General Committee - 18 November 2024
Date: Monday, 18 November 2024 at 12:30PM
Location: Noosa Shire Council Chambers , 9 Pelican Street , Tewantin , QLD 4565 , Australia
Organiser: Noosa Shire Council
Duration: 01:29:10
Synopsis: PBSLSC funding with conditions endorsed, Finances strong and Annual Report adopted, Outcomes-based reporting and workload reset pursued, Dog enforcement and signage gaps flagged, Conflicts handled transparently.
Meeting Attendees
Committee Members
Brian Stockwell Karen Finzel Amelia Lorentson Jessica Phillips Tom Wegener Frank Wilkie Nicola Wilson Executive Officers
Chief Executive Officer Larry Sengstock Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh (Via Microsoft Teams) Director Development & Regulation Richard MacGillivray Director Strategy & Environment Kim Rawlings Director Corporate Services Trent Grauf Deputations
AI-Generated Meeting Insight
Key Decisions & Discussions Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club (PBSLSC) support: Council to consider $46k p.a. + CPI for two years (Sat patrols) in 2025–27 with conditions incl. annual progress, updated 3-year plan, and a Building Works Schedule with officer assistance; funding to be via grants, and maintenance at Council discretion (Item 5.1; 17:54–28:04). Patrol coverage: PBSLSC may assume more days over time; any shift to full patrolling and Nippers expansion requires SLSQ approval (Item 5.1; 17:54–23:30). Operational issues: CEO authorised to examine bin storage, stormwater and drainage impacts near the club with any funding needs referred to future budgets (Item 5.1; 17:54–23:30). Finance performance: Oct YTD operating revenues +$1.9m above budget; expenditure -$470k vs budget; $114m cash reserves invested with higher term rates; development assessment fees down but expected to unwind; key sustainability indicators added (Item 6.1; 30:37–37:29). Annual Report 2023–24 adopted: Incorporates audited financial statements; expanded transparency on people & culture, engagement, and quick facts; CEO authorised to make minor edits (Item 6.2; 37:45–46:54). Performance culture: Councillors pressed for outcomes-based reporting linked to Corporate Plan targets and a digital corporate reporting system; next community satisfaction survey slated for 2025 (Item 6.2; 46:54–52:24, 51:03–51:53). Operational Plan Q1: 4% complete, 70% on track, 22% minor disruption, 4% major; delays attributed to staffing vacancies, sequencing engagement, and capacity; commitment to “finish what we’ve started” (Item 6.3; 01:00:03–01:22:49). LGAQ Conference motions: All seven Noosa motions carried, indicating statewide relevance and advocacy traction (Item 6.4; 01:23:03–01:28:59). Public safety deputation: Resident reported chronic dog breaches in prohibited beach zones, inadequate signage, and insufficient enforcement; called for more rangers, funding, and better signs (Item 4.1; 01:12–10:58). Contentious / Transparency Matters Conflict handling on PBSLSC item: Two declarable interests disclosed and determined in open session with named relationships and voting exclusions on the determination motions (Item 5.1; 12:55–17:26). Title clarification: Chair checked PBSLSC President attribution against President’s Report to correct the record at the Ordinary Meeting, reinforcing accuracy (Item 5.1; 23:30–23:58). Outcome vs output debate: Push for monitoring/evaluation of project impacts in future Annual Reports to assess Corporate Plan delivery, not just activity volume (Item 6.2; 46:54–51:03). Resourcing candour: Q1 report “doesn’t sugarcoat” disruptions; staffing shortages and engagement spacing openly cited; commitment to recalibrate workload (Item 6.3; 01:06:22–01:09:19, 01:19:53–01:22:41). Enforcement gaps: Deputation alleged lax dog control in prohibited areas and minimal signage; multiple reports to Council claimed unanswered by deterrence (Item 4.1; 01:12–10:58). Legal / Risk Conflicts regime: Declarable interests addressed under Chapter 5B Local Government Act 2009; Council resolved both councillors could participate on merits, with non-voting on the determination motions aligning with probity (Item 5.1; 12:55–17:26). PBSLSC governance risk: Officers cautioned against rapid transition to full patrols due to risk of club failure; staged capacity build endorsed with SLSQ oversight (Item 5.1; 21:31–23:09). Asset and funding controls: Maintenance requests subject to Council assessment and prioritisation; direct ratepayer subsidy disclaimed in favour of grants, mitigating ongoing fiscal exposure (Item 5.1; 23:58–25:57). Statutory reporting: Annual Report prepared per s182 LGA; QAO unqualified opinion reinforces compliance and financial stewardship (Item 6.2; 37:45–41:47, 41:47–46:14). Revenue recognition: Unearned DA fee adjustments to align to assessment progress flagged, consistent with accounting prudence (Item 6.1; 36:16–36:57). Workforce wellbeing: Staff wellbeing survey underway; psychosocial risk queries noted, with findings to be briefed internally before Council session (Item 6.3; 01:18:09–01:19:53). Conflicts of Interest Karen Finzel : Declared link to PBSLSC President/Events Committee member who volunteered in her 2020 campaign; Council resolved she could participate and vote (Item 5.1; 12:55–15:12, 15:12–15:35). Amelia Lorentson : Declared children’s casual employment with SLSQ; Council resolved she could participate and vote (Item 5.1; 15:35–17:26). Environmental Concerns Coastal/foreshore planning delays: Eastern Beaches Foreshore Master Plan experienced disruptions due to staff turnover and reprioritisation; recruitment now progressing (Item 6.3; 01:03:55–01:05:52). Disaster recovery delivery: Annual Report noted substantial QRA funding enabling reconstruction of landslides and stormwater assets, reinforcing resilience outcomes (Item 6.2; 41:47–46:14). Noosa Woods jetty/pontoon: Major disruption noted; consultant commissioned, with integration of Boating Facilities Study recommendations sought (Item 6.3; 01:12:27–01:13:31). Sunshine Beach / Public Safety (Dogs in Prohibited Areas) Geoff Mallinson : Reported daily dog incursions in prohibited zones at Sunrise–Sunshine Beach, fearful interactions for elderly and families, and bag littering; urged increased ranger presence, funding, and clear signage incl. on-beach markers and National Park entry points (Item 4.1; 01:12–10:58). Council context: While no decision taken, the deputation raises compliance gaps and amenity/safety risks warranting targeted enforcement and signage review consistent with local laws (Item 4.1; 01:12–10:58). Community Engagement, Performance & Advocacy Annual Report transparency uplift: Added workforce diversity, engagement showcases, and legislative compliance checklist; councillors seek impact metrics tied to Corporate Plan (Item 6.2; 37:45–52:24). Operational recalibration: Agreement to reassess scope mid-year, avoid over-commitment, and sequence engagements to maintain quality and trust (Item 6.3; 01:06:22–01:09:19). LGAQ advocacy power: Seven motions passed among 109; councillors cited past outcomes (e.g., housing summit) as evidence of effectiveness (Item 6.4; 01:23:03–01:28:59).
