Services & Organisation Committee - 6 August 2024
Date: Tuesday, 6 August 2024 at 1:30PM
Location: Noosa Shire Council Chambers , 9 Pelican Street , Tewantin , QLD 4565 , Australia
Organiser: Noosa Shire Council
Duration: 00:54:27
Synopsis: Holiday Parks deliver strong revenue and plan expansion, Infrastructure program progresses, FireTech trials and supplier panel approved, Confidential tender awarded, Coastal nourishment adopted, Transparency improved.
Meeting Attendees
Committee Members
Nicola Wilson Frank Wilkie Jessica Phillips Non-Committee Members
Tom Wegener Amelia Lorentson Executive Officers
Chief Executive Officer Larry Sengstock Director Corporate Services Trent Grauf Director Strategy And Environment Kim Rawlings Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh Apologies (Did Not Attend)
AI-Generated Meeting Insight
Key Decisions & Discussions Nicolas Wilson: Appointed Acting Chair; meeting proceeded with full quorum except Cr Finzel on leave (00:09–01:06) (Attendance & Apologies). Robyn Mercer: Holiday Parks FY23/24 results: revenue $4.53m (+1.8%), visitation +5.6%, nights sold +1.35; 294 sites across three parks; strong FY24/25 forward bookings >$2.6m (02:44–05:02) (Item 6.1). Robyn Mercer: Business moving from “growth” (pricing/ops gains) to “expansion” (increasing inventory) as occupancy approaches ceiling; expansion options include adjacent parcels and other sites (05:29–06:40) (Item 6.1). Trent Grauf: John’s Landing was acquired using a mix of environmental reserves and general funds; intended blended use (environmental plus potential activation such as a holiday park); feasibility pending in Strategic Land Review and revenue diversification work (11:01–12:20) (Item 6.1). Council: Noted the Holiday Parks report; emphasis on low-cost family stays and modest profit assisting ratepayers (13:09–13:44) (Item 6.1). Chris Bowden: Approved refresh of Register of Prequalified Suppliers for FireTech trials; 8 new firms added to existing panel; CEO authorised to extend up to July 2027 (14:24–21:15) (Item 5.1). Chris Bowden: FireTech focuses on early detection, behavior prediction, responder safety (robotics), and safe drone use alongside crewed aircraft; funded by NEMA and QLD grants; “living lab” trials in Noosa (14:50–20:58) (Item 5.1). Chris Bowden: Drones used under trial SOPS in recent SW QLD bushfire; detection cameras effective but triage/characterisation is next focus; collaboration with QFES and CASA ongoing (21:43–27:55) (Item 5.1). Chris Bowden: Global interest (NASA/XPRIZE) in solving shared airspace problem; aim to set a national model (29:01–30:31) (Item 5.1). Infrastructure Team: Capital Program FY23/24: $45.9m budget (incl. $19.5m carryover); $33.2m expended (72%) + $5.9m committed; reseal program fully delivered ($5m) (31:14–32:23) (Item 6.2). Infrastructure Team: 146 projects with 53 multi-year; delivery impacted by many small projects, staff turnover, weather, and environmental/event windows; staffing now near full complement with strong grad pipeline (32:24–34:40; 36:49–38:34; 46:16–47:10) (Item 6.2). Mel/Team: Noosa Drive/Mays car park lighting and CCTV replacement completed; insurance recovery being pursued for accident-damaged assets (35:33–36:39) (Item 6.2). Infrastructure Team: Proactive asset inspections (stormwater CCTV, bridges, footpaths, roads) aim to pre-empt failures; some emergent works unavoidable (e.g., buried pipes) (47:33–48:59) (Item 6.2). Committee: Entered confidential session under s254J(3)(g) LGR 2012 to discuss tender pricing for CN00644 Pathways Package 3; awarded to The Trustee for Integral Concreting Services Family Trust; CEO to finalise; to be ratified at next Council meeting (50:55–54:01) (Item 7.1). Contentious / Transparency Matters Nicola Wilson: Proactively explained to public why Item 7.1 was confidential (commercial-in-confidence tender prices), improving transparency without breaching LGR 2012 (50:55–52:44) (Item 7.1). Discussion: Potential expansion of Holiday Parks to new sites (incl. John’s Landing) may raise environmental vs. commercial value trade-offs; officers flagged need for due diligence and strategic review before decisions (06:21–12:20) (Item 6.1). Councillor query: On operational integration of drones with frontline fire crews; Bowden emphasised “common operating picture,” unified comms, and CASA-guided incremental trials (25:24–28:16) (Item 5.1). Community impact: Staffing turnover and weather delays acknowledged; resequencing and multi-year profiling used to manage delivery expectations (32:24–33:13; 37:08–38:34) (Item 6.2). Legal / Risk Procurement law: Use of a prequalified supplier panel for FireTech fits collaborative R&D-style trials while maintaining probity via ITQ vetting and CEO extension authority (14:50–21:15) (Item 5.1). Confidentiality: Closure under Local Government Regulation 2012 s254J(3)(g) to protect tenderers’ commercial info; decision re-opened and resolved in public once discussion concluded (50:55–54:01) (Item 7.1). Aviation regulation: CASA oversight of drone/crewed aircraft integration; trials require strict SOPS, deconfliction software, shared comms; mitigates public safety and liability risk (25:24–28:16) (Item 5.1). Financial risk: Capital underspend vs. commitments managed; insurance claims pursued for accidental asset damage; emergent works funding balanced across depreciation, grants, and rates (35:33–36:39; 47:33–47:58) (Item 6.2). Environmental risk: Dog Beach nourishment chosen over hard structures; monitoring with trigger thresholds to prevent breakthrough and protect Noosa Sound/Main Beach (39:09–42:18) (Item 6.2). Environmental Concerns Infrastructure Team: Dog Beach nourishment uses river-mouth sand to reinforce the spit and reduce risk of breakthrough; ongoing maintenance preferred to rock walls; monitoring program in place (39:09–42:18) (Item 6.2). Team/Larry Sengstock: Acknowledge vulnerability to cyclones; adaptive management and periodic top-ups planned; channel changes communicated to boaters, though groundings persist in dynamic conditions (41:44–45:12) (Item 6.2). Programming constraints: Environmental windows (e.g., fish/birds) drive multi-year staging and timing of capital works (38:05–38:34) (Item 6.2). Short Stay & Visitor Economy (Holiday Parks) Frank Wilkie: Noted national trend of councils divesting campgrounds; Noosa’s parks provide affordable family accommodation and modest profits easing rate burden (13:09–13:44) (Item 6.1). Robyn Mercer: Noosa North Shore growth linked to 2019–20 $2.5m refurbishment and improved amenity; out-of-region visitation growing per postcode analysis (07:05–09:58) (Item 6.1). Trent Grauf: John’s Landing options will weigh financial, social, and environmental value via Strategic Land Review before any activation for tourism use (11:01–12:20) (Item 6.1).
