General Committee, 13 October 2025
Date: Monday, 13 October 2025 at 12:30PM
Location: Noosa Shire Council Chambers, 9 Pelican Street, Tewantin, QLD 4565, Australia
Organiser: Noosa Shire Council
Duration: 01:54:18
Synopsis: Financial Reporting reforms, ASR clarity, Arrears tracking, CEO Review/achievements, Cooroy Bowls deferral, Hours/amenity conditions, Major contract uplift, Slope stability design, Cyber/workforce culture.
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 Acting Director Corporate Services Margaret Gatt Director Development & Regulation Richard MacGillivray Director Infrastructure Services Shaun Walsh Director Community Services Kerri Contini Meeting Transcript
Brian Stockwell 00:00.100
In the committee meeting, we're having our meeting as usual on Kabi Kabi country and we acknowledge that they've been the Traditional Custodians of this place all night out and like them, as the office is trying to get the country to look after the people who are living on it both into the future and we acknowledge the role that their elders have played over that time to have a culture of respect. So, we have all councillors in attendance. At inns, now at inns, no apologies. So, we move on to the confirmation of the Minutes. Moving, I'm moving, Mr Chair. We have it moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favour? That is unanimous. Are no presentations, no deputations. There's no item to be referred to the committee. So, that moves us straight to section 8. The first item is the CEO's report on the Year in Review. Larry Sengstock 00:59.115
Very quick. Okay. Thank chairman. You, Mr chairman. I bring this report to Council probably a little bit different to many councils in that I do present this year in review. It is a preview of our year in review that will come out in our annual report later this year. Or next year, so it's really just to highlight the fact that we have had a successful year and I might just read some of the executive summary the if that's okay. So the year in review reflects Council's progress and performance over the past year, '24 / '25, in line with the agreed objectives out in the Council's Corporate Plan '23 / '28. So I'll make that point that we did have quarter four operational plan review or summary, which is very similar to this except this one relates to our Corporate Plan. So operational plan relates to our objectives of our Corporate Plan. So it's really just measuring how we're going against our Corporate Plan over this past 12 months. This review outlines our achievements, challenges and impacts of our initiatives on the Noosa community, guided by communities, by our commitment to transparency. Accountability and continuous improvement. This report is presented to Council prior to it being included in the annual report, as I said, that will be ratified and published at a later date. It differs from the quarter four in that it reflects where we're standing with our five year Corporate Plan and the 23 to 28 Corporate Plan objectives. So it also needs to be understood that a number of the actions in the annual report are multi-year. So you'll see that they're not completed, but because they actually traverse over the either one, two or three or even five years, some of our objectives may start and not be completed until that period is finished. It report, it did. Details a broad scope of actions and achievements undertaken by Council staff who are to be congratulated, and I think this is a key part of this, is we need to congratulate our staff for the outstanding service provided to the community of Noosa and to really make people aware of the breadth and extent of the services and actions that we take as a Council. Many people, most people don't know until they actually see what a Council physically does other than nose, rubbish and race, what we do and what we deliver for our community, and it's really important that we continue to bring that to the table and show people the breadth of work that is actually happening and the services that we're providing to the community in order for them to have the life that they have. This year has not been without its challenges as the organisation navigated the negotiation of a new three-year certified agreement that saw unprecedented protected industrial action taking place affecting the normal delivery of services for an extended period. That said, it was a disruption for us, but that said, the staff have worked really hard to ensure the activities and services have returned to the agreed service levels since that period, and they're to be commended on that. The organisation has maintained strong financial sustainability ratios and is one of only 20 out of 77 local government authorities to deliver a surplus budget, which again we are very proud of attraction and retention of staff in certain areas of Council have continued to be a challenge however the new certified agreement and a number of other initiatives have shown a positive outlook for the future and I'll be reporting on that in future times. Again, it's been a great pleasure again, it's been a very successful year for Noosa Shire Council and again I'm using this report to commend the work of our staff in terms of what they've been able to deliver over the course of 12 months in a very broad and challenging environment. Some of the things terms performance summary operational plan we talked about in previous ones but it's an ambitious operational plan but 71% of the initiatives, so 76 out of 107 are either completed or on track. 23% or 25 initiatives experience minor disruptions and 6 initiatives face major faced major disruptions primarily due to resource and constraints, competing priorities, and external factors. Some of the key achievements that I just want to bring to your attention, they're in the report, are the Noosa Foreshore Infrastructure Management Plan, sustainable which is a 20-year strategy upgrades and climate resilience, was achieved this year. Pomona Place Plan, a Roadmap to ensure Pomona remains a unique, vibrant and liveable town, reflecting the collective vision and aspirations of the Pomona community. The Noosa Aquatic Centre Upgrade Plan, which is a long-term plan to guide us into the future. Waste and resource recovery. Progress on our green waste, composting, solar farm feasibility and transfer stations. This is a real opportunity for us and something we're working very, very hard on in terms of our waste and resource recovery. Our disaster recovery. So we've managed to complete all of the works for the '22 disaster which is well over $100 million worth of works that we've been able to rectify and to work very, very closely with the community. We're very, very proud of that, particularly the Black Mountain landslide. The Yurol-Ringtail state forest transition was secured and finalised. The Floating Land 2025 was a great success again. Surfing heritage, the comprehensive documentation of Noosa's surfing story which is very much Noosa is preserving its cultural identity the stage three of the Regional Art Gallery Feasibility Project has been completed and has been presented back to Council a Housing Monitoring Program can coordinate an approach to collecting and analysing housing data to inform evidence-based planning and policy development and then policies, the Public Art Policy, the Community Grants Policy, Compliance and Enforcement Policy and the policy have all come to Council and been endorsed and adopted this year and engagement with the Traditional Custodians of Kabi Kabi Commitment and 41 formal engagements. Kabi Kabi Peoples Aboriginal Corporation and Land and Sea Rangers. And then finally customer care. The Community Satisfaction Survey has been completed and identifying opportunities for service improvement and that's an ongoing piece of work currently. Covering all the type but of the survey has been completed. So there are a number of things in this report that I'm not going to go through in detail now but again this is a report that reflects the operational plan, the works that have happened over the 24/25 period in line with our Corporate Plan because the Corporate Plan is our umbrella. Guides us and provides the parameters in which we work and the delivery against that plan I think is very comprehensive and as you see in my recommendation at the end or the resolution is that we commend the staff for their incredibly hard work and what they've managed to achieve over this 12 month period and I put it to you Councillors. That's my report. We have any questions of the city? Tom Wegener 08:20.212
Did the staff receive an award for the Black Mountain landslide rehabilitation? Larry Sengstock 08:27.524
We did. That didn't happen in this 24/25. We certainly did the work in that, but we've just been successful with IPWEA for an award for the work that was carried out and the management of that work and the fact that we were able to deliver in a serviceable time, obviously it's a very big project that took time and we couldn't whatever time it took, but we were able to actually get that and do it within budget and within the talk time. So I think that's a major achievement to us and something that QRA, that brings that reconstruction authority, very thankful of as well. Now we work very closely with them and I think it's a gain the of credit to consultants the staff. That we use in that work. Brian Stockwell 09:13.316
You use the acronym if we are institute professionals, somethings engineers or? Public works engineers that's it. As public works engineers. As it is. Any other questions? Amelia Lorentson 09:26.704
The report repeatedly references resourcing constraints and staff vacancies. What are the main causes of these shortages? Are they recruitment challenges, retention issues causes or staff burnout and which are areas of Council are most affected? Larry Sengstock 09:47.535