Official Meeting Minutes
MINUTES General Committee Meeting Monday, 18 November 2024 12:30 PM Council Chambers, 9 Pelican Street, Tewantin Committee: Crs Brian Stockwell (Chair), Karen Finzel, Amelia Lorentson, Jessica Phillips, Tom Wegener, Frank Wilkie, Nicola Wilson “Noosa Shire – different by nature” GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 18 NOVEMBER 2024 1. ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS Cr Brian Stockwell (Chair) Cr Karen Finzel Cr Amelia Lorentson Cr Jessica Phillips Cr Tom Wegener Cr Frank Wilkie Cr Nicola Wilson EXECUTIVE Chief Executive Officer Larry Sengstock Acting Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh (via Microsoft Teams) Director Development & Regulation Richard MacGillivray Director Strategy & Environment Kim Rawlings Director Corporate Services Trent Grauf APOLOGIES Nil. 2. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Amelia Lorentson Seconded: Cr Karen Finzel The Minutes of the General Committee Meeting held on 14 October 2024 be received and confirmed. Carried unanimously. 3. PRESENTATIONS Nil. 4. DEPUTATIONS 4.1. DEPUTATION - DOGS ON PUBLIC BEACH IN THE "DOG PROHIBITED" AREA APPLICANT: GEOFF MALLINSON SPEAKERS: GEOFF MALLINSON 5. ITEMS REFERRED FROM COMMITTEES GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 18 NOVEMBER 2024 5.1. PEREGIAN BEACH SURF LIFESAVING CLUB - FUNDING REQUEST AND UPDATE ON OPERATIONS (REFERRED FROM SERVICES & ORGANISATION DATED 12 NOVEMBER 2024) In accordance with Chapter 5B of the Local Government Act 2009, Cr Finzel provided the following declaration to the meeting of a declarable conflict of interest in this matter: I, Cr Finzel, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in relation to the Peregian Beach Surf Life Saving Club, as Leigh McCready, who worked as a volunteer in my 2020 “Future Noosa” election campaign is the President and a member of the Events Committee of the Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club. As Mrs McCready is not a close associate or related party and has never given me a gift or a loan, I believe a reasonable person would agree that I able to make an impartial decision on the matter. Therefore, I will choose to remain in the meeting room. However, I will respect the decision of the meeting on whether I can remain and participate in the decision. Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Nicola Wilson That Council note the declarable conflict of interest by Cr Finzel and determine that Cr Finzel participates and votes on this matter because Council believes that a reasonable person would trust that the final decision is made in the public interest. Carried unanimously. Crs Finzel and Lorentson did not vote on the above motion. In accordance with Chapter 5B of the Local Government Act 2009, Cr Lorentson provided the following declaration to the meeting of a declarable conflict of interest in this matter: I, Cr Lorentson, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in this matter as my daughter Giorgia Lorentson and son Ben Lorentson are employed by Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) as casual lifeguards. It could be viewed that I have a have a conflict of interest, however I do not believe a reasonable person could have a perception of bias as my daughter and son’s employment is of a casual nature and not exclusively bound to SLSQ. Therefore, there is no benefit or loss specific to my daughter and son, from the outcome of this application. Therefore, I will choose to remain in the meeting room. However, I will respect the decision of the meeting on whether I can remain and participate in the decision. Committee Resolution Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Jessica Phillips That Council note the declarable conflict of interest by Cr Lorentson and determine that Cr Lorentson participates and votes on this matter because Council believes that Cr Lorentson would be able to make an impartial decision in the community interest. Carried unanimously. Crs Lorentson and Finzel did not vote on the above motion. Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Amelia Lorentson Seconded: Cr Frank Wilkie GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 18 NOVEMBER 2024 That Council note the report by the Property Manager, Development and Regulation to the Services and Organisation Committee dated 12 November 2024 and: A. Agree to consider as part of the 2025-2026 budget deliberations the allocation of $46,000 per annum plus CPI for a total of two years commencing 20252026 to fund SLSQ contract lifeguard services on Saturdays only in the September to May surf lifesaving patrol season for the purposes of providing lifesaving service continuity at Peregian Beach subject to the Lessee: 1. Providing annual reporting of progress toward establishment of the new Peregian Beach SLSC for a further two years of operations; 2. Submitting an updated 3 year Strategic Plan endorsed by Surf Lifesaving Queensland prior to 30 June 2025; 3. Submitting a Building Works Plan Schedule prior to 30 June 2025 detailing proposed club building works including major maintenance, renovation and extension works for the remainder of the current lease period, noting that Council officers will assist with the development of the club’s Building Works Schedule as appropriate; 4. Agreeing that opportunities for ratepayer financial support will be by application through Council’s community grants program and no commitment is provided by Council for direct ratepayer financial support 5. Agreeing that building maintenance will be at Council’s discretion subject to Council’s independent assessment and asset maintenance planning. B. Note that any future PBSLSC proposal to assume responsibility for all patrolling days in the September to May lifesaving season will be subject to approval by Surf Lifesaving Queensland; C. Note Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club’s request to increase Junior Activities (Nippers) enrolments subject to Surf Lifesaving Queensland approval; D. Authorise the CEO to: 1. Monitor operation of the bin storage area located adjacent to Peregian Beach SLSC and investigate short and long term options to manage the impacts of the area to improve club amenity; 2. Examine stormwater and drainage issues currently impacting club operations; and E. Agree that requests for funding resulting from the bin storage and drainage and stormwater investigations will be referred to future budget deliberations as appropriate. Carried unanimously. 6. REPORTS DIRECT TO GENERAL COMMITTEE 6.1. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPORT – OCT 2024 Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Tom Wegener Seconded: Cr Brian Stockwell That Council note the report by the Financial Services Manager to the General Committee Meeting dated 18 November 2024 outlining the October 2024 year to date financial performance against budget, including changes to the financial performance report with the inclusion of key financial sustainability indicators. Carried unanimously. GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 18 NOVEMBER 2024 6.2. NOOSA SHIRE COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2023 - 2024 The following material was presented to the meeting in relation to this item: Cr Stockwell – refer to Attachment 1 to the General Committee Minutes Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Amelia Lorentson That Council note the report by the Governance Manager to the General Committee meeting dated 18 November 2024 regarding corporate reporting and: A. Adopt the Noosa Shire Council 2023-2024 Annual Report incorporating the audited Financial Statements for 2023-2024 financial year as provided at Attachment 1. B. Authorise the Chief Executive Officer to make any required minor amendments to the document prior to publication. Carried unanimously. 6.3. OPERATIONAL PLAN 2024-25 Q1 QUARTERLY REPORTING Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Brian Stockwell Seconded: Cr Karen Finzel That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the General Committee dated 18 November 2024 regarding the 2024-25 Operational Plan and: A. Note the progress report for Q1 2024-25 Operational Plan to 30 September 2024 provided as Attachment 1; B. Note the comments on the progress of all initiatives identified provided as Attachment 2; and C. Note the status of Council's Key Performance Indicators as provided as Attachment 3. Carried unanimously. 6.4. 2024 LGAQ CONFERENCE - NOOSA COUNCIL MOTIONS CARRIED Committee Recommendation Moved: Cr Frank Wilkie Seconded: Cr Karen Finzel That Council note the report by the Chief Executive Officer to the General Committee Meeting dated 18 November 2024 detailing the final seven (7) motions by Noosa Council which were carried at the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Annual Conference 2024. Carried unanimously. 7. CONFIDENTIAL SESSION Nil. 8. MEETING CLOSURE The meeting closed at 2.00pm.
Meeting Transcript
Brian Stockwell 00:00.000
To you and to those in the gallery, we start the meeting with our acknowledgement of country and we pay our respects to the elders past, present and those hard-working emerging leaders of the Kabi Kabi people who are the traditional owners of the country. and who have by our recent signing of the commitment made a very formal request and agreement that we work together to look after this place and many of our decisions do have long-standing effect and that's a good thing to do. Remember that we're just a short term, four years in what has been tens of thousands of years of occupation of the place. So we move on to confirmation of the minutes. We've got anyone who wishes. Councillor Lorentson has moved and seconded Councillor Finzel. I think we don't need to vote. All those in favour? And that's unanimous. We don't have any presentations but we do have a deputation and that's with Mr Geoff Mallinson and he's here to talk to us about dogs on public beaches in the dog prohibited area. Mr Mallinson if you'd like to make your way to the lectern. Thank you. Geoff Mallinson 01:12.112
I'll have to read this so I cover all the most important points. My name is Geoff Mallinson. I live adjacent to Tingira at Tingira Crescent, adjacent to the beach at Sunrise to Sunshine Beach. I particularly came to that area and purchased a house there because I like to run and swim and walk, same with my wife, on the so-called prohibited dog area beach because we considered that would Came here three years ago to live permanently, we thought that would be a safe place to be able to run. Unfortunately this is not the case. That dog prohibited area is used a lot by a minority, by the way, of dog owners. The majority of dog owners don't actually want to take their dog to the beach anyway. So we're catering for a minority in the first place. And of that minority, there place and of that minority there is another minority of very vocal people who think that they can just come anywhere and do what they like and we find it constantly there are dogs on the beach in that area 24/7 I can go down there and there's always a dog somewhere on the beach despite many on the beach. Despite many letters and complaints to council, the problem is getting worse and I believe that it's mostly due to the lack of funds and manpower that's allocated to policing it. Older people like myself, who have thin skin, myself, who have thin skin, we can't risk a dog jumping up on us even playfully because it rips the skin off and then we've got to go to hospital, get stitched up. and recoup from it. So it's quite frightening to be running along the beach, the dog racing towards you or chasing you and you think hell if it gets near me it's going to injure me and so on many that are on the beach babies and mothers and people are at risk of dogs who are running around off leash and this is a prohibited area so they shouldn't be there in the first place so I'm coming to you tonight to plead with you to do something because it's spoiling our life you know we've we bought a house adjacent to a beach which is supposed to have no dogs on it but it's not the case and we feel that the council Noosa council is very generous they've allocated a lot of area to people to take and exercise their dogs and mostly off-leash which we also find hard to work out how we can allocate a beach area and say that that's for dogs to exercise on but we're really excluding excluding the people who are afraid of dogs or for some reason don't want dogs running around here than when they're on the beach. I've been attacked by a dog in the past a couple of times but only once actually once actually injured, and of course I'm afraid of them under those circumstances. When you go to the beach where we go, we've noticed that the signage is inadequate. It's very small signs about the dog on a big sign that nobody reads. And we've noticed this regularly because we go to the beach and we often say to people if their dog is near us and annoying us, or whatever, 'Tewantin, your dog off the beach is a prohibited area.' The replies are, 'We know we don't care.' other reply is also, 'Oh, we didn't see any signs.' 