Official Meeting Minutes
MINUTES Services & Organisation Committee Meeting Tuesday, 6 August 2024 1:30 PM Council Chambers, 9 Pelican Street, Tewantin Committee: Crs Karen Finzel (Chair), Jessica Phillips, Frank Wilkie, Nicola Wilson “Noosa Shire – different by nature” SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 6 AUGUST 2024 1. ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS Cr Nicola Wilson (Acting Chair) Cr Frank Wilkie Cr Jessica Phillips NON-COMMITTEE MEMBERS Cr Tom Wegener Cr Amelia Lorentson EXECUTIVE Chief Executive Officer Larry Sengstock Director Corporate Services Trent Grauf Director Strategy and Environment Kim Rawlings Acting Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh APOLOGIES Cr Karen Finzel (Chair) Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips That Cr Nicola Wilson be appointed as Acting Chairperson for this meeting. Carried unanimously. 2. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips The Minutes of the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting held on 9 July 2024 be received and confirmed. Carried unanimously. 3. PRESENTATIONS Nil. 4. DEPUTATIONS Nil. SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 6 AUGUST 2024 6.1. NOOSA HOLIDAY PARKS UPDATE Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips That Council note the report by the Commercial Business Advisor to the Services and Organisation Committee Meeting dated 6 August 2024 providing an update on operations of the Noosa Holiday Parks Business Activity to 30 June 2024. Carried unanimously. 5. REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE 5.1. CONTRACT NO. T000078 – REGISTER OF PRE-QUALIFIED SUPPLIERS FOR PROVISION OF FIRETECH SERVICES {REFRESH} Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips That Council note the report by the Director Digital Hub and Innovation to the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting dated 6 August 2024 and A. Approve the award of Contract No. T000078 for the Register of Prequalified Suppliers for the Provision of Firetech Services {Refresh} for a period of twelve (12) months effective 1 August 2024 to the following suppliers that will be in addition to the existing list of suppliers on this ROPS: Australian Uav Technologies Pty Ltd Covey Associates Pty Ltd Cwift Pty Ltd Fliight Technologies Pty Ltd Kablamo Pty Ltd TTF Richlauren Trust t/as Larnach Ventures (Apac Surveillance) RPS AAP Consulting Pty Ltd MS&C Group Pty Ltd t/as Watchtowers Networks B. Subject to satisfactory performance of the suppliers, authorise the CEO to approve the option to extend the contract at the expiry of this term for a further two (2) terms of up to twelve (12) months each ending on 31 July 2027. Carried unanimously. 6. REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 6 AUGUST 2024 6.2. CAPITAL PROGRAM 2023/24 DELIVERY STATUS Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips That Council note the report by the Infrastructure Planning Officer to the Services & Organisation Committee Meeting dated 6 August 2024 providing an update on the delivery of the 2023/24 Capital Program as at 30 June 2024. Carried unanimously. 7. CONFIDENTIAL SESSION 7.1. CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION - CONTRACT NO. CN00644 – CONSTRUCTION OF PATHWAYS - PACKAGE 3 CLOSURE OF THE MEETING TO THE PUBLIC Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Nicola Wilson Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips That the meeting be closed to the public pursuant to section 254J(3)(g) of the Local Government Regulation 2012 for the purpose of discussing potential commercial negotiations in relation to a contract for Item 7.1 - Contract No. CN00644 – Construction of Pathways - Package 3. Carried unanimously. RE-OPENING OF THE MEETING TO THE PUBLIC Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Nicola Wilson Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie That the meeting be re-opened to the public. Carried unanimously. Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Nicola Wilson Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie That Council note the report by the Graduate Engineer to the Services and Organisation Committee dated 6 August 2024 and A. Award Contract No. CN00644 for Construction of Pathways 2023-24 Package 3 to The Trustee for Integral Concreting Services Family Trust as outlined in the report; and B. Authorise the CEO to negotiate and finalise contracts on Council's behalf with The Trustee for Integral Concreting Services Family Trust. Carried unanimously. 8. MEETING CLOSURE The meeting closed at 2.40pm.