We talked about this during the year, Councillor, in terms of some of our challenges and we haven't shied away from that. Yes, we've got challenges particularly in our infrastructure and delivery because there is so much work going on here. East Queensland, to get people and to hold people now is an issue. We've also had quite a bit of turnover within our operational teams which is fairly normal, there's always to going be some level of turnover, but certainly it's something that I think with the new certified agreement is going to help that as well because we are now very attractive and very competitive with our neighbours. Allies, but again there's still this massive works program that's going on in South East Queensland that's just going to make it difficult for us to keep some people because the opportunities are there and again I think as I said before we often attract really good staff, train them up and then people identify them as good well-trained staff and get tapped on the shoulder and people move on, people move to higher opportunities and that's something that in some respects we should be very proud of, because we're actually bringing people and training them and giving them opportunities in their life. We've certainly also had issues within our finance team with our gaps and detracting people but again that's something if you talk to all Councillors they're all struggling in these same areas to attract and retain people in those areas but it is an issue for us and something that again we're working very hard on trying to make sure that we are an attractive organisation. In the past it has been that Noosa has been able to scan on its own feet and say you know come to us well we can come and work and live in Noosa but we all know that living in Noosa is not as easy as it once was if it's an expensive place to live and again we've got other programs to try to help that to make affordable housing. More viable to staff because not everyone has the ability to live in Noosa given the cost of living here. Thank you. Jessica Phillips 12:08.581
Just a quick question, Ari. Thanks for the report. When you sit here and get to see the volume of work that comes through Council it's very very commendable. I often, and even this morning spoke to someone that we were laughing because we said you know before I got elected we really didn't know what was going on in Council so my question is around more to do with that proactive approach to taking community on a journey so we can attempt at bringing back an alignment the volume of work is commendable without a doubt but I just wanted to know there's been any conversation when you you're looking at what's been achieved if there's a way that we can communicate more effectively more simply rather than lengthy documents what's comms doing around sort of more of a proactive approach celebrate these things and take people with us. Larry Sengstock 13:09.999
The whole range of things I think you can see the whole range of things that we are doing in a whole range of vehicles methodology that we can use social media in the different forms, whether it's LinkedIn whether it's Facebook whether it's any of the other ones I'm trying to think of Instagram is one I'm trying to think of is a good one in terms of being able to tell the story Instagram I find so we are using those but again it's often the stories when we put out and we do it quite a bit of it we put out stories about just almost the mundane things that people are doing we're keeping the gardens clear and we're doing the road reserves and making sure that the roads are well done. Those sorts of stories often get better click through and better identification than some of our larger projects so we try to match it and balance it. I think it's an ongoing thing and I agree I think the more we can bring the people on the journey back or give them an opportunity to see what we actually physically do is something that we've got to something that we've got to continue to get better at so that's it a journey for us thank you. Frank Wilkie 14:24.619
Thank you for the report Mr. Mayor. You mentioned in terms of attracting and retaining staff. Conditions around the certified agreement go a long way to addressing making Noosa a more attractive place to work you also mentioned other initiatives and some of those are linked to what you heard directly coming out of the well-being at work survey and you're reflecting back to the staff some of the requests that they heard. Can you talk about some of those initiatives please, things you're putting in place that have come from the well-being at work survey? Larry Sengstock 15:02.265
Yeah look I think there's a whole range of things that we are working on there. Much of it is training, opportunities for training and better skilling. There's opportunities for making sure that everybody is recognised for their jobs that they're doing, not just the ones that sort of shine or the things that the shining people see. It's ensuring that all the is well recognised for the work that they do and that's part of what I'm trying to do here in this report is to show that there are a number of things that you don't even know happen but they happen and people are doing that work. I think just the equity across the organisation is really a strong piece that we need to ensure that people feel like they're valued. And we're we making a lot of headway in that area. Workplace health and safety from a social psychosocial point of view is something we're working heavily on. Our physical workplace health and safety record I think is very good. It's and something can we champion because it is something that we've been really conscious of as a staff and everybody. I think you'll find people will walk around and be very conscious of their physical health and safety. I think mental health and safety that we now have to do and that's part of the CA. We've now provided more opportunity for people to take time to reflect or take time to work on their own mental health and safety. Which I think is a good thing that we're doing that as a very open thing. So it's not something if you feel stressed you don't want to tell anybody. Now it's becoming much easier to say if you need to take some time and get yourself right to do the job. So at the top of my head I think there's, probably I haven't missed a whole lot of things there but yeah we are very conscious of making sure that we continue to build the culture and it is a workplace that people want to come to and enjoy their day when they're here. Amelia Lorentson 17:08.171
In terms of the Olympics and Paralympics plan I note in the report it's only 15% complete. My question is are we at risk of missing any key funding or partnership opportunities that require early stage and what are in fact the deadlines or milestones being set by state or Federal bodies and how is our timelines, how are they aligned with state and Federal bodies deadlines? Larry Sengstock 17:41.916
Yeah, as far as you know my background is in this world as well, so I've got a fairly good understanding of what the process is. Up until really recently, to be honest, since I've now settled on any of the venues, the organising committee is in place, the type of the government agency that's delivering the infrastructure is now in place and starting to get some traction. Now is the time for us to understand that. Before that it would have been falling on deaf ears, to be honest, in terms of where we are. Involved and have been involved from a concept point of view and with other parties, other committees that try to understand where they're at. But, you know, again, the focus is still on very much Brisbane and what they need to do know, some of the other where they're doing events, but we're on the fringe of that, so just so you can understand. But I think that, I think now is the time for us to start to ramp that up. I'm prepared for that. We do have a couple of people in our organisation who are part of their job to be aware of what's going on, but I think it's time for us to now pass some resources to that. I think, be honest, the Mayor and myself are looking at there's an event in Brisbane over the next couple of days to actually get a better understanding of where they're at, there's a presentation by the CEO of the government agency for delivery. Agency for delivery, and that will start the ball rolling, we'll start to develop our advocacy and our relationships, so I think the time is right now, prior to this I think it would have been four and a half years if their focus is on sort the of the real delivery where the events are because we don't have events we get sort of pushed off to the side but I think we've still got a lot to offer and a lot of things that we can do like much of the for example pre-games training or pre-games events particularly training, is us. Going straight to the countries or straight to the sports themselves rather than going through the organising committee so there's things like that we'll start to activate. Karen Finzel 19:55.407
Yes thank you firstly thank you for the report and thank you to the staff delivering on so many of Corporate Plan objectives which was considered to be. Brian Stockwell 20:08.563
Really ambitious when we went to get it right. Karen Finzel 20:10.426
That so that is worthy of celebration and thank you to everyone just a question around the performance measurement framework it's listed as a major it's listed as a major disruption due to resource constraints can you tell us a little bit about those constraints and where do you think what can we expect to live with that? Larry Sengstock 20:30.755
So that's in terms of we've systemised our operational plan now, development of that, so that then. It easier for us to develop our reporting, which is something that we're working on. So the constraints have really been just resourced to do that, resourced back in the ICT and our technology area to focus on that. We've got big eyes and a small stomach, I guess, if you like, in terms of ability to do some of this work. We all want different systems. We've got a lot of systems that actually operate our business that have got priority. So one of those was the operational plan. Now the next phase of that is to. Build the performance measures out of that. We do have some performance measures but to get them more visible and more usable. So we have dashboards and things like that. So not just us the staff can see it but. The public can start to really see it and understand it. That's our next phase of this. That all takes time and we're working on it. Chair. Karen Finzel 21:38.037
Chair. Chair, just following on from that, given the cyber security leaks around Qantas today, how satisfied are you with the CEO that we have our cyber security, you know, pretty tight and our objectives are, and the threats around that? Larry Sengstock 21:53.964
From the a cyber security point of view, we monitor that on a regular basis, and obviously we do have so many interactions, just emails that bounce around, it's incredible the numbers are bouncing around between us, external and internal. So to keep a check on that is hard, but we're very conscious of making sure that we have all of our checks and balances in place, and to date we've been central around that. Jessica Phillips 22:23.832
You very much. Amelia Lorentson 22:28.684