'Oh, you know, they're innocently in their area.' And I agree that it's quite easy for them not to see the signs, so the signs are a big issue. Other councils I've been to have good, large, visible signs that are a deterrent in themselves because people come to the piece for their dog and they see a really obvious sign that says, 'Dogs prohibited.' They're not going to go any further, but it was a little insignificant sign half the time that I could see it. And when you get on the beach, the other problem is that there are no signs that are visible when you're on the beach. So if you're in a dog exercise area where you're supposed to be, and you start walking your dog along towards Sunshine Beach from, say, Corinthian, or you're even about to take an automobile, Castaway. You're not going to know that you've just come out of a dog exercise area into a prohibited area. So there's a real signage issue that needs to be addressed. Up the other end at the National Park, which I find also very hard to believe, that in the past the Council's made a decision to have an exercise area in a little corner, adjacent to the National Park, which is Caboo, with the people who are interested in protecting wildlife. And when you come from the National Park, which lots and lots of people do, walking and running. Down onto Sunshine Beach, no signs to say that they are entering an unwashed hog area. Also, that little corner is very inaccessible for the general public. The parking is very limited. There is no real parking. area that accesses that corner. There's a small amount of parking. So, of course, what the people who do use it do, they park at a surf club, take their dog on the beach... So, my main reason for coming to council is to make everybody aware of the situation because I have written countless letters and made many, many complaints. My wife and I. And we feel that we need to be heard because we're the silent majority really. The minority of dog owners, and I'm saying minority of the minority, are very vocal. And get a lot of attention. And a lot of reaction from council. They don't want to upset the dog owners. Well, they're not upsetting the dog owners. They're upsetting a minority of the minority. Who actually want to use the beach with their dog. Lots of people I know who had dogs like me in the past avoided going beach with their dog because they had problems. And other little irritating things is that we go along and we find that people are just hitting a doggy poo in the doggy bag and they're just leaving they're just leaving it at the bottom of the walkway. They're not looking for a rubbish bin to put it in but they're just leaving it behind and we're constantly putting that in the bin for them because they're not doing the right thing. So policing is a big issue. policing is a big issue at a lot of verbal conversations and correspondence with council and the head rangers are doing the best job they possibly can with a limited amount of staff. and funding that's been allocated to do the job. So this is a big issue and I think it's the main point is the council needs to take the bull by the horns and say look you know let's get this sorted. because it's not right. Let's allocate the funds, let's allocate the staff, let's improve the signage and we should get some good results. We love living in Noosa, we think it's the best place in the world and we find that the general acceptance of people in the know, everyone's really friendly and happy and we would love to be that way. We're just concerned about our safety and the safety of other people, particularly kids. My son, for example, came up from Sydney, came down the beach with his little baby and came home and complained, "Hey Dad, there's a dog running all You know, I have to protect Orion. I said, "Well, you know, we're constantly complaining, maybe I'll go and seek Council and try and do something about it." And so that's why I'm here today. So thank you very much for listening to me and hopefully we can get something. Brian Stockwell 10:58.480
So we move now on to item five, which is items referred from committees. And there's one item there, and that is the Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club funding request and update on operations. And we have Mr Clint Irwin, the manager of... Clint Irwin, the manager of property in his substantive role. Clint Irwin 11:32.933
So, this report's about Peregian Beach Surf Life Saving Club, the funding request and updated operations. So just backtracking a little bit here, at the April 2022 organ meeting, Council resolved to enter into a 10 year lease with Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, which was really about them starting to commence the operations of the club and their beach patrolling capacity. At the time, the club, the original Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, ceased operations. So there was a period there where Mr Surf Club operated the club and then it turned into Sunshine Coast Surf Lifesaving also operated the club for a period. The 10 year lease though was seen as the best way forward at the time. One of the problems the Surf Club did have is they didn't have the capacity to take on the full control and commitment for the patrols at that time. Brian Stockwell 12:42.528
If you can just have a pause, I didn't realise, I was told. There are two councillors who wish to declare an interest in the matter. We'll start with the first start with the first person is Councillor Finzel. Karen Finzel 12:55.699
Thank you Mr Chair. I, Councillor Finzel, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in relation to the Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club as Lena Creedy, who worked as a volunteer in my 2020 Future Noosa election campaign, is a member of the events committee of the Peregian Beach Surf Lifesaving Club. As Mrs. McCready is not As Mrs. McCready is not a close associate or related party and has never given me a gift or a loan, I believe a reasonable person would agree that I am able to make an impartial decision on the matter. Therefore, I will choose to remain in the meeting room. However, I will respect the decision of the meeting on whether I can remain and participate in the decision. Frank Wilkie 13:38.351
Just a question, Mrs McCready, the president of the club now? Just a question. Yes. That might need to be reflected in the declaration? Karen Finzel 13:49.651
Just a comment on that, it doesn't list Mrs. McCready as the president of the committee in the report that was with the attachment, so I can't clarify. father so you shouldn't there's really visit been an annual general meeting and she's happy we'll add that to that certainly sorry i changed it to the events committee because that's where i thought she was listed on the um their annual reporting okay happy for you to include that president thank you is there any other questions um can i ask council finzel was she a volunteer or was she the campaign manager as i've consistently declared she was only a volunteer was never in a capacity as a Frank Wilkie 14:40.280
Volunteer okay i'll um move that um council note the declarable conflict of interest by councillor finzel and determine that councillor finzel participates and votes in the matter because council believes a reasonable person will trust that a final decision is made in the public interest I think it's it's only important that the link is declared and I'm confident that a reasonable person will understand that councillor the Finzel can make community a an impartial interest. decision SPEAKER_02 15:10.561
Thank you, thank you Mr Chair. Brian Stockwell 15:12.581
Does anyone else wish to speak? You have waived your right to close I presume. All those in favour? That's councillor Wilson, councillor Wegener, councillor Wilkie, Councillor, councillor Stockwell and it be noted that councillor Finzel and Councillor Lorentson didn't vote. The motion is passed so we then move on to the declaration by Councillor Lorentson. Amelia Lorentson 15:35.786
I, Councillor Lorentson, inform the meeting that I have a declarable conflict of interest in the matter as my daughter Giorgia Lorentson and my son Ben Lorentson are employed by Surf Life Saving Queensland as casual lifeguards. It could be viewed that I have a conflict of interest, however I do not believe a reasonable person could have a perception of bias as my daughter and son's employment is of a casual nature and not exclusively bound by... to SLSQ. Therefore there is no benefit or loss specific to my daughter and son from the outcome of this application. Therefore I will choose to remain in the meeting room, however I will respect the decision of the meeting on whether I can remain and participate in the matter. Frank Wilkie 16:31.320
Look, I'm happy to move a motion that Councillor Lorentson participates and votes on this matter because Councillor believes that, it's wording similar to the previous one, that the community would not, that Councillor Lorentson would be capable of making an impartial decision in Councillor believes that Councillor Lorentson could make, would be able to make an impartial decision. Brian Stockwell 17:26.540
We have a seconder? We have a second. Councillor, do you wish to speak to the motion? I don't, I think it's self explanatory. Anyone else? I'll put the motion. Those in favour? That's Councillor Finzel, Councillor Wilson, Councillor Wegener, Councillor Wilkie and Councillor and myself. The motion is passed. So we go back after... intermission to the overview of the report. Clint Irwin 17:54.137
