgess Creek and our oceans, in my opinion, is causing erosion to our dunes and coastal ecosystems. That's also threatening road infrastructure and homes. will continue to question why an activity of dumping treated wastewater and contaminated stormwater into our oceans is tolerated and in fact legal. Are we tolerating practices that compromise I question and services that compromise the environment are reasonably foreseeable and preventable. Is it environmental best practice? Is the permitted use and environmental practices that were okay 20 plus years ago still relevant? And if we're okay with it and the water quality has met water quality criteria, then why aren't we reusing it? So in October 2022, I went to Cairns. I advocated that we needed as a state and as a country and as a water industry, support less wasteful distribution and use of water, as well as water treatment and recycling. Water scarcity Water scarcity, extreme weather events and population growth require that we are more efficient with our water management and more sustainable with our sewerage and stormwater management. What's required is legislative changes. Legislative changes, governmental support and incentives for the utilisation of reclaimed wastewater. We must aim to recycle 100% of wastewater. We must seek out and encourage wastewater reuse markets to drive investment. and water reuse that respect the environment and create jobs. We must actively seek out public-private partnerships that increase investments in projects, again, that respect the environment, such as such as converting sewage treatment plants to produce biogas and electricity from waste sources. UNESCO made it clear that climate change and water quality and water scarcity is one of the biggest threats to the health of our environment and community. And whilst it might not be currently possible to do away with marine outfalls completely, we must be forward thinking and do what we can to look at alternatives and new technologies to lessen the environmental impact. We must understand that the value of water is greater than the cost of an ocean outfall and that our beaches, our dunes, our natural environment and the health of Australians must be a key priority for this country. Therefore, ASCET Council supports this motion that calls on the National General Assembly to formulate a national policy that aims at no new ocean and estuarine sewerage outfalls to be built or developed along the Australian coastline and that dedicated funding is provided to support local regional governments and wastewater providers with existing ocean and estuarine outfalls to develop new methods, technologies and make every effort to recycle 100% of all treated wastewater generated within the localities and avoid the need to discharge in the ocean. People and planet before profit. Thank you. Frank Wilkie 01:47:40.739
Look, I'm going to support this motion. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was achieved, if 100% of all wastewater was recycled? I think it's a very noble aim and I think it would be a wonderful thing if it wasn't... It was a policy that... And funding and resources dedicated towards that outcome. But I like the report, but I do have to pick up one element of it. I do have a question. There's a statement in here... It's clearly a statement of opinion that the wastewater going to Burgess Creek is causing erosion to our dunes and coastal ecosystems that are threatening road infrastructure and private homes. Probably a question for... Director of Environment and Planning, is there any evidence to suggest that the water flowing down Burgess Creek is causing erosion that's threatening road infrastructure and private homes? Kim Rawlings 01:48:35.104
Through the Chair, no we can't categorically say that. There isn't substantiated evidence of that as yet. As councillors know, we are in partnership with University of Sunshine Coast undertaking... a research project looking at these exact issues. and to take So a model is being developed that was looking at the flows, the velocity, the whole environment for Burgess Creek, and what impacts that might be having on the surrounding environment. We've only just started that. We're about three months into that partnership. The model has started to be developed, but we are still needing a few more data inputs. So we're some months away from having that sort of statement being able to be categorically made or otherwise. Frank Wilkie 01:49:24.720
Of course, the outcome, the sort of motion is much bigger than what's happening locally, and I would not... stand in the way of this motion because of a point of fact like that. Opinion, yeah. Thank you, Kim. Amelia Lorentson 01:49:41.669
Thanks, Kim. Can I just add the aim of 100% recyclable reuse water? There's actually councils already doing it, so it is achievable. And one of my other aspirations, Councillor Wilkie, is to somehow facilitate, and whether it's through Noosa Council or the LGAQ, a national or state wastewater technology and innovation expo where we can share what's actually happening, real life projects, innovation, best practice techniques and sustainable water management. innovation, And I've got huge files on councils that are doing it so well. It is so achievable. It's not a dream, it's not an aspiration. All we need is political will and community to back us. And as much as I hate to say it, money. And, you know, I get it. This costs a lot. Who's going to pay for it? And if it gets passed on to the right payer. that not everyone's going to be happy with it. And that's why I'm going to federal government and asking for dedicated funding for these projects. It is achievable. Frank Wilkie 01:51:00.914