The CEO report focuses mainly on strategic progress and KPIs, and I'm just going to the Queensland Audit Office's 2024 recommendations, and they recommend that Council should embed financial risk and audit findings into their regular reporting. I know we do that in our operational, in our annual, reports. My question is, would Council consider for future CEO reports that we add just a section summarising financial risk audit findings and government performance just to give an overall picture of organisational health? Again, I acknowledge that we do, the reporting, but just again, in terms of how we can do things better, would that be something that you would consider? Larry Sengstock 23:26.345
I'm happy to consider that, absolutely. This report is really just a preview of the CEOs. And me do. In the annual report we have our finances and we have our risk and we have our governance reports. All comes together there. So at this point in time that's all still being worked through. So for me to bring that forward, at least I could do it. And we do report through the year. We always report our monthly financials and report against the risk. So in all of our reports. So I think it's all there. I'm happy to look at how we can do it. I appreciate it. Thank you. Jessica Phillips 24:05.747
Ari, just in relation to what it says about ambitious, we've spoken quite a few times about ambitious Council and what's the biggest risk you would say a CEO of having ambition in Corporate Plan, operational plan, what have you identified as the biggest risk for our community is in having that? Larry Sengstock 24:28.107
There's a number of them but I would think one of them is because it is so broad. Mean, it's really putting the capability statements against the actual um objectives, so if we're trying to achieve something in our five years, have a really good capability to deliver it, and that's something that. Going forward I think when we review the Corporate Plan we need to look at that and just say is this really realistic in terms of what we can deliver because again we've all got big eyes we all want to do as much as we can for our community and our organisation sometimes we've just got to be realistic well some things are going to take longer and we've got to push them out so I think that's a risk because we set up an expectation that we're going to deliver some things and then when we don't we get down by that so that to me is something I think we've got some really big ambitions in terms of projects that we'd like to deliver. You see there's a gallery, a Leisure Centre upgrade or change and improvement increase in the numbers of indoor spaces. There's a number of office spaces, a number of things that we've got on our plate that, again, once you put them there, the expectation is there. So that's a risk. And then how do we deliver against that? I think one of our biggest ambitions is with the waste. And try to trying to ensure that we're ahead of the game there. We've got some great opportunities, which again are going to take some big decisions in terms of how we finance them and what we go forward with. They're really, really big ones for us to consider and us to deliver against. So I think they're the key things that we do. But realistically, the risk is always there. Try to contain that. We have a community that has great expectations for us. And how do we make sure that we can deliver against those expectations, to me, is a challenge for us. Because we're not a huge Council. Frank Wilkie 26:42.939
Happy to move it, Mr Chair. Amelia Lorentson 26:44.115
There's further questions. Happy to move in, Mr Chair. Brian Stockwell 26:47.877
There's further any questions in simultaneous? Are you second? No, no, it's in some of the segments. Nicola Wilson 26:53.126
Oh yes, sorry. Being really pedantic, but will this be reviewed for the annual report? Oh, there's a couple of things with some of the status updates are written as if it's 30th of June and some of them are written as of now and I think it would be a good idea to. Larry Sengstock 27:10.077
Make sure for I'll take that. Brian Stockwell 27:13.845
Councillor do you have other questions. Amelia Lorentson 27:15.599
Um yep yes, um in terms of the certified agreement, it's noted as a milestone. In the report but there's no mention on how that process affected staff morale or relationships my question is what impact has that process had on staff morale and workplace culture and um is it is still impacting um trust and communication and culture. Larry Sengstock 27:42.746
Look I think there's no no hiding from the fact that this has caused some fraction within the structures within the uh within the organisation in particular areas not all areas because the majority of our staff weren't necessarily impacted by it they just continued on but there's some who took industrial action they so were there's the pro and con of those groups but we are certainly taking action to looking at lessons learned how do we rebuild some of those things but I think one of the most encouraging pieces is that we've now been to the vote of the people the 81 percent who voted 95 percent voted for the CA so you say that's a hell of a good position to take forward that you know people are for it they understand it they want it and we've now implementing the uh the back pay and the future pay increases so I think we've got the position now an opportunity to turn out and say let's draw along the sand let's move forward and you know we all had to fight for what we believed in but now is actually get back together as a group and that's we've got a whole program of work that we're about to roll out to support that. Brian Stockwell 29:00.225
Would you like that? To try to move again? I have moved it. Frank Wilkie 29:07.733
Thank you for the report, Mr. Mayor. It is worth noting that this year in review refers to all the activities of Council from July 1st, 2024 through to June 30, 2025. Some of the initiatives, 71% of them are completed or on track. Many of them would have moved on since then in real time. It has been a year of challenge and the certified agreement was one of them but the outcome of that the conditions around the certified agreement and the training and professional development put in place in response to the well-being at work survey helps position this Council as an employer of better positions an as an employer of choice going into the future. It is also worth noting that Noosa Council remains committed to financial sustainability, not only remains committed to it but is demonstrating that through a raft of policies and practices that have seen it remain one of only 20 councils in all of 77 councils in Queensland that don't um are not running deficit budgets which is a very sobering thought and that's testament to all the discipline of the Councillors around the table and the way the staff adhere to the budget set to them to the operational plan and the budget and this year in review is four quarters of the operational plan which Councillors set as a task for the organisation at last year's budget and the staff have done an admirable job to deliver this on behalf of the community you can see the fundamentals are very well covered in particular not only all the planning documents which help this remain a forward planning and the forward focused organisation, but the also focus on infrastructure delivery not only did the Council do well to deliver the capital works program but also as you mentioned it was a hundred million dollars plus that Council was charged with the responsibility of delivering repair works. Mostly in the Noosa hinterland from the February 2022 flood event and there's 80 million dollars worth of works in this report alone that happened in the last financial year including a 50 million dollar repair job on the Black Mountain landslip which was the largest in Sunshine Coast if not Queensland's history and but not only do they deliver it were they were recognised with an industry award. The for the high quality of work and standard of work so I would just like to ask you Mr CEO to pass on my thanks and our thanks to the staff who are delivering this on this body of work on behalf of the community thank you. Tom Wegener 32:16.358
I'll speak to it you know um when I came in we had that was the COVID four years the COVID term and that was difficult but actually I think this is the post-COVID term where we're dealing with a post-COVID reality and I think it's even harder than the previous term and the we have overcome and evolved really really well I think and I think it shows that you know coming through the Foreshore Management Plan with success social housing the workers the working agreements that we had a lot of these very very challenging issues were overcome and they're overcome because we have strength as a Council we have consistency and we have persistence and I think that those are really good key to have really important aspects I have or things we call things that you have that attributes very very strong attributes this Council and we've remained positive and we've made it through the very very tumultuous times with success I think that Mr. Mayor you're a quiet achiever and you you've done very well so we're moving forward and I'm very happy with this result. Amelia Lorentson 33:34.899
I want to thank the CEO for the report in front of our seats. Clearly a huge amount of work that's gone into leading this organisation through another demanding year. The scale of what's been delivered across infrastructure, community services, environmental management and corporate reform is impressive. So I want to take this opportunity to thank you Larry and to your team. That said, while the report shows strong progress and commitments, it also highlights areas that I think deserve a closer look I'm and referencing in particular resourcing constraints, staff vacancies and competing priorities. I think what I really want to say is that it's important for us to acknowledge the human side of leadership. Our staff, and I say this know normally at the annual report, but our staff are the heartbeat of this organisation and they're the ones that deliver, as you said Larry, every service, every project, every outcome that our community relies on. So their well-being and sense of belonging need to stay front and centre. The report shows how much has been carried by yourself. Across multiple portfolios and major initiatives. And that kind of responsibility comes with real pressure. So in terms of staff wellbeing, I also extend that to you, Larry, that your wellbeing is important. Just to the organisation, but to the people in this room, the executives and the Councillors. As a Council, we all share the responsibility of making sure not only the staff, but the executive and the CEO and the Councillors the resources and support they need to do their job well. So looking ahead, I'd love to focus not just on what's been achieved, but how we're supporting the people who make it happen. Strong outcomes simply come from strong people and a healthy supported workforce will always deliver better results for our community. And just my little add-on, just consideration that in future reports there's just a brief summary of. Financial reporting, audit, internal /external audit reports and governance matters to give a complete or holistic view of organisational health. But thank you Larry for again delivering you know. What's been a tough year. Jessica Phillips 36:36.703