Thank you, back through to the Chair. So at that time, as I was saying, the surf club has not had the capacity to undertake the full complement of weekend and public holiday. holiday beach patrols which occurred in the September /May patrolling season. Given that was the case, Council resolved to fund SLSQ contract lifeguards to patrol the Saturdays and public holidays which allowed the surf club to patrol Sundays while it focused on ramping up its operations. That resolution was for a three-year period and that expires in May 2025 which is the end of this current life-saving season. The surf club has requested a further two-year funding commitment from from council with the club proposing with the club proposing to provide services on Sundays. The difference though is they're wanting to add in the additional public holidays and that amounts to about an extra 11 days over the season. This report recommends Council support consideration of the two year funding proposal as part of next year's budget deliberations and the merit of that is that it would allow the club to continue to build its capacity. Some other components of the report are that the surf club submits a building works schedule which will allow a coordinated approach to maintenance and development between the new club committee and council. And also an updated strategic plan given the current plan expires in 2025. And also an update... The club has raised some concerns with the humanity and impact of the village square in storage area and drainage and stormwater issues which are also impacting club operations. The report also recommends council investigate these issues and work towards an approach group outcome in consultation with the club. And I think the report does talk to some stats in there which as I say will receive the annual report from the club and probably some stats of note there are that they do have 75 active patrolling members. That is slightly down from the previous season. They have got support from the Brisbane Lifesaving Service to form a sixth patrol team. They have 514 total members which is a 13% increase from last season. The Nipper program is powering along. That is a 19% increase from the previous season and the financial performance is going quite well for a club that is quite well for a club that's really in its infancy. Some of the other recommendations of note in there as well, which I think you can cover in the executive summary, are that... that if the surf club does go to full controlling commitments over coming seasons, that that be subject to approval by Surf Life Saving Queensland, if the surf club sit within the Surf Life State of kind of mothership, and that any proposals to increase their Nipper program are also subject surplus and approval. So, Mr Chair, we have questions now. Brian Stockwell 21:29.546
Do we have any questions? Frank Wilkie 21:31.706
Yes. Thanks for the report, Clint. The intention of club to take on public holidays as well is a really positive sign. Is this an indication that their capacity is actually increasing, or their ambitions are increasing, or their capacity to deliver active patrols are increasing? Clint Irwin 21:51.669
Yes. Probably a riot around that is the fact that in order to get to the full complement, they probably need around 120 members. So they are short. Frank Wilkie 22:02.830
That's to do Saturday and Sunday. Yes. Clint Irwin 22:04.830
But it is a step in the right direction and that work that they're proposing to do on the extra days, this is also about seeking You can see with the recommendation that reduces down to 46. So I think he's heading in the right direction, but I think it's an incremental progression. He is important if the club steps too quickly. quickly into full control and commitment, as I stated in the report. It does risk club failure. Surf clubs are quite difficult to run. They take a lot, a lot of governance, a lot of committees required in order to run properly. So I think the incremental progression. Frank Wilkie 22:57.513
The purpose of this support is to provide a budgeting framework to make sure that they, to help ensure their success in the long term. Clint Irwin 23:09.833
Yeah, I mean, ideally, I mean, it would Their active patrolling membership can increase in their patrolling the whole season. In the interim, though, that's not the case. So the council can support them while they establish their operations. is a great opportunity for them. Brian Stockwell 23:30.582
Thank you. Just coming back to the matter of the conflict of interest, I have gone back and had a look at their President's report. I'll follow it up post the meeting, but it is signed off by John Roderick as President. the Peregian Beach Surf Life Saving Club. So just for transparency, I will address that when we come back to the ordinary meeting. Thank you. Jessica Phillips 23:58.296
I just have one question please. I fully understand about the Surf Life Saving and having Surf Life Savings on the beach. The one question that I, could you just expand on in the report 0.9, just around the infrastructure renewal and operational expenses, it suggests Council's discretion around maintenance and planning, could you just, maybe for my own interest and anyone watching, how would, expand expand on that for me, like would we see, councillors see a report around operational requests or will that be subject to delegation? SPEAKER_04 24:41.201
Chair, councillor, exactly, it's dealt with by, by delegation, if there's an operational request, but what that, what that's really saying there is that, you know, if have got, it's not just a given that when the surf club puts in a request that it's going to be done, so we need to assess the nature of the request, is it a major request that's going to require a lot of funding, do we have the funds, how will it be funded, and does that need to compete with other, other requests that we get. Right across council. So we're working in pretty close partnership with the group. But, you know, we, when we receive a request, we do reserve our right to undertake an assessment of the nature of that request too. So for example, if the club required a new roof, and that came from the club, we will have our building from the club. We will have our building and facility offices go down and verify that that is indeed the case. And then we will schedule those works. Can we do that operationally or is it a capital request that needs to be submitted and compete against other projects? Amelia Lorentson 25:57.905
I'm happy, thank you, I'm happy to move the motion. I have made some changes to the original motion which I've worked through with Clint. So I'll So, I'll read the motion. Can I have that enlarged, Cathy? I think my eyes are getting worse. Brian Stockwell 26:16.132
Perhaps, since it's quite a large motion, I think we'd be right just with reading out that section that's changed. Amelia Lorentson 26:21.352
Are you all happy with that? So, my changes are in reference to A3, submitting a building works schedule price prior to 30th of June 2025. Detailing proposed club building works including major maintenance, renovation and extension works for the remainder of the current lease period. Noting that council officers will assist with the development of the club's building works schedule as appropriate. Brian Stockwell 26:57.809
Do we have a seconder? by Councillor Wilkie. Amelia Lorentson 27:03.190
And I've just made the changes to clarify the motions intent and what we've heard around the table just now which is that council supports the surf club and is committed to working with the surf club where appropriate in developing the building works schedule. Some of the members I have a seconder. Misunderstood the current wording which stated originally that a building works plan must be submitted by 30 June 2025. They interpreted I think incorrectly and assumed that it was that it was a strict obligation and potentially onerous for its volunteers. The new wording makes it clear that council offices will support developing the building work schedule again where appropriate. So again I worked Clint on this and I'm really appreciative of his input and I think we captured the intent. Brian Stockwell 28:04.885
Does anyone else wish to speak to the motion? Amelia Lorentson 28:14.598
I'm going to close if that's okay. I want to take this opportunity to also congratulate the Bridge and Beach Surf Life Saving Club. You can't address new material when you close you can only address what's been in the debate. But you can only in a close you can't introduce new material. For its effort and remarkable achievements and I've gone to the couple of the AGMs and I know a lot of the Serv Club members and there is quite a bit of depth and As a volunteer lifesaver myself and a former Nipper parent of two kids who are now professional lifeguards, and this is why I really want to speak, I can attest to the significant role that a surf club plays in not only a child's life but also in the broader community. When we support a surf club we're supporting children, we're supporting families and the community as a whole. With more beachgoers a whole with more beach goers than ever before ensuring safe communities must extend to our waters and I want to thank the surf club for its commitment to ensuring the safety of our residents and visitors also to our lifeguards the best in the business and also And also to Council today for its commitment to working with the Peregian Beach Surf Club to ensure that it has the best chance for long-term success. Thank you. Brian Stockwell 30:02.321
I'll put the motion. Those in favour? That's unanimous. We now move on. Thank you. The next item is reports directed to the General Committee and the first of those is the financial performance report where we welcome Pauline and Trent to the table. Give us an overview please, Pauline. Pauline 30:37.340
Afternoon, councillors. So financial performance for the month of October continues to be positive with operating revenues outperforming our forecast and operating expenditure again under budget at this stage of the financial year. Operating revenues are $1.9 million above budget and this comprises $790,000 relating to interest revenue, $470,000 of sales of goods and services revenue predominantly relating to holiday parks. A further $426,000 from grant programs and $90,000 from rates and levies. This has Operating revenues are $1 SPEAKER_12 31:13.755
Offset by lower than forecast fees and charges of $34,000 with development assessment fees fees down $163,000, knowing that there are several larger DA applications currently being assessed, so this may correct later in the year. And these have been offset by building and plumbing fees that have been over budget of $162,000 a year today. Operating expenditure is $470,000 un-spent, with employee cost reporting as almost break-even, and that's due to the offset against the vacancy dividend that we adopted as part of the budget. And materials and services are $365,000 un-spent. Our Royal Council's year-to-date operating position at October is $2.4 million above budget, which will be utilised to fund the merchant expenditure and offset the forecast deficit that we adopted at Budget Review 1 in August. Capital revenue is again above budget due to the timing of the receipt of QRO disaster funding and the LRCI infrastructure program. Capital expenditures running behind, $26.4 million year to date, with $16.7 million relating to the disaster program and $9.8 million relating to council's general capital program. I'm probably going to choose running. Council is currently holding $114 million in cash reserves, with $30 million invested in higher yearly term deposits. At this stage of the financial year, council's financial performance remains on track and is subject to any emergency issues that may arise between now Brian Stockwell 32:55.340
Okay thank you, have we got any questions? Can I have some advice on this amazing fund that you've invested council cash in that's returned 2.1 million dollars in in four months with 78% of the annual expected return on interest. Why is Pauline 33:32.300
In that is nearly $15-20 million of a capital works program that hasn't been spent. We had originally forecasted interest rates to come down a lot quicker than they have and so they have remained high and we've also taken the opportunity through the cash balances to invest them and locked them in at about 5% which is actually retaining the value that it would retain. But as we progress through and we deliver those programs and the Curate program also and some other grant programs end, those cash balances will come down. And as interest rates also decline, which is what we expect with inflation declining, that will also reduce our return on our customers. Frank Wilkie 34:08.876
Thank you. And one question for Mr Larry, CEO. Larry, there's a bit of an underspend in staff training. Can you give detail? You're- The schedule for staff training that's ahead in the coming year? Larry Sengstock 34:25.672
Sorry, Mr Mayor, I don't have that in front of me, but certainly we've made a concerted effort this year and last year to increase our training efforts, if you like, for our staff. So we think that, if anything, it's really just a timing exercise there because we are very conscious of the fact that we need to make sure that our staff are fully trained and are able to partake in the training that they require for their roles and /or their progression. Yes, thank you. Other questions? Amelia Lorentson 34:58.304