Meeting Transcript
Larry Sengstock 00:09.100
All right, welcome everybody to the Services and Organisation Committee meeting on the 6th of August. I'm firstly opening the meeting because Councillor Finzel is on leave, so I'll start the meeting. I'd firstly like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional lands of the Kabi Kabi people and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. All committee members are in attendance except for Councillor Finzel who's on leave, so we need to elect a chair for this meeting. I nominate Frank Wilkie 00:46.890
Councillor Nicola Wilson. Jessica Phillips 00:48.470
I second that. Larry Sengstock 00:49.690
So we have a nomination and a seconder. Put it to the vote. That's unanimous, carried. So Councillor Wilson, I'll let you take over. Nicola Wilson 01:06.660
Thank you. Welcome everyone to the SMO committee meeting today. We'll move straight to the first item of business which is the confirmation of minutes from the last meeting. Thank you. Councillor Wilkie and Councillor. I'll move that to the vote. Carried unanimously, thank you. Item number three, we have no presentations today. And number four, no deputations. So this brings us to item five on the agenda. Which is under the reports for consideration of the committee. Contract number T, lots of zeros, seven, eight. Register of pre-qualified suppliers for provision of fire tech services. Good afternoon councillors. We have Chris Bowden about three or four minutes away to walk in the room if we wanted to wait, otherwise I'm happy to proceed. You can wait and move to the next item. Thank you. Item number six, reports for noting by the committee is six foot one, Noosa holiday parks. parks update and I believe we have Robyn Mercer online with this report. Robin, could you please give us a summary of the report? Robyn Mercer 02:44.917
Certainly. Good afternoon all. Excuse some coughing, I've come down with the flu that's doing the rounds. This report provides an update on the Noosa holiday parks business unit for the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. The Noosa holiday park program consists of three camping and caravanning locations at Boreen Point, Noosa North Shore Overall, the program offers 294 camping and caravanning sites in accessible locations across the region with high-quality natural amenity. the program delivered pleasing results during financial year 23/24. This is reflected in year-on-year revenue growth of 1.8 per cent, visitation growth of 5.6 per cent and an increase in the number of nights sold by 1.35. These metrics are all able to be viewed within the report. Our forward bookings for the current financial year are strong, sitting at over 2.6 million and we are keenly aware that there may be some business impacts arising from macroeconomic conditions and contracting consumer discretionary spending, so we are keeping a close eye on forward bookings. bookings. While we have seen revenue visitation and nights sold moving up and to the right over time, I will caveat that we may start to see some flattening in coming years as we are realising most of the upside. upside or inventory available in the program and this is a natural outcome of the growth period over the past three to four years which has been characterised by investment in capital works, management services, operating systems and facility maintenance and does indicate that we are ready to transition from a growth phase into an expansion phase. I will note that there is a typing error within performance of the report. The first bullet point should read the revenue of $4.53 million achieved in financial year 2023/24 is an increase of 1.8% from the previous financial year period and the work million. Should not be there. Thank you very much. Nicola Wilson 05:02.057
Thanks, Robin. Does anyone have any questions? Frank Wilkie 05:06.157
Thank you for the report, Robin. Excellent report. Really good news. Just curious to get a clarification around what you mean by about to move from a growth to an expansion phase. Could you feel the those who might be listening and for me, just clarify what that might look like, please? Robyn Mercer 05:29.106
Sure. So what we're seeing is, as I said, we've got just over 294 camping and caravan sites. that's our inventory. And we're starting to see that we're tipping out on our uptake on our occupancy levels. So there's not a lot more to sell each year, which means that our revenue growth isn't delivered by selling. Rather only by any price increases that we put in place. So I guess naturally within a commercial program, if you wanted to continue to grow your revenue, we would look at expanding on the 294 sites and creating more inventory as part of an expansion rather than growing what we've already got. Frank Wilkie 06:13.921
And which campgrounds are they likely to take place at? Robyn Mercer 06:21.501
We're maxed out within our current campgrounds, so strategically we would look at alternate sites where we could expand into. Frank Wilkie 06:33.946
So is that, you mean adjacent to the existing sites, Robyn, or separate sites altogether? Robyn Mercer 06:40.746
Both. So we would look at parcels surrounding, so there are some opportunities in Boreen Point for that. Council did acquire John's Landing several years ago, so we can run some due diligence in that space, or look alternatively throughout the region for the sites that are suitable from planning and topography and natural amenity from those perspectives. Frank Wilkie 07:05.580
Suggest that there's an increased demand for these low-cost holiday experiences that the campgrounds provide. Yeah, so the your report notes that Noosa North Shore Campground was mainly case. Robyn Mercer 07:31.974
I get asked this question sometimes about what's the drive behind growth and I think it has to be a combination of multiple things, so Noosa North Shore is a very blessed location obviously right on the beach it's a very special location so I think having beachside location in a park with that quality of infrastructure and Infrastructure and amenity is quite a unique product offering and it's just steadily growing over time since Council very cleverly invested I think it was just over 2.5 million dollars in that refurbishment in 2019 and 2020 so I guess following a big capital investment we are just seeing the product come to fruition in terms of how consumers enjoy it. Frank Wilkie 08:24.449
And do we have any, sorry go ahead. Robyn Mercer 08:30.129
I was just going to say, and it's a bit of a mix, it's getting pricing right. We've done a lot of work there with getting sites leveled so we don't lose the capability to to sell sites during periods of rainfall so you know having the roads looked after and facility maintenance you know chairs and and tables and the camp kitchen being really pleasant places to use so quite often it's a combination of multiple things working together and do we have any data that indicates where all the visitors to these campgrounds are coming from and are there any particular region people from certain regions attracted to one of the other car parks, caravan parks? Yes, so we do have access to that information within our booking system. We can do a postcode analysis of of guests and their, when they put in their booking information, making the assumption that it's their home address that they're entering. I haven't done that exercise recently. About a year ago, I did it for Boreen Point Campground and it showed that... over 52% was coming from out of region. When we've heat mapped visitation over time, looking at year on year, we can see that the visitation from outside of the region is definitely growing. you. Nicola Wilson 09:58.740