I'll speak religiously. Thank you again Larry and thanks to all the staff. It's already been said but obviously I'm yeah. I've recognised a lot in the 18 months of being in just the body of work that comes through and out and often the quiet work that gets done without any, you know, that's always should be celebrated. When I think about. I've just sort of want to take a step back and you know recently I've looked at how loud some groups can be in our community and I think there's 60,000 nearly 60,000 and thereabouts constituents in our town and want today to say that I think just want to say that I think they would be appreciative of the work I don't know if they have high expectations I think a lot of people really just want the basics done and they. Appreciate that the workers are going about it themselves as well so my only reflection on it is probably more for all of us to say let's make sure when we do the next operational plan that we sit and say we've committed to things we can achieve that haven't burned out our staff because the community that aren't always expecting more their voices. Heard or their non-voice because they're not really out there saying what they want but they're just done so yeah I would like to probably say more that let's listen to the silence and that will help us not feel that there's so much scrutiny and hopefully staff will feel less pressure on just doing the basics right. Brian Stockwell 38:36.310
I'll speak. The CEO mentioned that one of the drivers for this report is to recognise the effort of the staff and it's always a significant task to achieve is to continue to acknowledge and recognise staff and I thought there's a number of ways that the public can get an insight into how the staff's operating and there's some that suppose they don't I my reflection over the last year or over the year being reported here is what I saw through the briefings and the workshops and through the conversations was a significant improvement in a desire to provide councils with professional level of communication and a professionalism in everything that staff put before us and the way they do it and I suppose more important was a growing commitment to make an impact so Councillor Tom talked about the COVID era where the commitment was about looking after the community and trying to manage through a disaster that was caused by a pandemic. This term what we're seeing in particular this year is this growing commitment when people come before us is wanting to make a difference and I think those cultural attributes keep going then the next year's report will only be more beneficial to the community so I just put that on record that I want to recognise those attributes for all the staff that I deal with. Anyone else who wants to close? It's all been said. Thank you Mr Chair. I'll put both those in favour. That is unanimous. Thank you. We therefore move on to the financial policy report and we welcome Acting Director marge. Policy report we and we welcome hacking Director Director Marg and hacking on services manager for his first time in the role, Zach Morton-Adair. And Zach, will you be providing us with these bits of summary? Margaret Gatt 40:37.641
Yes, I will. Good afternoon. Councillors. Just as a preface to before Zach speaks to the report, you will note that this is now the third or fourth report that's come to you that's a bit of a departure from what you're normally used to in terms of traffic lights. In the attachments so my prefix is that it would have been preferable for us to have had a standalone briefing workshop with you to take you through the changes to the report so I apologise to you in advance that we haven't had the opportunity to do that but we have got that plan to occur before the end. Of the calendar year. So I'll just hand over to Zach now. Zach Morton-Adair 41:16.091
Through the Chair and good afternoon Councillors. So I'll take the report as read. The September report provides us with three months of actual data which goes to providing greater evidence base obviously for our forward-looking predictions. At an overall Council level we're both on track from a revenue and operating position and we will continue to monitor the capital expenditure works which I'll provide some detailed comments further. To build on what Margaret said, we are currently going through a review period which you would have seen over the course of the last few months in regards to the financial reports. We have retrospectively gone back and reviewed the last six months of General Committee meetings actually to see the general the topics of discussion that have come up. We're currently looking to put out a continuous improvement plan to do exactly that, which will look at providing greater transparency in the reporting, introductions of traffic light systems, threshold variance analysis and graphs. The eventual goal is to look to communicate complex financial information, terminology and sometimes jargon, to make sure it's clear and transparent for all end users. We also look to actually implement a or follow-up register where we take stuff on notice. We look to provide that more formally in terms of structure and refer it back to their previous meetings as well. As Marg's alluded to, we'll schedule a briefing in the near future around that. We're just currently getting a final draft of what that looks like to provide that to you. Too. In regards to the financial report for September, I'll walk through some of the key areas or items of note. So firstly, for the revenue items, for Fees and Charges, we have a negative variance of $427,000 down on the expected revenue. The primary driver behind that is actually the estimation of development fees. Due to the nature and dependencies of development fees with external development, it can be difficult month to actually forward forecast what that looks like. So all that the report at this point in time shows there's is a negative variance, where it is a weighted monitor. We're hoping that as we get further data across the course of the year and we begin to see the forward program and development, this will correct. Our interest received is a positive variance, so we've received roughly 580. $583,000 of additional revenue. This is primarily driven by our higher than expected cash reserve balances. So as of the 30th of September, we had about $1.14, $141 million versus $90 million that was expected in the budget. The key driver behind this is a lower than expected delivery of the capital in the first quarter of the financial year and I'll expand on that in a second. The sales of goods and major services is a positive variance of $350,000. This is as a result of higher caravan park fees and is partially offset by lower than expected sales of concrete receivables and waste disposal. In regards to our expenses and building on a previous discussion, we have a positive variance of $500,000 related to employee benefits. Uh related to this is primarily driven by the vacancy savings of roughly $1.26 million and is partially offset by higher overtime and penalty expenses of $265,000 and lower levels of employee cost capitalisation in regards to projects of about $492,000. In regards to the capital expenditure this is currently a negative variance under spend of $4.1 million. In terms of rationale for where that sits, typically what we see in terms of forecasting capital expenditure as we is we refer to essentially a hockey stick effect where the first couple of months we would typically see a carryover balance of the previous financial year's results. You then get into your planning and early development stages where you'll see a natural tick down and what you'll see is the eventual upward curve or high spend and the balance of the year. You also find that the accounting or the reporting of that tends to follow actual delivery on the ground. So although it is currently at an underspend that is just at a watch and monitor as we expect to have been upward trend as we hit the back end of the financial year. We'll draw your attention to sustainability ratio. So there's a couple of points in this one I would like to address. The original budget that sits there in the report refers to 1047% ratio. The current budget or the BR1 refers to 245% with our actual delivery of 51%. So for context, this is one of the sustainability ratios that comes from the local government sustainability framework and is one of the nine ratios that we present to an annual basis. This one is a relatively easy one in terms of its calculation. It is your capital expenditure divided by your depreciation. The State sets a minimum target for all tier three councils such as ourself of 80%. Generally 100%% hundred replacement percent rate. Will replace rate would mean that Council is replacing its assets as they wear out or when they reach the end of use of wants, which is typically where we found ourselves in the last couple of years. The 1047 was a% was as a result of carry forward balances of roughly 32 million related to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority for rehabilitation and renewal group. So that was why there was a significant upswing or concern outlier in terms of that percentage reporting. Although our current percentage is at 51% which is below the 80%, this is a time and place. Typically we only report on this annually. It is provided as the report in terms of context, but that 51% at this point in time isn't considered as we see that hockey curve effect to the end of the year. I will draw your attention to the rates arrears reporting which has been included in the report. This comes from previous suggestions of greater transparency as a result of what our rates arrears are. So that is why the inclusion is there. You will see a positive change. For roughly $3.7 million of rates revenue that was received from August to September, changing the percentage of arrears from 11.9 to 8.8%. Please note that the earlier August report included a different figure of 5.9. Reason this wasn't included in the August 2025 report was we were currently working through the balances and imported debt collection and arrears policy, so there's slight correction, the July 2025 levy wasn't included in the August 2025 number at that point in time. Through the budget processes and in 2025-26, which were recently adopted on the 30th of June, Council actually adopted an external facing rates and charges debt management and recovery policy, which superseded our previous internal guideline that we use. The September 2025 report does include through the correspondence around the debt collection policy itself, and the underlying thresholds that are attached to that. Just to draw your attention, difference in the reporting structure between rate of arrears and the debt collection policy, just to prevent any privacy issues in terms of identification of individual properties. We do intend to provide six monthly updates in terms of the progress made around that typically, and we expect to provide those in March and September following both the July and January rates levy periods. That's for me for today. Happy to take questions from that. Frank Wilkie 49:11.657