Councillor Lorentson. In terms of Unitywater distributions, they're fixed every year. What are the pros and cons of maintaining a fixed dividend structure? Is this common practice for other councils and are our dividend payments aligned with Unitywater profits? Sorry, a lot of questions. Sorry, a lot of questions to unpack there, but something I've wanted to ask for some time. So in terms of, if you were looking at a commercial enterprise, dividends would fluctuate. This was locked in place due to the, of course, sitting out of the water assets. So I was seeing, in terms of the certainty in the dollar, that those larger, like, Unitywater, there was fixed returns put in place. It gives us stability in... stability in knowing what we will receive from Unitywater. And in terms of how does that compare to their actual profits, it is lower than what their actual profits are. And as a shareholder of that entity, we're obviously, at some point, potentially entitled to those dividends that we haven't received. But the agreement with Unitywater, I think, runs out in about 2033, roughly. So there'll be another discussion around that as well. Other questions? Brian Stockwell 36:16.100
You mentioned that there may be an adjustment in terms of DA fees. Is this the calculation that we need to do in terms of putting some of the earned revenue into unearned revenue until such a time as the assessment is occurring? Is that what we're talking about? SPEAKER_12 36:30.752
Correct, so historically we do an annual adjustment for unearned revenue based on the assessment of development applications. There has been some larger, there was certainly a large development application pending right between right at the end of financial year. we are looking to do more regular updates to outline some of that and work with the branch to do that. So we are expecting that given we know that there's some big ones coming through that there will be some rare news that unwinds throughout the year. Brian Stockwell 36:57.136
Thank you, would someone like to move to motion? I'll move it. Councillor Wegener? I'll second it. Would you like to talk to motion with Councillor Wegener? Tom Wegener 37:06.036
No, just thank you again for your nice clear concise, easy to read reports obviously. There's not many questions, but it's just right here in front of us in this attachment, so thank you very much. Brian Stockwell 37:18.288
Would anyone else like to talk to motion? You wish to close? I put the motion. Those in favour? That's unanimous. SPEAKER_00 37:29.188
Thank you. Brian Stockwell 37:29.748
All right thank you we now move on to the Noosa Shire Council annual report for the financial year 2023-24 and we welcome Diana, Manager of Governance. Would you like to give us an overview, please? Diana 37:45.044
So each year in accordance with section 182 of the Local Government Act, Council prepares an annual report for adoption and publication. After we received the Auditor General's report about financial statements for the financial year. So the purpose of the annual report is as we know to inform our community of Council's activities and financial performance throughout the last financial year. So this report is essentially designed to tell the story of Council and the community. To celebrate successes, identify performance progress and provide a summary of the year that was for the region and some of the key highlights you'll see in the report include things like discussing the construction of the new dedicated disaster management centre, to trialling a new customer service satellite help desk at Cooroy Library and endorsing a new waste plant following an extensive report from the community. And there is so much more but I just wanted to touch on a few elements there. As you also know, there is a minimum standard of statutory reporting that must be included within the report. Primarily relating to accountability, So we have addressed that standard by complying with the State Department's annual report compliance checklist, which they update every year for councils to consider. And this has also captured our compliance in the back end of the report, the appendices, where there's a section now that you can look at called legislative compliance that touches off on all that. However, to further increase transparency and improve our reporting, we always go above the regulatory reporting standard by including additional... information in our annual report that we think the community will be interested in knowing. So this year we focused on three key areas. We expanded the quick facts section of the report at the start to further highlight our economic, population, social, housing and health statistics. So we've got quite a large spread in the annual report on that section. We've also substantially increased our reporting on our people and culture. We've also substantially... So we've added additional information about our workforce, diversity stats and achievements that promote our SPARC culture values and what we've Finally, we've also focused on increasing our reporting on the various community engagement activities for the year and to showcase that community engagement occurs on many levels at our council. Each year we will continue to build on our story so that we achieve greater transparency and alignment to the Australasian reporting standards. So last year, on that note, the Governance Branch submitted the 22-23 annual report, that's on our website, to the Australasian Reporting Awards as an opportunity to benchmark council's content against our best practice. And our local government peers and industry standard. Just to basically see what can we do better and what can we add more material in. As a result, council achieved, for its efforts, a silver award. Which is a significant achievement from previous years of obtaining bronze awards. In particular, council was commended on improving its organisational content and providing a strong reportable disclosure section. That promotes a pro-disclosure culture and greater transparency for our community. And we're proud of that achievement. So finally, we would like to thank all staff, key stakeholders and teams that worked with us to deliver the content. As it was certainly a huge team effort across council. And we really appreciate the support we've received from the process. Thank you. Brian Stockwell 41:33.072
Do we have any questions? Any no questions? The Mayor is moving the recommendation and is seconded by Councillor Lorentson. You have the floor Mr Frank Wilkie 41:47.192
Mayor. Thank you Mr Chair. As mentioned the annual report report details Council's activities from July 1st, 2023 to 30, 2024. Serving our community is at the heart of everything that Council does. I'd like to commend all staff, particularly all staff and councillors for what this small but hard-working organisation has achieved despite the local impacts of many nationwide challenges including labour and housing shortages, material supply constraints and high construction costs. Our infrastructure services team delivered more than $39 million in capital works including more than $6 million of bridge upgrades, $5.3 million of rehabilitation and reseal works to local roads and building the new $1.95 million Olive Donaldson Pavilion at the Noosa District Sports Complex. Answering 45,000 phone calls, diverting nearly 45 The Noosa Spit dog beach sand nourishment project finished in June, two months ahead of schedule to protect this popular recreational area and Noosa Sound from storm swells. There dollars distributed in community, environment and economic grants to support local organisations and activities. Council also assessed 650 lodged development applications with 599 approved applications aligning with the Noosa Plan. Council secured 14.7 million in grant funding and a record 120 there was 1.5 Record $127 million in grant funding and a record $127 million in Queensland Reconstruction Authority disaster recovery funding, which has enabled repairs and reconstruction of an astonishing 31 landslides and 15 stormwater culverts and drains impacted by The operating surplus ratio of 5.31 shows we're operating efficiently and generating small surpluses which are reserved for future investments or to cover emergent costs. Council also achieved another unqualified Audit Opinion from the Queensland Audit Office following its review of its Draft Financial Statements, Internal Control Framework and Financial Sustainability Ratios. This is the strongest possible assurance that assurance that Council is providing reliable financial statements which comply with relevant laws and accounting standards and is operating in a financially responsible manner. Council maintains $1.4 billion in public assets and achieved another positive... financial result this year. The operating surplus of $7.4 million includes Council's... share of investment in Unity Waters' annual profit. The Pomona... placemaking pilot, the first of its kind for Noosa, was one of 10 major projects involving... community engagement with more than 800 local residents providing feedback. dedicated local disaster coordination centre at Noosaville to strengthen our disaster management response during emergency events, and the Noosa Waste Plan 2023-28 was endorsed, providing a blueprint for Council's waste diversion target of 61% by 2025. Council established... The majority of projects are on track... are completed or on on track, are completed or on track with a few deferred due to spacing out community engagement schedules, a large capital works program and staffing constraints. All are being monitored and will be followed up and finished. In a credit to the infrastructure team, Council achieved two silver, two industry sector awards this year and the Council as a whole achieved recognition with a silver award for its... disclosure culture. the State-funded Council designed Beckmans Road intersection upgrade was awarded the best project for the road safety and infrastructure category at the Queensland Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia Excellence Awards and Council's Noosa Biosphere Trail 5 upgrade project also took out the award for best project between one million and two million at the same excellence. same, Excellence Awards. This is a great opportunity for us all to reflect on another full year, productive year. Despite challenges, the organisation has performed well. I'd like to commend all the councillors for making sure that the staff have the budget they need to do these works and the support. And Mr. CEO, could you pass on our thanks to the staff who actually deliver this? Larry Sengstock 46:09.344
Absolutely. Brian Stockwell 46:14.100
Else that wishes to talk to the nightly? Nicola Wilson 46:19.300
Yes, so annual reports, from my experience, is mostly about the audited financial statements, as well as all the information that's required for compliance, governance, and required by legislation. And I'm pleased to have been involved in that part of the journey with the Audit and Risk Committee. But this annual report is a...story about our Shire and all the work that Council does for our residents. So I congratulate you on another excellent report. It's a really interesting and informative report and I really encourage our community to read it from cover to cover. Thank Brian Stockwell 46:54.000