It's occurring piecemeal across the country. But if there is a policy at a national level that can pull it all together. Amelia Lorentson 01:51:07.214
And looking at in terms of rather than supply, needs. Because there's some dams that are full. And there's some places, some localities where they're declared empty. You know, some places around Australia where they're at drought levels. So it'd be great as part of the strategy to actually have a look at need rather than supply. Where is water actually needed? And whether it's pipelines, whether it's conversion, the solutions are there. Joe Jurisevic 01:51:41.500
Do you have anything to add to this? Kim Rawlings 01:51:44.200
No, a very short, capitalised motion and I'm hoping to attend it and find her in the minutes where she's done. Joe Jurisevic 01:51:56.265
Thank you. Look, I, likewise, am very happy to support this. The reason, my recollection of the reason that a lot of councils are at that point is that this was an issue that was addressed... by governments in the past. They didn't put resources and it appears to have fallen off the agenda to some degree. But in a country like Australia, where they talk about droughts, and droughts are an extremely prevalent part of the landscape in this country, we shouldn't be wasting water. We shouldn't be losing a resource. It can potentially be reused anywhere. It's a little bit of recycling that should be embraced, and we should look at the opportunities. I understand there are members in the community that are challenged by the concept of using treated waste water in some way, shape, or form, and that there are some challenges towards utilising that. But we're possible. But we're possible. We should look at the opportunities that are there. So I'm happy to support this going forward. See if we can perhaps, quite all, re-evaluate the use of waste water and where it can and can't be facilitated to drought-proof this country in some way, or can try and help drought-proof this country in some way, shape, or form. If that is in any way, shape, or form an achievable goal. So I commend Councillor Lorentson on bringing this to us, and I'll take it to the National General Assembly, and I wish you every success in approving and moving forward with the-- One last thing I'd love to add is-- But it's not going to General, so I'm just going to take the opportunity, but I think people forget water is finite. Amelia Lorentson 01:53:48.394
Water is finite. Once it's gone, it's gone. But wastewater isn't. It's the only type of water that's actually increasing. And again, with population growth, climate change, I keep talking about water scarcity, but wastewater-- But wastewater is the only thing that's guaranteed to increase, not water. Joe Jurisevic 01:54:08.239
I think we in the urban area tend to take it for granted. We do. Because it's just a resource that's on tap. It's not that case everywhere. Frank Wilkie 01:54:16.624
We could get into a broader conversation about the world being a closed system, that every drop of water that was here 50 billion years ago is still here, because it's recycled naturally. Probably Professor Stockwell could elucidate on that. Yeah, every drop we drink's probably been through the kidneys of a dinosaur. Hold on, the number of--- There's still points of what i'm buying. Joe Jurisevic 01:54:38.834
The number of elements of recycled water that goes through different river systems and water supplies in the country. But anyway, yes. I'm happy to second it. Thank you. Move to second it. All in favour? All in favour? Yes. Thank you, Mayor Clare. Carried unanimously. Move to the last item. The last item for consideration today is no reports from anyone on the committee. We do have a confidential session listed after public release. We have a confidential session listed after public release around the centralised legal services file. Before we go into confidential session, we'll leave it in motion to go into confidential session. Frank Wilkie 01:55:16.404
Just a question for the CEO. Why is this item going confidential? Scott Waters 01:55:22.324
It has legal details that could be identifiable. Cases, the attachment has individual cases for three months worth of legal law. Frank Wilkie 01:55:37.054
Are we going to confidential? Yes. Joe Jurisevic 01:55:39.494
Are we going to a confidential session? Amelia Lorentson 01:55:42.314
Happy to second. Joe Jurisevic 01:55:43.414
Councillor Lorentson to second. We need the reasons. They are section 254J3. To discuss confidential legal issues. There's two items. Amelia Lorentson 01:55:59.487
It'll be the same reason. I'm not a student of the future. Joe Jurisevic 01:56:10.680
Seven. Kim Rawlings 01:56:13.100
Yeah, I can fix that up later, but it's the same as what I did. Two, two. Frank Wilkie 01:56:18.940
Confidential, legal nation. Amelia Lorentson 01:56:20.880
I'll fix it up from here. Okay. Okay. Joe Jurisevic 01:56:24.080
All in favour? So I've moved it. I've moved it. Sorry, Tim. Councillor Lorentson to second. All in favour? Frank Wilkie 02:14:18.580
Okay. So moved. Thank you. Joe Jurisevic 02:14:21.000
Thank you, everybody. We have a motion that the matter before us on central eyes for legal services trial be referred to general committee. Do I have a mover? Councillor Wilkie. I'll second it. I'll second it. All in favour? Yes. Unanimously carried. So that matter will now be referred to general committee for further discussion. We need no further items on the agenda. I'll close the meeting now at 3:47pm. Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Kim Rawlings 02:14:58.166
Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Related Noosa Council Meetings
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