Mr Chair, thank you very much for the comprehensive reports, Zach. I also had that to understand that asset sustainability ratio. I'll just find it again. So you mentioned it was capital expenditure divided by depreciation for us is around 21 million. Approximately. So does that infer that capital expenditure is going to be something of the order of a thousand times that. Zach Morton-Adair 49:45.828
So a long and unlike percentage I believe that the program was reworked so prior to the carry forward balance from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) as it's referred to, the intended capital spend for this year was about 52 or yeah, plus a level 32. Plus an additional 32 as a result of that. Frank Wilkie 50:05.382
So that's about 80 million over 20 million. It's about 95.95 over about 21 moon. 21 million. I still don't understand how that's, you've arrived at such a large figure for that, a simple division. Zach Morton-Adair 50:19.271
Yep, that's fine. So if I don't have those calculations in front of me, so I'll take that on notice and we'll report back. Thank you. I need to get my head around that. Yep, completely. Thank you. Jessica Phillips 50:28.251
Other questions. Zach, did you say you watched committee meetings to see questions that we have asked so you can form reports to help us understand it? Is that what you said at the very start? Zach Morton-Adair 50:41.145
So through the Chair, effectively, yes, in terms of coming into the role of acting, position and the nature of the changes that's going on, the easiest way to find where we should go in the future is look at the historical nature of questions, which possibly I'm the only person who's done that recently. There was a general narrative area that came up in common questions. Rather than continue to have those questions raised, we should get ahead of that as officers to provide that information. Margaret Gatt 51:05.130
So that's why we're prepared. Zach Morton-Adair 51:06.692
Yeah, we're in a draft state at the moment because there was stuff out of there that we wanted to take away and come back with a much more complete format, noting that it will be a working version for co-design as well. With yourselves as we're just currently in the steps of compiling that. Jessica Phillips 51:21.044
I didn't have another question, I just wanted to highlight that that's pretty cool. Brian Stockwell 51:23.833
I was just going to suggest you haven't done any work as well for sleep yet. In terms of the rates arrears at. Amelia Lorentson 51:32.313
Rates arrears at $10,381,415. At what threshold do rates arrears become a governance concern? Either in terms of budget impact or reputational risk? And do we have internal benchmarks or early warning index? Zach Morton-Adair 51:55.724
So through the Chair, remembering that my normal head that I have for the organisation is the revenue services manager. So this is actually considered my area of expertise. So what we find with rates is we generally have a cyclical cycle. So after your January and July levies you have a much higher rate of arrears. Over the course of the six months you find they will generally tell off. Industry benchmarks around rate arrears is typically about 5% is the threshold that you want to look to maintain at the end of a rating period. Typically our rate arrears vary for anywhere from about 12% initially after a rate's run to about 5% so we're generally in line with industry best practice. The suggestion around introducing a new external policy for debt collection. The reason was that is we actually wanted to move into a more proactive space so there is a definite question of governance around the risk of arrears. Rates is one of the fortunate things protected by legislation that is ultimately tied to the land of the property so although they are they raise themselves are no debt they're typically owed on the land so we have protections eventually if a house is sold we would look to collect but we want to get in front of that in terms of being more proactive and that's the idea on introduction of the policy sorry to manage that early intervention. Rates can be a very good indicator of financial distress or hardship so we want to get in there and get in there quickly to actually look at the community we do have a financial hardship policy and we do have other means to actually work with the community to find available options to them so we don't put them under further distress I suppose in terms of addressing your correct question directly that is the reason for actually bringing this to the table in front of you there's an area we want to place further focus on a transparency. On and look to minimise that. The eventual goal for industry best practices is considered is probably somewhere close to two or three percent and that is the intention for what we're looking to do. So does that answer your question? Amelia Lorentson 53:55.776
It does. So we're under the five percent but the ideal two, three percent. Zach Morton-Adair 54:01.581
Yeah so effectively strive for the stars if you will there. Five percent is acceptable but in terms of prudent financial management and sustainability we would like over time and we would expect that the new policy to bring that down to a low percentage just for prudent management of Council's finances. Amelia Lorentson 54:19.419
And do we have any idea of what proportion of the 10.38 million in arrears is considered recoverable? Looking at the limitation of actions act we need to take legal action within a six year period. There's time frames. Zach Morton-Adair 54:36.598
Yeah, so the simple answer to that question is it is all recoverable. So based on the underlying regulation that we find ourselves under, rates are guaranteed effectively over the underlying land value of the property. There is definitely due diligence that councils need to exercise and I think you're referencing a recent so the STIPs actually have an external facing policy, although it doesn't change our internal processes, is to do exactly that. It's actually to put into the community the idea around we need to move into a proactive space, provide education around actually rates, how we can support people. In theory there isn't a liability. Around that but there is also diligence or duty of care to our ratepayers to actually make sure they're appropriately informed and they're not being pushed into positions of further hardship. Noting that our underlying Revenue Statement itself does have interest as any provider does on arrears balances so we have that fine or discreet balance as an organisation to make sure those that don't pay or discharge their balance are effectively penalised in some ways along with state legislation. But actually on the other hand they were proactively working with the community providing education and making sure that they can understand they can come and talk to us actually it's not a. Debt collection sounds like a horrible thing in some ways but the idea is we're here to work with them as we've always been but sometimes that redirect actually needs to be pushed out into the community. Amelia Lorentson 56:01.851
Great, thank you that was well answered, appreciate it. Frank Wilkie 56:04.293
Just a follow-up question on that, on rates arrears, Zach, are there any property owners in rates arrears that refuse to recognise local governments authority to raise rates and if so what proportion of those in arrears would you say that represents? So through the Chair. Zach Morton-Adair 56:24.585
In its simplicity the answer to that question is yes. As a result of the new policy, we are going through a substantial order which we've near completed to actually look at the balance of arrears where it relates to particular categories as it relates and obviously one subset of that is sovereign citizens. I don't have the exact numbers in are front doing a line-by review of actually the debt arrears. There is a vocal part of the community that has the sovereign citizens, if you want to call them that, in terms of the viewpoints. We have standard practices in how we engage with them. The policy as it's written. To deal actually with the people that need help or need to reach out, but ultimately we have exhausted our means to engage with a lot of them. So it is to create a line in the sand around some of that. In terms of the explicit numbers, I would have to report back to you to take that on notice. I don't have that currently. Thank you. Brian Stockwell 57:21.034
Can I. Nicola Wilson 57:23.257
Just confirm as well that for those balances, particularly those that are much older than this most recent rate cycle, the interest is growing at 11%? Zach Morton-Adair 57:34.351
At the top of my head it's 11.18%, which is prescribed by the underlying regulation, that's what we set it at, yes. Which is occurring daily and charged at that, yeah. Karen Finzel 57:47.231
Yes, thank you. I just have a question coming back to. Depreciation of assets and then the placement, and if we looked at our questions asked, I've read, you know, often asked this question about the length of time that it's taking Council for the conversion from, you know, the capital works over to the Council asset. Has that got better? Has that improved the speed at which we're converting these infrastructure bills and assets to a Council asset? Margaret Gatt 58:20.911
Through the Chair, I can take that question, Councillor Finzel. So I think what you're referring to is work in progress balance that sits sort of outside of our ledger, but all sort of in it. That's sitting there approximately $120 million as we sit today. That is a continued work in progress on the work in progress to actually get those out of the WIP balance and actually have it recorded and registered in our asset register as an actual financial value that contributes to our overall asset value. So that's my long answer to you is it's not, still an probably an uncomfortable sizeable balance there but it is a work in progress to get it down. Karen Finzel 59:06.714