Any questions from you? No, thank you. I just want to note as well for the minutes that we have Councillor Lorentson and Councillor Wegener also in attendance as observers in the gallery. Any questions from you councillors? Hi Robin, just a continuation of John's landing. Was it 2017 when it has been required to land? And my question is, how is it paid for and what the purpose of acquiring the land? Was there an intent at the time that it was to be rehabilitated and repurposed for recreational use or was it... Robin, would you like Trent to answer that one? He's got his hand up. Larry Sengstock 10:52.266
Trent, let me come up because... Trent Grauf 11:01.980
Through the Chair, good afternoon. It was purchased, the funds used to purchase it were a proportionate mix of environmental reserves as well as general unconstrained... unconstrained cash. The intent of that mix of funding was that then the use of the land was that proportionate mix of environmental land and potential for... A proportion of that for activated purposes and obviously one of the one of the opportunities for the site was discussed was in regards to potential of a site such as a holiday park. I don't know what I'm talking But the work hasn't been done yet on the feasibility of achieving that sort of activation on the site and that's part of our program. Robin alluded to that expansion program before coming out of the realignment and the work we're doing in terms of the revenue diversification strategy, looking at what is the best return and what are the opportunities for that site and to some extent that probably feeds into also the strategic land project which is also on the operating plans to deliver this year and we look at each land parcel. There are a number of competing and complementary uses, it's what gives Robin It's what gives the best value outcome in terms of financial but also social or environmental outcomes. So that land parcel of work in progress that we've committed to as part of the strategic land review and the council minutes upon acquiring the property to look at those options. Thank you. Hopefully that helps. Nicola Wilson 12:38.315
Any further questions? The recommendation here is that council note the report by the commercial business advisor to the services and organisation for the meeting dated 6th of August '24 providing an update on on operations of the Noosa Holiday Parks business activity to 30 June 2024. Thanks for that report, Robbie. Would anyone be willing to move the motion? I'll move the motion, Madam Chair. Does anyone wish to speak to the motion? Frank Wilkie 13:09.540
Yes, just thank you, Robyn, for the report. It's always good news and it's great to see how well the parks are being managed, which is important because it's very important that we continue to provide these sort of camping sort of camping experiences for families in the Noosa Shire. You look across the country and councils seem to be more and more divesting themselves of campgrounds, so it's wonderful to see this sort of camping experiences. Nicola Wilson 13:44.321
I'll speak briefly. It's a great news story. On this, returning a small profit really helps our community in terms of reducing the burden on ratepayers, but also, of course, providing lower cost accommodation for the community and visitors as well. So, thank you for that. I shall put it to the vote. And that is carried unanimously. Thank you. very much, everyone. We'll return to item 5 on the agenda. Larry Sengstock 14:19.834
Chris, would you like to come up? Nicola Wilson 14:24.080
Another report for consideration of the committee. The register of pre-qualified suppliers for provision of fire tech services. Chris Bowden 14:36.052
For the lateness. I was just running a HUB member function and missed it by a couple of minutes. Nicola Wilson 14:46.512
Would you like to give us a summary of the report? Yes. Chris Bowden 14:50.004
Perhaps just a bit of context and certainly we have some briefings coming up over the next few weeks and I hope we'll have the chance to really dive deep into the underlying thrust behind this report. But the Digital HUB runs a program called Fire Tech Connect which was born out of the the 2019 bushfires that ravaged the town, almost burned down the Digital HUB, and severely affected Peregian initially the beachside suburbs and then subsequently Tewantin, Cooroy, etc. We resolved that the Digital HUB could play an important role in how technology could be used to improve the bushfires the bushfire resilience of not only our town, but other towns like ours that are faced with bushfire as a significant threat. It's amazing, sort of five years later, with lots of rain in between, sort of forget the number one threat that we have really existentially is a massive bushfire, and those of us that were around for that, I think, really did have a shock at, you know, if we don't do enough on the bushfire resilience front, all the other things front all the other things we do are somewhat moot so that was the reason that we made it a priority to to think about how the digital hub could be an asset in that particular objective of building resilience over the last five years we've created a program that's become very well known around the country and indeed has some global prominence where we where we have sought to identify promising technologies across four different categories and provide a platform to allow those technologies be trialed with the objective of accelerating their adoption both at the local council level but also by the State's emergency authorities and others that are in the business are in the business of protecting communities. The four areas of focus are bushfire detection, so using technology to detect bushfire very very early on when it starts. Bushfires have got to the point point where once they begin, they're very difficult to bring under control beyond things like back burning. So the only way to really deal with a major bushfire is to deal with it very early when it's small. So detecting early is a critical initiative. And there are some fantastic technologies that we've been trying that that can assist with that. We then sort of have technologies that assist with understanding how fires might evolve and behave so that we can better predict what actions we should take to to ameliorate their effects. We We then have technologies that, as these fires grow bigger and more dangerous, and if you remember the fire in Peregian in particular, we were talking about 100 foot high flames and firefighters standing with hoses. Incredibly dangerous situations. So how can you use technology to help bring those first responders further away from points of extreme danger by using things like robotics and other technology that can reduce Can reduce the risk factor there and the fourth category is how do we use drones which are increasingly powerful technology that gives us eyes in the sky and another dimension for fighting these fires and one one of the frustrations of the bushfire in 2019 was that we weren't able to use drones. The Peregian community and others went for four days with no idea what was happening on the ground because we just weren't able to get intel. It was too dangerous to go in and see what was going on. Drones flying overhead would easily have been able to tell us that information and we could have saved a lot of pain and heartache when people who thought they'd lost their homes, pets, airrooms, etc. for four days went through massive psychological trauma. We weren't able to do that because the regulations prevent drones from being used during the Drones flying so we have been trying to prove that specially qualified pilot, specially equipped drone, special set of operating procedures can indeed allow for the orchestration of drones and crewed aircraft safely in an airspace. So those are the four areas of trials. The way we do this we