I'll take a bit of a different tact. It showcases a great volume of really good What we don't get is a feeling of what was the impact of that on our community and whether it's in the annual report or another specific report we as an organisation should be using each my view is this annual report each year should be how we're tracking about achieving the goals of the corporate plan what is the impact of all activities we're doing now if the activity isn't a service delivery just delivering the service is all that's needed but if it's a project that's designed to have an outcome it'd be good to know if it did so we've heard about trail five building trail five an award-winning trail would mean absolutely nothing unless it actually achieved the aim of getting more people out actually achieved the aim of getting more people out riding, walking, going on their bikes and we've got we've got so we actually know through other processes that the impact of that project is a lot more people are using it. It's really important when we look at evaluating the work of this council as councillors that we not only invest in doing the projects but we ensure that organisation has as part of its global operations a monitoring evaluation culture to say what was the impact we made. So to me by this time next year I'd really like a whole section on how do we go about achieving the key targets that are in our strategy and in our corporate plan and I thought just to plan and I thought just to highlight some of the things if you could put up that graphic this is what the community told us that was they thought we should focus on when over a thousand of them answered a survey relating to the existing corporate plan you see the focus area at the top there traffic management and transport and we see in this report that report that several of the actions relating to that high priority are the ones that are in major disruption, so Noosa parking management plan, Noosa woods jetty investigation, investigating revenue system for visitors to contribute to our transport system, scope to review, scope of the review of the transport policy. Now there is a real reason and Councillor Wilkie identified He said there's labour shortages. In that particular case, we had great difficulty in filling a vacant position. And in a small council, sometimes just one spare position can have great ripple effects. And so we need to understand are we heading to where the community want us to go? If not, why not? And is there something we need to do about it? need to do about it. I'll look at the bottom one there in terms of the natural environment. I'll look at the bottom one there. And if we look in the future section, we find that things like in major disruption is the Noosa River and Catchment Management Plan. It's about updating the Noosa Plan itself to incorporate the strategy. And if we look at the next one up, we see that focus on environmental... environmental sustainability, which is all what the, you know, big part of why we're doing Destination Management Plan. And that's another strategy that's in major disruption. So as councillors, we're really responsible for the strategic direction of the Shire and then checking that it's on the right way. Now this term of council, we only had three months in this financial year. we should be looking at this year trying to address those areas. And there is another outstanding major disruption item in there and it's about developing a performance management framework. would and that's where we need to invest in to make sure that by this time next year we have an organisation that is more looking at its impact rather than just doing the job and moving on. We have to get to that monitoring evaluation culture so that then evaluation culture so that then we can then work out what needs to change, where we need to innovate to achieve those impacts that that graph tells us is important to our community. Amelia Lorentson 51:03.656
Sorry, question maybe to the CEO. Just follow up on what Councillor Stockwell has said. In terms of gauging community sentiment and evaluating service delivery, I note our last community satisfaction survey was conducted in 2021. Do we have plans to employ or undertake another community satisfaction satisfaction survey the operational plan I think identifies a review of how we engage with community can I just hear from CEO date when are we going date. When are we going out to the community? I don't have an exact date for you, but we do have a plan to do it in the new year, 2025 actually. In 2025. Thank you very much. Karen Finzel 51:53.840
Thank you. Just a question to the CEO somewhere in the report, I don't know where. I thought I did read that there was another... new initiatives coming up and one of them was key performance measuring through the development of the corporate performance reporting system through the adaptability plan. So just in response to that, I think we're heading towards that around KPIs. heading towards that around KPIs. Can you just clarify that? Larry Sengstock 52:24.628
Absolutely. So this is the next item on the agenda as well in terms of operational planning and reporting. So we've got corporate reporting we can do in our projects, our programs. We also do it, we're actually delivering it more in our staffing as well. So there's reporting or performance measures being implemented within our staff, which is a journey that we're on. So there's reporting there. And it's also currently we do our reporting manually to a large degree. So the idea is to bring it. to bring it far more into the digital world in terms of being able to report on a much more regular basis and a simpler basis because it's more automated. So at the moment it's quite manual and inhibiting. Tom Wegener 53:18.920
I'm absolutely intrigued by your speech, Councillor Stockwell, and I'm enthusiastic and I'm very thankful that you went through the time to bring that up, but I think sometimes as a councillor you wonder what your job actually is, and I think you actually nailed actually is, and I think you actually nailed what our job is, and that is to make sure that we are on track. So it's a reflection of us as well, and that I think as time goes on, I would like us to... us to consider what you mentioned as a part of the annual report and how we are tracking on the most important things moving forward. So yeah, terrific. Thank you for that. the fantastic annual report. And thank you for... Again, it's so clear, it's so easy to read, and it actually makes debates like this, you know, very easy. Yeah. Thank you. Amelia Lorentson 54:13.782
I'll speak just briefly the report. Thank you, Diana. When I reflected on this year's report, and I think I've said this now five years in a row, that I am blown away at how small a council we are, but how mighty and... That's just a pun from the weekend's fight. Anyway, that aside, despite our size, we do take on big challenges and we do deliver outcomes for our community and I think this report is a testament to As a council we strive for continuous improvement and we must continue to do so as councillors and as a council. We must get better at communicating with our residents. We've got to get better at spending money and providing value for money. We need to be better we we need to be better pushed to be better at delivering services at keeping our promises and we must stay open to feedback. We need to learn from our experience and we need to also adapt to our community's evolving needs. The report did mention the performance management framework and the new corporate performance reporting system. And they're exciting steps forward and I think addresses Council Stockwell's concern that's caught in the, that's captured in the annual plan. These tools won't only help us to monitor our performance against criteria that Council Stockwell raised, they'll also enable us identify areas for improvement. However, their success will depend on how well we use them to drive real change and improve decision making across the organisation. We also want to highlight the capability plan and that's another exciting tool that's outlined in the corporate plan 2023 and 2028. That's equally as important as That's equally as important as the new corporate performance reporting system and the performance management framework. This is the plan that's going to help us evaluate our capacity across systems, finances, workforce, and address any talent gaps, and that's the piece that I'm most excited about. An organisation is only as strong as its people, so investing in their skills, their well-being, and satisfaction is an investment in the future of Noosa. finally I'm going to thank not only our staff and to the people around this desk, I'm going to thank the people that came before us. Last week some of us attended the Landcare AGM and I'm going AGM and I'm I'm going to just steal Phil Moran's quote that we stand we truly stand on the shoulders of giants and that we must always remember we we were to understand where we're going and that Noosa didn't just happen it happened because of 50 years of environmental community activism so as a council we should never lose sight of again the people in this room in this organisation but the people that came before us that made Noosa happen so thank you Diana and the staff you know our work is never done and we just continue to push to environmental Brian Stockwell 57:57.800
Anyone else wish to speak? Thank you everyone for your comments, excellent. The annual report is a very useful document because it does, it is a warts and all look at what council is facing and achieved over the course of the year. The projects that have been The projects that have been disrupted or deferred are clearly highlighted. It would be a concern if they weren't. The points that Councillor Stockwell raised are very valid and if the shortcomings weren't in the plan then that would be that would be a concern, but it's quite transparent that wood paragraphs have been deferred and the reasons why they've been deferred, staffing has been a big, as Councillor Stockwell said, the acquisition of one staff member or the delays in acquiring one pivotal staff member delay a lot of projects as they have in the field of transport. I'm also very proud of this organisation that demonstrates how it's able to adapt very readily and willingly to community feedback as we have done during the next phase of the draft Noosaville foreshore infrastructure master plan. That's that principle in Right there. Thank you everyone and thanks again Guy for your your work and putting this annual report together. So we then move on to the next item of the vote. Oh you want to vote on it too? See I talk about invaders. I'll put two of the votes. All those in favour? That's unanimous. Apologies. So the next item is the operational plan 2024-25 and the first quarter report. And we welcome Deborah Isie to the table. Welcome back after your long sojourn. Deborah Isie 01:00:03.720