Okay thank you and then in terms of I guess this could be the CEO, what's our risk then when we're looking at replacing and upgrading our assets in terms of balancing that so that we've got a clear line of sight around the money sitting there for the replacement due to depreciation? How do you think we're sitting are we in a good position or is there a risk there? Margaret Gatt 59:39.044
I can still do you mind if I answer that if that's okay through the Chair? So that value are new assets or upgraded assets it's not taking away the focus from what we do need to replace and/or renewal or upgrade of our other assets. It's not that value doesn't have an implication on that and our current understanding of the State of those assets. It's a financial so that's the amount that we've actually, we've potentially physically finished and/or constructed an asset or part way through, but we haven't actually had the opportunity haven't had the opportunity to complete all the necessary paperwork so that it gets financially recognised in the asset register. So it doesn't impact on future works in terms of what the focus area is for the organisation maintaining on and upgrading our assets. It's a very different focus. Karen Finzel 01:00:37.979
So to reiterate there's no risk of the conversion time. There's no risk of Council with that conversion time. Larry Sengstock 01:00:48.354
Council says there's no risk but what it is new assets. For example as an example we've just completed the upgrade to David Low Way and the retaining wall. So that's now got much longer life to it. So the time that it takes to get our books means that even if it took another year or two years you'd expect that it's still in use. I'm not in need of replacing it. I would also say that in the past if you look at those the numbers there are slightly skewed but in the past we've always been well above 80% in terms of our renewals against our depreciation. So we're in a very comfortable position I think, have been comfortable position and I think that as this year goes on you'll see that we'll continue to be in a comfortable position in terms of being above the. Standard rate of depreciation that we need to make sure that we're covering so again this is a credit to the finance staff, a credit to everybody involved in this work in staying ahead of the game. Thank you. Frank Wilkie 01:01:59.844
Hey, you're movie. Okay. Councillor Phillips. I'll second it. You can't still look in. You can't still do it. Jessica Phillips 01:02:07.804
Well, well, fuck. I pretty much said it earlier about Zach's due diligence in the role. This has probably been, I've made it really honest at the start that this was the biggest learning part of the job for me, and this is the clearest it's been presented to me in report, so thank you. Yeah, the outstanding worries me, but I appreciate the workshop we had the other day, and I think community should be reassured and confident with both the of you in the roles that where the future looks really good with both of you there in those positions, so I don't really have anything to say. That's pretty good, thanks. A lot. Amelia Lorentson 01:02:53.854
Probably just want to just make one just quick point about the fact that Council's holding more than 10 million rate arrears. You know I think it goes back to and there's all sorts of reasons why Council's holding that amount of money but the pressures that relate to cost of living impacts on our community and I really respect the process that Council is undertaking to ensure that you know any request that we don't create any further hardship on those especially that are experienced cost of living impacts but yeah thank you both for a coming to Noosa Council both in your acting capacity but thank you we welcome you and we thank you the report in front of us is great and getting better I love the traffic lights just saying just really becoming easier for us to read and also community a lot of community actually access this information so thank you for the simplicity. Frank Wilkie 01:04:09.349
Good work, thank you. Margaret Gatt 01:04:10.359
I think. Brian Stockwell 01:04:11.062
The main thing for me I suppose is thing for me I suppose is around the impact of revenue when it's going down, when it's not meeting the standard and it may be for example that people when we look at concrete recyclables it's a bad thing but it's not. So I've had ratepayers ask why isn't it for sale and the reason we have not had high sales to concrete is that we're stockpiling to save costs for a large recycling pad to go in at the resource. Centre so it's probably the likely to be the cheapest source of that sort of basic material to go under the pad for the project which will be a multi-million dollar project out there and if we look a lot of our multi-million dollar projects are in most and this is where a lot of our innovation will be over the next few years and while we do respect that the cost of building pressures will have an effect on the fact that we have got quite a sizeable arrears in rates at the moment. We've also acknowledged that some people do it out of some misplaced understanding of the law. We need to recover that money to fund the things that are needed by this community and if you want to be part of this community in overham you do are respected to either pay your rates or put into if it is a financial argument to enter into agreement and I know our staff do that with all care and diligence. Anyone else? We should close. All those in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you. We move on to the next item. Sometimes quick, slow stability. No, it's fine. Not. It's just a thing if you're also awake. Frank Wilkie 01:06:08.976
Mr. The Chair I just flagged that the applicant has asked that it be referred refer to Thursday's meeting, but yeah, there'll be some questions to that. Brian Stockwell 01:06:19.435
Okay, so this is an application for another change in existing approval for a Material Change of Use into an entertainment clubhouse and a sporting recreation golden green. A Material Change of Use for outdoor sports, recreation, food and drink outlets and medium-impact industry for our facility at 5 Opal Street, Cooroy. Matt 01:06:38.813
Excellent. Well, thank you. Here with the Chair. So, like you said, it's an impact assessable application and the application attracted 12 submissions and 11 of those were properly made and one not properly made. There were eight in support of the application and four against so that existing approval that you mentioned at the beginning there that was for indoor entertainment, clubhouse and sport and recreation that was dated 27th of July 1995 and I guess the main purpose of this other change was to refine and adapt the existing approval to include more contemporary land use terms from the Noosa Plan 2020. The applications seeks approval for the introduction of two new land uses the food and drink outlet and the distillery which we've defined under the Noosa Plan as medium impact industry and it's worth noting that the of primary use of the bowls club remains unchanged and it's supported in this application through a long-term agreement between your mates bolsey Pty Ltd. and the Cooroy Community Bowls Club so that ensures. Access and operation of that into the future the proposed fruit and drink outlet generally maintains the historic use of the clubhouse including it was previously operated as a restaurant and it remains ancillary to the primary recreational use there's going to be shared amenities and the development aligns with similar regional bowling clubs in Noosa and the Sunshine region the proposed medium impact industry it's a very small scale distillery 28 metres squared and that's proposed to operate in an internal room that's existing and it's got limited production capacity to minimise amenity impact the application as conditioned demonstrates consistency with the relevant performance outcomes of the applicable codes including the recreation and open space code the product local plan code the business activity code and the entertainment activities code and that the application maintains compliance with existing car parking arrangements Planning Scheme provisions and there's no increase in car parking demand as a result of the other change. Is the proposal is considered to appropriately balance operational needs and residential amenity with it adjoining a residential use and it's supported by relevant documentation and conditions and through the assessment you know operational impacts including noise and hours of operation they've been addressed through supporting documentation including a noise impact assessment that was submitted and then as a result of submissions the applicant submitted an operational management plan and a risk assessed management plan and conditions are recommended to manage delivery operations, restrict patient access to sensitive areas adjoining that residential use and ensure compliance with noise and amenity standards noted that the proposed operating hours are consistent with the applicable codes and are similar to what was publicly advertised and are supported by acoustic recommendations the hours are considered appropriate given the site's recreation and open space zoning where sport and recreation specifically the lawn primary bowls is use and proposed food and drink outlet and distillery therefore should remain ancillary and must operate in a manner that respects and supports the site's principal recreational function and the location it is within Cooroy. It's that submitted concerns relating to current operations that's being addressed by the applicant by removing patron access from the area adjacent to the eastern boundary that joins the residential use and this includes the removal a lot of smoking area the relocation of outdoor dining and the relocation of children's playground to the other side of the building away from the residential area also concerns from submitters regarding refrigeration units another plant and we have addressed that reasonably in conditions the proposed changes represent a considered response to the community concerns raised during public notification and the operational needs of the business so overall I think the application is to appropriately balance the recreation commercial and community interest and is recommended for approval subject to the recommended conditions leave it open to any questions now. Patrick Murphy 01:12:16.930