typically have attracted funding from NEMA, which is the National Emergency Management Authority, federal authority, and more recently we've attracted some grant funding from the State government that has allowed us to fund a series of trials across those four categories where we use what we call the living lab in our Noosa hinterland in combination with hinterland in combination with the Peregian Digital Hubs AI lab to prove that these technologies can indeed be used safely and that they can make a difference and in so doing help give emergency authorities and other councils the confidence to adopt them more rapidly and build resilience in those times the report before council today is we've worked very closely with our procurement team over the team over the years to develop a mechanism where we can work with these kinds of third parties in a very collaborative and exploratory way this is unlike a typical sort of tender where we have a specific job that needs to be done we go out to market we pick a winning vendor we assign a contract in this particular instance what we've done is we've built a register of pre-qualified suppliers a panel if you like that gives us a sort of wide array of potential collaborators and as we sort of attract funding develop specific hypotheses around trials we might want to conduct we then engage with folks on that panel that have been pre-qualified and gone through our procurement process we've done this a number of times of times and this particular report is, if you like, a refresh of that panel which allows us to add additional suppliers that we have vetted through an ITQ process, a procurement process. So that through the next phase of trials we have additional vendors we can work with and collaborate with so that in a very large nutshell is the is the is the report before before us, there are eight technology companies on that list to be added to an existing list of 14, and the eight companies span a wide variety of capabilities across those four areas that I've talked about. Nicola Wilson 21:15.916
Thank you, always great to hear about the work that's happening in the future. Does anyone around here have any questions? Frank Wilkie 21:24.056
Just a question about what does Kablamo do? Chris Bowden 21:27.336
Kablamo is a very interesting name and there fascinating names on that list. Kablamo is in the business of using advanced and AI technologies for detection and prediction capabilities with bushfires. Frank Wilkie 21:43.392
And how operational are these technologies? operational are these technologies at the moment? How are we going? Chris Bowden 21:49.908
You know, that's a very good question and you know that is the ultimate sort of benchmark for are we having the kind of impact that want to have with this is to see technologies being adopted not just in our own council but more broadly and there are some really good examples of where this has happened and where we've certainly played a direct role in building confidence. in building confidence around deploying these solutions. We've expanded the allowable use of drones quite significantly and a recent bushfire in southwest Queensland tapped into this the trials that we've been conducting to use the methodologies that we trialed there to actually use drones to help in a real bushfire which you know hard you know, hard to put a sort of number on the value of property saved and whatever it might be, but certainly added a significance. You can think about fighting fires on the ground in two dimensions, but having a third dimension makes a hell of that's an example. The detection technology that we've been trying over a number of years has been rolled out in a number of places around Australia. The sensing technologies for understanding the environment The environmental conditions that give rise to really bad bushfires have also been rolled out in a number of places, in particular in New South Wales. So it's an ongoing process and part of what we try to do is develop playbooks that make it easy for others to adopt technology Just on a local level, has the cameras or the sensors detected fires early and been able to, their notifications, alerted QFES and directed resources? and directive resources to fire, fighting fires early here in the Shire? Yes, over the last few years as we've actually tried multiple different sort of camera systems and detection approaches and they have indeed played a role. One of the challenges that we've discovered through the trials, the whole idea of a trial is, you know, the concept is a hypothesis, we think this technology is going to work, what do we learn from the hypothesis? What we've learned is that AI-enabled cameras are incredibly good at detecting fires. Now if you put an AI detection camera on top of Mount Mbiwa with a 360 panoramic view, it has an incredible view of almost the entire Shire and I hope to show that to you in good But there are lots of fires that happen at any point in time across the Shire and one of the challenges is how do you discern the difference between a fire that may be a legitimate fire, a fire that is not legitimate but isn't problematic, and a fire that is rapidly evolving into something that needs to be adjusted. And that has been And that has been a key learning of that trial and indeed we've sort of paused the very early the detection part because we're satisfied that the detection is taken care of the next phase for us is really having the intelligence around figuring out given constrained resources which of the fires that have been detected really do we need to get onto very quickly because you could imagine the nature of the plumes of smoke maybe the colours of smoke there are a whole range of things around that that give you signal as to which of these need to be addressed very quickly before they become a big fire. So the actual detection is working really really well it's now the sort of almost the characterisation of that fire is this a problem fire as opposed to is this a fire you know it's it's that's the next lot of trials we need to run. Thank you couple of questions I worked through the fires as a police officer at Peregian so I kind of like the concept it sounds really exciting as a drone operator that will be an external I it'll don't, I don't, it won't be long to QFES or QPS have you gone into consideration around how that communication is going to assist because I can tell you what it's like to work on the ground in a fire and external communication coming from inexperience it will be very challenging having operational people on the ground having even a drone tell you what to do when these guys have worked in fires and they like that the Prydian fires was was a it wasn't it was lit um deliberately lit but also the weather the wind caused that to be almost impossible for them to to dictate where it was going to go so i'm not not sure sure how a drone will assist or can you tell me explain it to me i guess yes i mean you've hit the nail on the head coordination and communication are really the fundamental uh aspects um and a lot of the trialing that we're doing really is around the sort of it's not is is the camera strong enough to see what's going on on the ground the technology is well proven in that respect it's really the coordination and communication so we have a thing called a common operating picture to to your to your point which is all of the various stakeholders all the agencies need a common operating picture of what's happening in the air because of course the reason you're not allowed to fly drones is the assumption a is bushfire there will be crewed aircraft both helicopters and fixed-wing and and it's just too too big a risk particularly during smoky and visibility constrained conditions to be having drones in the air however with a special set of operating procedures special software which shows the location of every single one of those aerial vehicles in in the the air air, de-escalation procedures, everyone on the same comms channel, and literally a team of dedicated people on the ground coordinating all that. We believe it can be done safely. We've been working in lockstep with QFES and CASA, the Civil Aviation Regulator. has guided each step of these trials to say look if you can prove that this particular incremental step can be done safely and this step and this step and this step will gradually open the regulation to allow for that to happen. So yes you're 100% correct it's the it's it's that communication and coordination between these assets. When things are frenetic, there's a lot going on. To be able to see a common picture of what is in the sky, what is on the ground, where are the human responders, and be that all in one picture is a crucial element. And indeed, that's something that is a key part of these trials. Nicola Wilson 28:30.076