Yeah it was a really enjoyable holiday so thank you for that. this is our first quarter report on the operational plan so there are a hundred and seven initiatives in the operational plan of those four or four percent are complete 75 or 70 percent on track those experiencing a minor disruption there were 24 or 22 percent and major four percent so in this first quarter report you would normally not see probably the number of initiatives that are experiencing minor and major disruptions but there are a number of initiatives that weren't completed last year which we have carried over and it was already mentioned in the previous discussion so we've really reflected on the current status of these and the E &T has reviewed them to ensure that they provide you with a clear position about their status but also the workloads and the organisation's capacity to be able to You will see that while the report focuses mainly on exception which is the minor and major disruptions, those initiatives experiencing minor and major disruptions, there's also a complete list of all initiatives in attachment to with commentary about their statuses which you can view. so I'll also just make a quick reference to the KPI data given it was raised just just before so we have started using and testing the new corporate reporting system and so you'll see some of the graphs that have come out a little bit different so they are actually coming out of the system but there's still more work to do there these are the measures that we've continued we've reported on over the last few years and we are continuing to report on them but there's still work in progress we still need to refine our operational measures and just going back to the conversation to the conversation on the previous item, we had service profiles and they outlined all of the activities and services that are delivered for the various services across Council, and managers have reviewed and identified performance measures for those services, very much focused around operational efficiency and effectiveness. The stage one review has been done. We will be doing a further review of those in line for the next So we can really fine tune those. So we've done some work on the service at the service level. We at the end of June report on the progress of achieving our corporate plan and a quarter four operation. We did provide data on the corporate plan KPIs and where they're at, but again, there's still more work in refining those. So there is some gaps there and we're continuing to progress to develop those. Like some of the other initiatives, it's been affected by having available resources and competing priorities, but it is work in progress. It's a very big exercise, just getting the system. exercise, just getting the system to design to the way that we want to report is a big exercise as well, so it is in progress and in those initiatives that talk about the system and talk about the development of our KPIs, KPIs have actually identified that we have got delays, disruptions in that and resourcing has been an issue, but we'll continue to address that as we go forward, so just wanted to give you a bit forward so just wanted to give you a bit of to highlight where we're currently at with that. I'm happy to take any questions that you have and also when you look at the KPI data if you have any questions I have some information information available, but again, we can refer the matter to our relevant director if needed. Brian Stockwell 01:03:52.046
Thank you. Do we have questions? Frank Wilkie 01:03:55.586
Deb, the Eastern Beaches foreshore master plan, it's been... There's mine, the disruption. It said resources have been diverted. Can you refresh my memory on what they've been diverted to? Deborah Isie 01:04:07.036
Oh, I would have to refer to Frank Wilkie 01:04:08.716
The... Maybe it's a question I'll notice. Deborah Isie 01:04:10.056
Yeah, unless Frank Wilkie 01:04:11.416
Larry... Larry Sengstock 01:04:12.216
We have Kim online as well, so maybe Kim can answer. Yeah. Kim Rawlings 01:04:17.616
Yeah, good afternoon, councillors. I'm happy to answer that. we had a bit of change over in staff in that area, so we've had to double priorities. We've recently just recruited back to the role that is responsible for that program. So it's been a bit of juggling of certain resources and priorities because we had staff members that we lost, and recruitment Frank Wilkie 01:04:48.730
And... And is this project dependent on a coastal foreshore management officer being appointed? Kim, if I remember rightly through the budget process, that was something, a resource we needed to acquire? Kim Rawlings 01:05:10.803
That is one aspect. There's various initiatives that the Portial Management Plan covers. It covers coastal management, our natural areas, our encroachments, so there's a raft of actions. One aspect, yes. Our coastal management engineer would have some role in, but there are other actions in the plan that other areas of the organisation are responsible for and are prioritised amongst a raft of other initiatives. Okay. Thank you. Brian Stockwell 01:05:52.640
Councillor Lorentson. Amelia Lorentson 01:05:54.340
Question to maybe the CEO, Larry. Other priorities set out in the operational plan realistically achieve Question to maybe the CEO, Larry. Other priorities set out in the operational plan realistically achieve able within the current budget, workforce capacity, and market conditions, and should council consider a midterm review to reassess and possibly scale back some of these projects to ensure quality. Larry Sengstock 01:06:22.053
So the answer to that, I guess, is that what we're doing here with this report, this is quarter one, remember, so we're not expecting everything to or absolutely on track because we do have issues. But that said, the intention of this report is to inform you of where we're at and not sugarcoat. Because things, it is difficult out there. We have staff issues, people moving on and replacing takes time. We have a whole range of things. So what we're doing here is making you aware at quarter one so that we do have that opportunity to look at it as a group, as a ET, but also as a council to look at that. some assessments against it. I absolutely agree. I think that's something that this report is a reflection of that, or is a first step in that road. Amelia Lorentson 01:07:19.219
What's the expression and motto that I like using? Under-promise, over-deliver. Larry Sengstock 01:07:25.839
Absolutely. And a big part of what we've said in this budget as well, coming into it, is as well is that coming into it is that you know we want to we want to reach the things that we've that we've started we've got on our books and not continue to take on more because it just just becomes a wave that we that we can't get past so that's a big piece of this and this this will be this is why we're reporting it this way there was some in there you could you could again in quarter one you could say they're on track because we've still got three quarters of a year to on track because we've still got three quarters of a year to do, but what we've tried to do here is say that they have had some disruption and we need to make everybody aware of that so that we can deal with it. It's important, rather than having a sand, let's make sure that it's there and we understand we deal with it. It's not to say we can't and we won't, but it's, you know, there's no panic buttons yet, but what it is, is being realistic. Just as an example, follow up to that, didn't we plan to have the river plan, the DMP, foreshore management plan, all wrapped up this year, calendar year, and a lot of them have been pushed out. We're hearing back from the community they didn't want the overlap, so we've spaced it out accordingly to take the time to do it right. Doesn't mean it's not going to happen, they've just been delayed for very good reasons. That's right. So that's it. That's exactly, exactly the point. We just need That's exactly, exactly the point. We just need to be realistic in what we can achieve and what the community can actually cater with in terms of what we're putting out there. So I'm very comfortable with being open and honest about where we're As you said, as you saw in the last report with our annual report, we do bat well above our average and we deliver, but there are some stormy times going through this and we just need to be frank and honest about where we're at. Karen Finzel 01:09:19.920
Yes, thank you. Just off the back of that, thank you for that, Mr Sengstock. Thank you for the report. It was really comprehensive and it was a really good read to get that clarity as a timeline to show us where we're And a reminder too that we did put together a very ambitious corporate plan and that was great visionary and leadership around the table at that time that fully appreciate the commitment of the organisation, the capability to deliver that. in terms of one of the major disruptions terms of one of the major disruptions was to the... preparing the phase for the proposed new community strategy under item 2.61. So I guess that cuts through. I guess that's the question about the CEO then. How are we going to prioritise that that is a major disruption? You know, I'm passionate about getting that funding for the budget to get this up on the table given the strong social things that we're dealing with at was to the... Things that we're dealing with at the moment, not just in Noosa Shire but you know across the State and globally given what's happening. Can you just forecast a little bit how we're going to be prioritising? Larry Sengstock 01:10:34.139
Yeah sure, so I think if we look at the situation that evolved over the last budget deliberations was that it was one that we had on our list to achieve this year but when things got tighter and tighter it's one that we as the UT and the staff. suggested that we can we have a whole lot of pieces of that puzzle that we deliver anyway we do because people have it in their own work plans the idea was to continue with that and then where we could we would we would start to fashion it into a into a strategy and then we would come back either at BR2 or the next financial year and We felt comfortable or confident that we were still able to deliver because we have people in our organisation who are not allowed to be written, they're delivering against it anyway. So it's something that definitely needs to come back to you to be Yeah, thank you. SPEAKER_02 01:11:47.850
Could I just add something too? There is an initiative including the operational plan which is a check-in on the corporate plan for councillors, so that provides an opportunity to revisit where you're at and where we're at in delivery, so that is an initiative in the operation. Yes, just a matter of when we... Yeah, just timing is the question on that, but it is incredible. That's a capability claim? That's a capability claim. No, no, that's a check-in. Larry Sengstock 01:12:15.167
It's just a check-in on the corporate plan, so we review that corporate plan mid-term. Brian Stockwell 01:12:23.587
Oh, I'll speak. Sorry, you want to move on? Amelia Lorentson 01:12:27.727
I just had another question. Just follow up Noosa, Woods, pontoon, major disruption. disruption: the report states that a consultant has been commissioned to progress investigations and my understanding we've already engaged a consultant to investigate the Noosa Woods pontoon so just just some clarity around that. The report... Larry Sengstock 01:12:55.408
I believe we've commissioned, but they haven't started believe we've commissioned, but they haven't started the work yet is my understanding, but I'd have to check that with the director. Great Amelia Lorentson 01:13:04.257
And I have a notified notion that council has fully supported with a report coming back addressing the addressing the six recommendations from the Noosa Boating Recreational Facility Study. Sorry, that's a separate... That is a separate, but it did identify the jetty, so will that information be fed into that report? That's what I'm thinking. We can cover them all. We can cover them up. Excellent, thank you very much. Brian Stockwell 01:13:31.206
I'm happy to move it. Okay, I'll speak to this, I'll just engage people. Oh, it's been critical last time, I'm not. I actually think that these quarterly reports, it's really valuable to do the output reporting. It's really valuable to work out where you're tracking progress against. you can go through this pretty quickly and say, well, is this a staffing vacancy issue? And, as others Is it a budgeting issue? Is it purely we've got too much on or is it that we've reprioritised? I think it would be unreasonable to look at getting outcomes or indicators into this report because really they occur over a longer period. So I just think every annual report we should be making a bit of a song and dance. example, it mentioned that we're now up to 42% of area under nature conservation in the form of 10 year old protection. For example, it mentioned that we're now... We haven't highlighted that one of the last acts of the last state government was actually to, not Gazette, but to pass in Parliament, the fact that the Ringtail Ural and the North Shore Airfield are now national parks. Now they're very long-term projects and that is a major achievement for significant biodiversity in those areas. They're the things I think we should put on record and this year we've made that big step and that's an outcome. An outcome of protection of you know I think there's 453 different species over in the airfield. So I just like to clarify that I think one job is to you know they're very Focus on how did we make an impact? The other is on a more regular basis are we on track? And I think this report does a good job of saying we're on track and we were not Anyone else like to speak? Karen Finzel 01:15:23.199