Application is Chair, considered can I just add to Matt's thorough detailed explanation of the application? There has been some maybe disconnect or where we've fallen to in terms of conditions for hours of operation. We've been advised that the applicants got some concerns. I just thought I'd put those on the table. So you're aware of those and are now thinking around them. Condition 37 specifically relates to the hours of operation for the food and drink outlet and the medium impact industry use. We consider it reasonable that it operate 10am to 9pm Monday to Thursday and also Sunday at a public holiday with it being open to 10pm to 11pm on a Friday and a Saturday. It's the applicant's preference that it be allowed to open to 10pm on that Monday to Thursday and Sunday and public holiday days. Have a we have aligned our hours of operation with the Planning Scheme because the land adjoins a residential zone, it requires through the AO that it operates no later than 9pm. We have given an allowance to go later on a Friday and Saturday night, noting that is consistent with the how it's currently being used. The 9pm restrictions are also consistent with how the use is being advertised currently. So that was some of our thinking there. We've conditioned the bowling green to operate between 7am and 9pm. It's the applicant's preference that it operate till 10pm. Similarly, the playground we've conditioned till 8pm and it's the applicant's preference that it continue through to 10pm. Again, mindful of the site's location within proximity of the residential areas is our reasoning behind pulling those hours back. Can see some merit in aligning the playground hours with the bowling green hours. Noting that people on site using the bowling green and they have the children there that it's reasonable that they get to use the playground equipment so I'll leave that to Council. The conversation with the consultant this morning was talking issue of the bowling green being able to be used from 7am in the morning but the food and drink outlet not starting until 10am whilst I understand where he's coming from the 10am restriction was that was consistent with some of the discussions that the officer had with the applicant that it was a 10am opening and never been put forward to open earlier than that so the conversation today was my first understanding of a preference to open earlier can in there being an allowance for people to have coffees and cakes and whatnot whilst they're doing bowls in the morning but probably not preferable that there are that meals and liquor is being consumed at that hour so just to fill you in a little bit more again around some of our thinking and that disconnect between ourselves and the applicant that you might have been presented with yourselves. Brian Stockwell 01:15:34.326
So a technical question on that large matter. The service of drinks and small food is part of an outdoor recreation use history generally, if you can have it. The fact that the site has got the food and drink outlet, does that mean, if it is there, that has to have the power changed or can we separate the use, operational use? Patrick Murphy 01:16:02.492
It might be something that I could have a look at and that might make sense to do it in that way and look at the definition of the recreation use. And what that would allow. In the report it talks about a bit more than two course meal, that sort of thing. That was going back to, I think, the original language terms. You don't how to have fish and meat. Karen Finzel 01:16:24.677
You don't have to have fish and meat. Patrick Murphy 01:16:28.457
And why a caterer's room had the subset of the subset of that was a restaurant which wasn't included as part of the original approval, which is why we're here today, essentially, with the food and drink outlet. Nicola Wilson 01:16:41.726
I'm a little bit confused by, obviously, this business is already operating, and I'm not sure what its current operating hours are. So, which of these conditions are changing the operating hours as a result of this change of location? Patrick Murphy 01:17:01.027
Condition 37 is consistent with how it's currently being advertised on their website. So, we would understand no change in that regard. And in fact, I think the website actually talks about 11:30am. Opening for cracker Jack. We've got a 10:00am. Proposed. I'm not too sure there's nothing on there's nothing on the website around when the boiling greens are being used, so those conditions are essentially in new conditions. Amelia Lorentson 01:17:39.348
Just a couple and I probably want to just wait till we go inside and meet with the applicant have an opportunity to speak with him but I've sort of just had a good read of the application and probably my questions are just seems some of the conditions seem standard but some aren't standard or don't seem standard in terms of condition at 36 linking the operation to the bowling club is that a standard practice. Patrick Murphy 01:18:17.973
No and it's reflective of the zoning of the site being for recreation and open space and that the food and drink outlet is an inconsistent use on the site so seeking to ensure that the site is preserved for a recreation use it doesn't transpire that use Peters out and the whole site becomes a hospitality. Amelia Lorentson 01:18:42.375
So my understanding from what I've read is the operator and the owner of the property have signed a 90-year licence license of the Bowles green. Is that right? Unidentified Speaker 01:18:55.828
It's a five year lease, is that correct? Yeah, five year lease currently signed with options to re-sign every five years up to the 90 years. Amelia Lorentson 01:19:08.222
So is that condition necessary? Knowing that like I said, let me just, I'll think and talk to you guys about it. The other condition which I thought is this potential duplication with OLGR and QPS. Terms of the operating hours and amenity controls probably my two questions are they consistent with what we've done what conditions we've put with similar license venues. In Noosa and even in Cooroy the copperhead distillery and are they duplicating what's already in place through the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation and Queensland Police Service. Patrick Murphy 01:20:04.089
Conditioning hours of operation and having conditions around potential impacts is with the approach of taking is consistent in that regard yeah particularly noting location of this site within proximity of residential uses but you know directly abutting the site and with everything again close proximity the amenity many impacts of the application were a strong part of our consideration and the conditions are far reasonable and relevant in that regard. Amelia Lorentson 01:20:43.984
I go back to the operational management plan and I go back to what's required under liquor licensing conditions again are we imposing conditions that they're already undertaking as part of their license conditions in terms of the operational management plan I keep putting my this is a small community based hospitality business which site signed sorry um just we've signed a Small Business Friendly Charter and I my questions come from a place of we placing onerous conditions or we helping a small business run. Richard MacGillivray 01:21:28.439
Can I just jump in? Mean I guess I would like to add that operational management plan really is a big part of noting when the notification went out there were a number of submissions from adjoining residents concerned about existing noise impacts what the staff through the assessment and obviously following the notification period the applicant did go away and do further work which identified that this is a key piece of operational management to manage the impacts of people behaviour some of it is the staff after like a cleanup and things like that and making sure that the practices and methodologies in place are and obviously have enough rigour around them so that those things are maintained and if we do get ongoing complaints are there going to be practices or improvements to address those issues particularly on those residential properties so it is very much a practical condition largely has been encouraged through the work that the applicant has done through their own further work following the notifications from residents so but take point and it is a balancing act and obviously this is about maintaining and ensuring that the business can function sustainably as well but not at the detriment to adjoining resident properties. Unidentified Speaker 01:22:41.018
But take your point. Tom Wegener 01:22:45.097
Still within the Cooroy town centre but that was zoned as town centre because the we did car wash and the two petrol stations are zoned as town centre. Patrick Murphy 01:22:57.605
They were zoned district centre. This land is actually zoned open space and recreation. Open space recreation and open space and then on the other side of it is high density residential zone yeah to the north yeah so the town centre the district centre zone is. Brian Stockwell 01:23:20.975
The north to the district centre and to the east with the red university great. Unidentified Speaker 01:23:27.416
Yeah because it's not a record does that change the how you look at noise and. Tom Wegener 01:23:41.252
In playgrounds things if it's in a district centre versus a community recreational centre. Patrick Murphy 01:23:47.460
Not necessarily because you're looking at how it impacts the surrounding area sorry to the south. Matt 01:23:51.965
And west is playing high density yeah thank you but I'm worried. Unidentified Speaker 01:23:57.071
About you know maybe I'm sorry. Tom Wegener 01:24:01.924
That would be a great district centre which is not actually acting so much the district centre right now but it'd be wonderful if there's a district centre and there's always it is there a chilling effect of you know putting restrictions on businesses that will hinder that becoming activated as a district centre in the future. Patrick Murphy 01:24:25.866
And the conditions are consistent with criteria within the superseded and the current playing stand into in terms of the hours of operation so even if you were a major centre zone district centre zone if you still had residential land adjoining you the same requirement would apply. Unidentified Speaker 01:24:52.488
Okay thank you yeah thank you. Karen Finzel 01:24:59.153
Thank you around the conditions I've just got especially in relation to the hours and to the high res around there just wondering about the social impacts we've talked about staff you know with noise at close business what about people leaving it at those later hours given you know access to public transport in hinterland where I live including you know it's hard to get taxis it's hard to get Ubers has there been any discussion around those potential social impacts of later closing and how we're moving people away from the area at the time of close. Patrick Murphy 01:25:42.363