From councillors and councillors? Thank you. They should join together the whole recommendation. So we're going to note the report, approve the award. award of contract to the listed suppliers and authorise the CEO to approve the option to extend the contract for a further two terms. move it. Would anyone like to speak to the motion? Frank Wilkie 29:01.824
Yes. Thank you, Chris. Excellent report. Thank you for the summary and the explanation of that fire tech program. Generally, as someone who was evacuated twice in six weeks in the Peregian fires, I really appreciate the need for this work to be done and it's very exciting. I'll ask a question. How is NASA involved in this or even distantly related to this work that's happening at the Peregian Digital Hub? Chris Bowden 29:28.157
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the feedback and the question. This is an unsolved problem. This problem problem, Councillor, that you raised is an unsolved problem globally. You know, drones, it feels like they've been around for a long time, but the idea of drones and crewed aircraft in the same airspace is not is not the solved problem internationally, which is why this project has attracted interest from the likes of NASA, XPRIZE, some of the major aerospace players, which I'll be telling you about in the weeks ahead, because we have a really fantastic opportunity through this project to move the needle and set a kind of national We have a real prerogative to do it, and recent memory on why this is important. But it is an unsolved problem, and it's the reason that this kind of collaboration is so valuable, because you can bring in expertise and technologies in ways that we would never be able to develop ourselves. Nicola Wilson 30:31.080
We look forward to hearing more about this in the future, and it's just excellent to hear that the work that's happening right in our community has benefitted such a real risk as well as our community. You want a hug? Chris Bowden 30:44.180
Thanks very much. Nicola Wilson 30:46.060
I'll put it to the vote. Frank Wilkie 30:49.820
Thank you Chris. Nicola Wilson 30:56.920
Moving to 6.2, Capital program 23/24, so we'll wrap up for the financial year, and we have Noosa and Greg. report. Could you please give us a summary of what that list will be? Greg 31:14.532
Yeah, I'm going to speak today on behalf of Mel. She's actually got there in charge. No, no, I just lost my voice, but thank you. As mentioned, this is the capital status report for 23-24, truly summing up the final quarter. Give us an update on that. Just some key stats were that we had a capital budget of $45.9 million for 23-24, and that included $19.5 million for 22-23. As of the 30th of June, we'd expended 72% or $33.2 million, with $5.9 million in commitments. Is it 30? The reseal program is one of the success stories, and that's expended... expended 100% of its $5 million budget for 23/24, and there's currently 53 multi-year projects still in completion, so there are over multiple years. Thank you. Nicola Wilson 32:17.146
Thank you. Frank Wilkie 32:19.660
So how are we tracking? Are you happy with the progress? Greg 32:24.800
Well, really in '22 / '23 we had two large projects being let them through Noosa Parade, and that us to outsource those projects and achieve a big sort of chunk of our program, and that year I think we delivered on 45 million. But this year we were challenged with a different type of program where we had multiple smaller projects over the We've had different complexities and challenges, plus we've seen a turnover of staff for the last two years, especially seniors, so we're in a process of rebuilding and developing our team at the same So we've got different challenges this year, but I believe that we've achieved the best we could with the circumstances that we've been faced with. Frank Wilkie 33:13.978
So, and this is separate to the work that's being done with the QRA done with the QRA funded disaster recovery work, which is happening concurrently. Could you? Greg 33:24.304
Yeah, so that program's been treated separately, and that's got external resourcing delivering that program. However, we are providing some support with that program also, so. Frank Wilkie 33:35.364
Yes. And what was the impact of the very wet weather we had earlier in the year? Greg 33:41.832
Mean, there has been delays, but it's probably not as much as what we saw in '22, '23, but it hasn't helped us. I know it's impacted the disaster projects probably more so. Yes. I think our challenge was just the sheer number of projects and size of those projects in not being large, but being small. So, they're the challenges that we faced. Frank Wilkie 34:05.076
You set up in terms of resourcing down infrastructure? Currently? Yes. Greg 34:10.776
We're pretty much full at the moment. I think we have two vacant runs, but it's really developing the team and building the team and upskilling. We have a lot of younger staff and they're the ones that we're developing and investing in now. Frank Wilkie 34:29.339
And in recent years you've employed a couple of graduate engineers? Yeah yeah. And they're getting very good experience here beyond what they would get perhaps elsewhere? Greg 34:40.441
Yeah, yeah and we've got a report coming up shortly and we'll have Lindsay presenting that report and that's part of this development program. I don't mean to single anyone out but Jasper's a great story where he's come through a student placement, graduate, project officer, project manager and Liam's following that path and I'm sure Lindsay will be a success too. they're all Noosa Shire locals I understand. Yeah, very successful program. Any questions? Jessica Phillips 35:13.341
I do. Please, because one of the ones that I'm quite interested in in emergent works coming up, 2024, 23-24, it says Noosa Heads, Noosa Noosa Heads, Noosa Drive, CCTV and street lighting replacement. Could you tell me more about that? Mel 35:33.865
So that project has been completed. The project that you're referring to in the emergent works. So that listing is a list of all the emergent projects that came up throughout the year. So the project has been closed off now. And that was that was based on we had some grant on, we had some grant funding through the State for fixing up through Mays car park and then there was an accident on one of the street poles that took out the CCTV as well so at the end of the initial street lighting work we did in the Mays car park we undertook the additional CCTV and street lighting repairs and my understanding is that our governance team were chasing up insurance to to fund that. separately sort of thing and make a claim against our insurance for it but that work is now complete and wrapped up. Greg 36:23.061