Yeah I'd just like to add I think it's I think it's a really good you know like taking a temperature and assess where we are. I think what is exciting you know and the report that you've brought to us really gives us opportunity to pause and celebrate what we've done and we have discussed a lot over this period that we are you know working towards telling our story and putting forward the hero you know narrative that we're so sometimes wrong. sometimes reluctant or we miss it because we're really busy with heads down and getting the job done and we don't pause long enough to celebrate the achievement so I think this report has been really good even as I read it to take that moment and actually look at what we've done and it's quite an achievement and you know the awards that have been mentioned today and a big thank you to the staff and it really is a collaborative approach around our leadership which Collaborative approach around our leadership which is what we wanted to capture in our corporate plan. So I think what we're seeing, I know it's been ambitious and it's a massive task, but I think you know collectively and bringing the community along with us on the journey I am excited that we're putting those guideposts in and we're slowly moving towards the direction of our dreams for this Shire and deliver in our term a sustainable future with a focus on our environment. Our people and our economy to carry us forward to a vision that, you know, we can all be proud of. So thank you to everybody involved. Amelia Lorentson 01:16:57.157
Just to reiterate what I mentioned in terms of the risk of over-commitment, you know, the ambition of the corporate plan and the ambition of the operational plan is truly commendable. is truly commendable and you know we're excited and we're leaders and we want to do what's best for the community all the time and we are a group of doers but I think we need to acknowledge and sometimes stop and pause and understand the challenges of actually setting such high expectations. In particular on our workforce we need to make sure our staffs physical and mental well-being is managed as we navigate these pressures because what's at risk is their well-being and also trust in community so I hope we do recalibrate and some sometime soon and focus on what's the most important objectives or priorities in these plans and get So Larry Sengstock 01:18:09.615
So just to answer that to Councillor is that we have recently as an executive used this plan to go through it and actually look at with the question of you know what physically can we do what what it's nice to do what's you know going to be very difficult so we've started that process so we'll bring that back to the table. Amelia Lorentson 01:18:33.530
Excellent and the staff need to know that too because they're the ones that are carrying the burden of our expectations. It keeps growing. It does. Thank you. And if I may, further to that, you've got the wellbeing survey that's just been conducted of our staff. So, and Larry did a presentation this morning on the findings of that which is really focusing on where people are at and what... Karen Finzel 01:19:09.749
To say to make sure everyone is fine we haven't had the feedback on the survey yet so is there any concerns raised about psychosocial hazards in the workplace based on workload, capabilities and ambition? Larry Sengstock 01:19:26.798
Survey that we're now presenting back to the back to the staff so I'd rather withhold that for now to present that and I'll bring that to you as a council as well in another session if that's okay but yes I think in general you know we're in a we've things we want to work on but we've also got some really good things to champion so I think we're in a reasonably good spot. So we're heading forward in a balanced approach? Absolutely. Thank you. Frank Wilkie 01:19:53.565
Thank you for the the operational report Deb. I like the way you've gone straight to the the areas where projects are experiencing either minor disruption, which is there's the change, minor change to scope of project, cost overrun of less than 10% and minor delays of less than 30 days. There are over 170 projects, 24 are in that category, so that's that's minor disruption. Major disruption, there's only four. Delays of greater than 30 days and significant change. significant change in scope. So I like the way you've gone straight to that, but looking at it in a sum total of 107 projects, you've got close to 80 projects that are either complete or on track. and over a hundred if and over a hundred if you include those that are experiencing, on track but experiencing delays of less than 30 days. So you're still tracking well. So I commend the organisation for that. And I'd like to commend councillors because when we term, which was in the last three months of the last financial year, we were presented with a framework, a budget framework, where we were told that there are already a lot And the philosophy was "finish what we've started". of jobs on, a lot of projects have yet to So again, the budget process is going to be starting towards the end of this year, for the next financial year. Our commitment to not overloading this organisation and finishing what we've started is going to be tested again. Now, I'm also aware that the organisation has to be agile, and we're adding to the workload through notified motions, which is about emergent issues, so we have to balance that. That's perfectly legitimate, but we have to balance our current workload with that avenue of dealing with emergent works as well, emergent issues as well. So it is incumbent on us to be mindful of the projects we include in the budget and how we handle notified motions. I think there's been a record number this term and that's legitimate. There are issues that are coming at us quite quickly that we haven't experienced before, so it will be incumbent on councillors to be mindful. To live up to our commitment to not overload the organisation and finish what we started and we'll be tested in the upcoming budget process about that, but thank you for the report, Deb. I like the way that it doesn't sugarcoat it. It goes straight to the areas where there are delays and you've done a good job in providing detail about the reasons for the delays. Brian Stockwell 01:22:41.160
I moved it, but I don't need to close. I'll put the motion. All those in favour? That's unanimous. That's great. Larry Sengstock 01:22:49.420
Thank you, Ted. Brian Stockwell 01:22:53.100
We move on then to the next item, which is LGAQ Conference 2024 Noosa Council's Motions Carried. I take it that's... Larry Sengstock 01:23:03.159
Yes, that's for me. Yes. That's for me. So So this is just a report, but a report for noting, so just to bring everybody up to speed on, and for our community to understand the work that we do with the LGAQ. We, at the ordinary meeting on the 18th of July, we approved seven motions to be put to the LGAQ, which are: motions that then go to the, for those watching, that go to the 77 councils of Queensland to get voted on, essentially, and to get approved to then for LGAQ to take as a path forward to take them to the relevant authorities to progress. We put seven motions together, the council has put seven motions. In the end, six of those, one dropped off because it was combined with others and so we took six final motions and then at the last minute, last hour, Councillor Lorentson put forward a seventh motion which, under my delegated authority, approved and then it went through to to through the LGAQ conference and I'm pleased to say that all seven of our motions got approved so I think that's something that we should be very proud We're proud of and championing and it just shows that what we're putting forward is relevant to councils across Queensland and got accepted and promoted that way so they will now go forward under LGAQ's. So I just think those motions, I won't go through them, they're in the report, but I just think it's something that we needed to bring back to say that it's a job well done I think and we should be proud of it. Happy to move it Mr Chair. SPEAKER_12 01:24:52.903
Second with Brian Stockwell 01:24:53.783
Councillor Finzel. Frank Wilkie 01:24:55.843
Look this just plays into other discussions we've had around the table today about this being a very ambitious and hard-working council with councillors that want to get stuff done and make a significant change for the better for their communities and in this for the broader Queensland community there were seven motions I think that's a record for this council and if I don't recall any other council in Queensland having so many motions at any any LGA conference that I can recall so it does has set a new new benchmark and I commend all councillors for those that put in the motions I commend all councillors for supporting every motion and which we we happily took to the the conference and they're all passed which Amelia Lorentson 01:25:50.180
The only thing I want to add is that when we go to the conference, and I encourage all the councillors to attend, it's an excellent learning experience of sharing ideas, lessons learned, but it's not just advocacy for matters that are important to Noosa Council, we also help to Council. We also help to advocate issues that are significant to these smaller regional places and they need our voting power to help them get their matters represented to the relevant state and federal and budget considerations. Questions Questions always get thrown at me with LGAQ conferences like you know is it impactful, does it matter, do your motions ever get you know raised and followed up and the answer is yes. I think I've contributed almost all my five years and most of my motions that I've put forward are in relation to wastewater recycling, wastewater diversion targets. addressing emerging contaminants like PFAS etc. Yes, the answer is absolutely yes on a state and federal level. I work and communicate communicate with Josephine Rafferty who looks at the Water Alliance and represents state on the Water Alliance. Yes, that's how they get Yes, that's how they get budgets and that's how we get budgets for initiatives that are important to us. Also in 2021, and I was at the LGAQ conference at the time, it was the LGAQ that raised the alarm about the housing crisis and it was the LGAQ advocacy on that that actually sparked the housing summit that was led at the time by the then Premier Anastasia. So yes, our advocacy does work and the best platform or the best way to leverage what we want is through the LGAQ. You've got 77 councils all speaking with one voice through LGAQ. one voice, through LGAQ. And I totally recommend it. And it's one of our roles to advocate on behalf of our community on matters that sit outside Council's remit. Thank you. Anyone else? Frank Wilkie 01:28:18.104
Further to that, the success of the motions can be attributed also to their relevance to all Councils across Greenland. Not just those in the metropolitan areas, but those in the regional areas. This year, there were 109 motions passed, of which seven were ours, and then the LGAQ will then go through those and advocate to the relevant ministers in the new government with a view to them advocating for policy change at the State level or federal level, whatever it may be. And hopefully we'll see something, these positive changes, come out of it. Very good. Brian Stockwell 01:28:59.624
I'll put the motion. Those in favour? That is unanimous. There is nothing we need to do within confidential sessions. Related Noosa Council Meetings
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