So Mel I think we were renewing the polls and took the opportunity to do the CCTV at the same time. Mel 36:29.121
Potentially sorry. Yeah yeah so there's where an opportunity we were coming and renewing the lighting polls and it was an opportunity to do the CCTV at the same time. And that's where I was emerging. Jessica Phillips 36:39.951
Oh great. Okay thanks. I think that was the only one. Give me a second. You jumped someone Nicola Wilson 36:49.721
The report says there are 53 multi-year projects in various stages of completion. How does that compare to a normal kind of work title previous years? Greg 36:58.321
My understanding is that's more than previous years. So this is part of the challenge of having just the sheer number of projects. I think we've got 146. Mel 37:08.011
Yeah, that's quite significant. Yeah, whereas in other years you may have down around the hundred mark and even in previous So we've seen an increase in value over the last, say, four to five years from $28 million to $53 million, plus the complexity and sheer number of projects has increased, so 146 projects, whereas when our budget was, say, $28 million, it might have been around 70 or 80 projects, so it's a better- And if I could extend on that as well, the infrastructure team has done a lot of work on putting emphasis on planning at the beginning and the initiation stage, so we're profiling our projects over multiple years to make sure that what we're allocating per financial year is going to be more in line with what we expect to spend, rather than adopting a project budget and realising or having that then move over a that then move over a few years, we're instead getting on the first foot and profiling it over years at the start. Greg 38:05.762
And I think another key factor is, and this seems to be a good example, where we had a window governed by birds and fish and the environment. And another good example is... Noosa trial where we were governed by the end of our peak Christmas period and then we've got a major event coming up. So we couldn't build that in one financial year, we actually had to span that over two financial years. so your projects run toward a calendar year or financial year? Nicola Wilson 38:34.694
That's actually only my next question to clarify. So a multi-year project, whether that's a project that takes longer than 12 months or it's that it struggles Greg 38:48.860
And it's really just cash flowing that over the two financial years and sometimes that provides opportunity from a budget point of view as well, so it's not putting too much over us in one financial year allows that spread over two financial years. Jessica Phillips 39:09.706
I remember my question, I got to it. Dog Beach, the nourishment works, can you tell me more for the people listening, why do we do that? and maybe just give me a bit of backstory and how we get to this and when we will expect the next one if you can or... Greg 39:31.858
Did you want to take that one away or I can't talk to it? Yeah, look, ultimately it's because it's man-made, it's creative, it's protecting the river, so the river always wants to get back to where it once was. um um so what's happened over a number of years is it's just it's just virtually eroded and eroded and it got to a point there we didn't want it to break through otherwise we would have had to intervene with something more substantial like rock walling and things like that so the idea was to replace it so replenish it with sand, and use sand out of the river mouth, which makes sense anyway, because it was already silky enough, so to that point we use that sand to replenish the beach, which then protects Noosa, Noosa Sound, but also Noosa main beach, because The idea now is that we did let it get to a point where it was getting quite critical so we had to intervene in a major way so we've spent a bit of money on that and doing it properly now to create a much better environment down there as we talked about previously. in the future the idea is to not have to go back and do our major work, it's just to continue to replenish it and use a smaller bridge on a regular basis so part of our normal works that we do along the river in terms of Noosaville Noosaville and in terms of Gympie Terrace, we're constantly having breaches going on there and just replenishing to protect the foreshore there. So we do the same thing for the dog breach. So just continue to put some sand on there so we don't have to let it get more It's fairly well protected I believe at the moment because of the amount of sand there. The biggest issue is if we get a cyclone or a number of cyclones in a row, you know, that's the nature of the problem. We have to deal with it as best we can. So all we've done is protect it as best we can with sand. But if we get a cyclone, my understanding is we get a cyclone that sits up to the north. Then the prevailing winds and the waves will come through the river mouth and basically on the donkeys and cause quite a bit of erosion. So that's what we're trying to protect against. And we believe now we've done our best to protect that. If it happens again, I mean that's nature and that's what we've created and we need to deal with it accordingly. And we do have a monitoring program there. We do have lines of, what would you call it, intervention where we survey, take measures and then we trigger interventions. Larry Sengstock 42:00.231
So we know when we need to step in and who's getting to that point of the red line. We need to intervene and fix it as hard as we have and create what we've done. But we believe that that's a good outcome, it's a fantastic looking outcome but it's also a good outcome for the protection. Jessica Phillips 42:18.703
Okay, so we won't anticipate seeing the extent of what it got to before we do some... Okay. So we won't Larry Sengstock 42:25.203
Well, that's the intention, to do it on a regular basis. However, if there was a major storm or a major cyclone, you've just got to deal with deal with what's at hand. But generally, we would be looking to just continue the maintenance of it now. You mentioned rock or something. Has there been a study or something done to see... because I imagine it's Because I imagine it's quite costly to continue even the works of something long term, a solution long term. Greg 42:55.799
So when council was amalgamated, there was a project developed and we've seen stage, we've seen two ends done of that. That's the growing, sandbag growing that's there and then there's some rock around the pump area there. So there was a second or a third stage to do some protection around the centre a little bit. However, when council de-amalgamated, there was a report presented and there was a decision made not to go down that pathway, the Noosa council. So that was, that's a good ten years, ten years ago and so that's, that's the information. that's the information that we have and that's been presented to all the studies that have been done and come up with the SEMP program that we've got now. So we've had studies done of that area and we've included the information from Noosa Shire Council. We've developed up this program, it's more of a softer approach. Jessica Phillips 43:55.097
One more question when we do it, because I'm not a boatie, but I've run the river a lot and recently I've seen quite a number of boats. What do you call it when they accidentally, they didn't mean to, but they're stuck. What do we do for education around what it will do to the river mouth? Larry Sengstock 44:22.623
That's an ongoing program, the sand is moving all the time, the channels are marked but they're changing. I think it's probably like driving to see the road conditions, it's probably very similar, because the tide's changing as well, it's a dynamic environment, so simply with the gravel road you need to drive to see the road conditions. We can't speed pace that, so when working in when working in a dynamic environment like the ocean, you need to be aware and slow down and make decisions. Jessica Phillips 45:02.744
Oh, I completely agree with that. I'm just wondering what part of, like a road, we do road safety, we do lots of education from TMR, so what's MSQ doing for? Greg 45:12.904
Yeah, throughout the project, there was regular communication. Throughout the project, educating that there was going to be a change from the channel was here, explaining what the intent of the project was, and then how the channel would be moved over to the centre of the river. there was that education process that the channel was changing, and that we were dredging and opening up the channel. But if people still run aground, I mean, there may be some experience or experience or inexperience issues there. I'm not saying that may be all the case but we are a tourist town and we do have a lot of hire boats and a lot of people don't need a boat licence to drive those boats. Thanks. Jessica Phillips 45:57.714
No more questions, thank you. Frank Wilkie 45:59.654
Just a more general question. During COVID and post COVID there was a lot of migration of staff, more local governments to private industry and between local governments. Has that Greg 46:16.996
What I've noticed is probably in the last two years we've had at least eight seniors leave our team so we've lost that depth layer that's that's what I've seen in the last eight years. What I'm seeing is there's been a change there's been a change in the employment market where we're now starting to get good quality candidates. We're now starting to get good quality responses in numbers as well. So I think it's starting to shift back towards the employer. I think people are looking for I suppose, more security, more secure jobs, and there are opportunities now going forward from an employer's market, I think. I think it's probably shifted from an employee's market over the last two years to an employer's market. I think the opportunities that a local government can offer are security, training, working for the community, yes, yeah. Frank Wilkie 47:10.680
The other question is around emergent works. There are a number of them and when the work emerges, it's issues that have to be dealt with immediately and they are. But But there's also a lot of proactive work going on in the background to minimise the amount of emergent works that occur. Could you just talk a bit about that please? Greg 47:33.772
Sure, sure. I think one of the key challenges is funding that emergent works. I think that's a real key Looking at renewal, depreciation, grant funding. So is there ways to take the burden off the general rates and still fund those emergent works? there an opportunity to use some depreciation funds? Is there an opportunity? Is there grant funds available? And that's what we're constantly working on, to balance that capital rates program. I'm talking about the asset assessment work that's being done. all the audits of assets. Yes. So we do have a Shire-wide ongoing program, and a couple of examples of that are CCTV inspections of our stormwater, our bridge inspection programs, our footpath programs, our road programs. So we're constantly inspecting all of our assets. We're trying to inspect all of our assets but it's a very large program and then the idea of that program is that we're anticipating assets that are depreciating and we're intervening. intervening before they fail. So there's a measure where we can come in, allocate funds and it may lift the life of that project back up for another 25 to 50 years. And our bridge program's a classic example and Garth Proud's a classic example where we've intervened at a 50 year life. We hope to extend that for another 50 years and get 100 years out of that bridge. But we can't always be ahead of that curve and we can't always be seeing what's under the ground. some of the emergent projects that are coming out are say water pipes at Noosa Spit, we couldn't see what was under the ground and similarly we've got a similar pipe up at Boreen Point. So they're the ones that we can't see. Nicola Wilson 49:29.421
The recommendation is that council note the report by the infrastructure planning officer to the services and organisation committee meeting dated 6 August, providing an update on the delivery of the 2023-24 capital program as of 30 June 2024. Frank Wilkie 50:00.385
Look, thank you. Could you please pass on our thanks to the team, a very hard-working team. Great work with the recruitment. Good to hear you've got a full complement of staff down there. As you explained, it was a a program of 140 plus individual projects, not necessarily high value, but tricky, and you've had significant challenges with weather, and it's a very hard working and ambitious team down there, so please pass on our thanks for the good work done. And get better soon. Hope you get better. Thank you. Jessica Phillips 50:34.171
Sorry to ask you that question. Mel 50:35.791
Thank you. very much. Nicola Wilson 50:55.900
Now we have item number seven, which is a confidential item. Before we actually move into the confidential session, I I just want to say a few words so that those watching in the public can have a bit more transparency about why we're actually going into the confidential session. So when we do move into the confidential session, we will discuss a report prepared by Lindsay Lee, who is a graduate engineer. report makes a recommendation as to which supplier should be awarded the contract. The report contains details of all suppliers who tendered for the contract under the property rules and information provided for the team to make the decision. This includes the prices each supplier submitted and is therefore commercially sensitive financial information for those who submitted. As councillors might refer to this information when asking questions about the report, the meeting will be closed to the public. So, we'll now move a motion to a move that the meeting be closed to the public pursuant to section 254J3G of the Local Government Regulation 2012 for the purpose of discussing item 7.1, confidential, not for public distribution, contract number CN00644, construction of pathways, package 3. sorry, I've moved it. Could I have a second, please? I'll second. Thanks. And I'll put that to the vote. Thank you. Trent Grauf 52:44.760
Opposed? Larry Sengstock 52:55.720
Okay, we'll just go ahead and put the notes in again, because it's, it's, we've got both of them. Nicola Wilson 53:01.860
Okay. What's going on? Um, So, I move that the staff recommendation be carried. The Council note the report by the Graduate Engineers for Services and Organisation Committee, dated 6th August 2024, and a... Award contract number CN00644 for construction of pathways 2023-24, package 3, to the trustee for Integral Concreting Services Family Trust, as outlined in the report. And b, authorise the CEO to negotiate and finalise contracts on Council's behalf with the trustee for Integral Concreting Services Family Trust. I'll second it. Larry Sengstock 53:48.109
Just to clarify that This is a recommendation that goes to the council meeting next Thursday and that's where it will be ratified and then it becomes formal and then can be continued on for just the people watching. Nicola Wilson 54:01.445
Great. Thank you. And I hope that's the right way to come forward, Harry, unanimously. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you, Greg. Thank you, councillors. Thank you. Thanks, Lindsay. That was the last item on the agenda for today, so that brings us to the end of the meeting, and we close the meeting at 2. Related Noosa Council Meetings
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