The hours again are consistent with how it's currently being used. Noting there was a restaurant previously on the site. In terms of the social impacts on the not top too sure what you're actually referring to. Matt 01:25:57.468
So maybe people leaving and the noise and managing that issue. The operational management plan and the risk assessed management plan discusses more small stuff to do with staff and the operators, policing that for the patrons and, you know, having signs up to say, you know, there's nearby residents and more of an educational way of just telling them when they leave to be respectful of those neighbours and not to be slamming car doors. Talking loudly within earshot of the residential units. That's, you know, there's, I guess, that's part of the policy that they're trying to enact through their operational management is the point that I was trying to make. Karen Finzel 01:26:44.019
Yeah, so I'm more interested in those social impacts. Of people leaving at those later hours. So there was no discussion around how that might be managed, like increased police or increased, you know, access to taxis, for example. I mean, it's very hard to get a taxi out in a few years back. And a few years back, the reason I raise it is because there was a distillery application that was knocked back out in the industrial site due to the access to transport to move people away from the venue. So yeah, I'm just interested in those social impacts. Given it is a small hinterland community, and we do have to be taking into consideration, in my opinion, those social impacts on our community. Richard MacGillivray 01:27:34.404
I mean, look, yeah, in terms of that point, and thanks for raising that, Councillor, obviously with legal licence. Provisions around responsible service of liquor, and that does help and assist to ensure that those people that are attending are able to either a get a ride home or be picked up by someone, or potentially. Utilise public transport. I guess some of those elements do fall outside of the realm of the assessment in terms of how they will get to and from that particular site. But obviously for the business itself, it obviously does want to encourage people to safely get home and ensuring ensure that they've got access to rides, and obviously will escort people safely from the site if need be, or make calls from the particular site if they need to get a ride from the premises at closing time. Obviously those things sort of exist at the moment, given it's operating there at this point in time, but there's nothing we can require necessarily to enable people to necessarily get a ride in a particular way from the site, other than using the normal current transport methods that exist. Amelia Lorentson 01:28:50.302
Thank you. I've got a question, something. Brian Stockwell 01:28:55.170
That just occurred to me, I've got no trouble with the principle of having an ancillary distillery, does have any impact on what is required to achieve a safe operating environment? I'm thinking of, is the building classified that it can have these, a medium impact industry operating, fire safety between? Fire safety between the distillery and adjacent playground, gyms, all that, is that all taken into account in a planning application? We can't consider the building classification. This comes to me, is there, have they planned for it, or is there conditions that will ensure that safe operating environment? Patrick Murphy 01:29:39.632
We could, it was okay, we could come back to you on that, speak with the applicant and understand their obligations in that regard, and whether they comply. Brian Stockwell 01:29:50.604
I know the process has changed since all the fires in movies about probably the area of facility, but I think having a playground next to it would make the most of it. Matt 01:29:59.923
Yeah, like the only conditions we have about, I guess, safety would be the storage of flammable or combustible liquids must comply with the minor storage provisions of the relevant Australian standards, so that's what we've got in that regard, but if we want to strengthen that and find out what our obligations are, yeah, we can definitely look into that matter further. Brian Stockwell 01:30:22.335
Any other questions? Amelia Lorentson 01:30:26.615
I've just got in front of me conditions 64 to 68 in terms of the easement. 64, where the development site has frontage to Diamond Lane, the applicant must dedicate a two metre wide easement along the full length of his laneway frontage for the purpose of future laneway widening and upgrades. And I've I probably come back to, I go back to the small, our friendly charter that we signed to help support small businesses and I'm just question is keep coming back to the upfront cost that you know it is the my the condition onerous what impact that's going to have on a small business operationally and whether there's opportunity and maybe in terms of an amendment or something to the condition where we can consider either a post or a reduction of the easement. I just would like to discuss this probably a little bit further with you and when we meet with the applicant. Matt 01:31:36.184
The purpose of that is just to protect that future alignment protect that future alignment if it does get widened in future and it's a requirement of the Cooroy Local Plan that two metre wide easement be there for the future purposes of widening if that comes about like if over time we can secure the whole like length of Diamond Lane then that would then in future be widened and we'd have that land there. Amelia Lorentson 01:32:06.026
So we're going to ask that of everyone on Diamond Lane. Patrick Murphy 01:32:10.360
A provision within the Planning Scheme which identifies particular lane ways in Cooroy for which if this application was taking access off the lane it would be required to actually dedicate that land to Council in instances where access is has not been taken the scheme requires that an easement be created and there are a number of properties along Diamond Lane which that has occurred where they've actually been land dedicated and also in other parts of Cooroy where land has been actually dedicated to Council to facilitate future works within those laneways to improve connectivity throughout Cooroy, pedestrian connectivity, potentially vehicle connectivity. Amelia Lorentson 01:32:59.061
Okay, thank you. Brian Stockwell 01:33:00.763
Someone wish the intent was to defer to. Amelia Lorentson 01:33:04.149
I'll move to, yep, I'll move to defer the decision. I'll move. That's right, I'm happy to second. Brian Stockwell 01:33:11.819
Will again be the first. No worries. And second is Councillor Lorentson. We wish to discuss any further. Frank Wilkie 01:33:18.769
I'll just say, Mr Chair, I understand the discussion will be around the hours of operation, impact on the impact residents. On the residents go to the heart of how this application has been assessed and this will give Councillors time to meet with the applicant so they can make their case around such matters as the hours of operation. Brian Stockwell 01:33:39.170
I'll put the motion. Those in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you. Before we proceed, the CEO has had to step out for another report so we have now an Acting CEO. Director of development control, Michael Lawson. That's it. Thank you, thank you. Were great, so feel free to come up with any hard. Zach Morton-Adair 01:34:33.420
Julies been on site as you can tell. Julie 01:34:35.264
I have hard hat hair. Exactly what we'd expect you to do. Exactly. Good afternoon. Um Sunshine creek is our name that we're using for the slope that sits in that area at Sunshine Beach near Ross Crescent and Adams Street. Because it's an area that affects both of those we want to avoid confusion between any party so we've been calling creek and partly of that is the site there that has some slope stability issues that actually do feed into the need to make sure that we look after that creek structure as well so part of this is about just naming it appropriately to best match what we're actually problems trying to solve here the report today is some making a request for us to be able to start working with some specialised contractors allow us to finalise some design attributes that we really want to include in this before we go to market to find a construction contractor to commence works to restabilize that slope in that particular space we have opted to go this particular path because the particular contractor that we'd like to use Foundation Specialists Pty Limited t/as FSG Geotechnics & Foundations apart from being a well-regarded supplier of these services within actually have history at that particular site so temp works have been done in this particular area previously and they were involved in doing those temporary works any new works that we are looking to do we want to try and work on how do we interface our new work with the old work. And the best way we can do that is be working with the people who designed and put that work in there originally so that's the basis of our one of going through to our source direct we're looking at a in terms of disaster reconstruction a relatively small value of farm forty one and a half thousand dollars to finalise that design. Brian Stockwell 01:36:54.535
Do we have any questions? Amelia Lorentson 01:36:59.741
I'm happy to move the second. Yeah I will this is what I this is critical infrastructure and the community arms depending on us to get it right the slope at Sunshine creek I call it Ross Crescent now I'm going to call it Sunshine creek has been unstable for four years and this work isn't just about meeting a deadline it's actually about protecting public safety restoring confidence and delivering on outcomes that our residents have thank you Julie for your work. Karen Finzel 01:37:36.999
Team effort like always. Brian Stockwell 01:37:40.724
You. Frank Wilkie 01:37:41.124
Now let's get it done thank you. Brian Stockwell 01:37:42.647
Okay I'm just going to do a little bit in that reaching the creek highlights the fact that the problem we have here was made when sometimes people develop we talk about carrying capacity in the news Planning Scheme part of that is putting development in the right spot and what we've got here is an overly steep slope that is has been developed too close and therefore it's is a risk that's going to cost a lot to fix up and it's looking you don't want a sandy slope like this to be any greater than the angle of repose depending on the sand that's between 30 and 40 percent and we've probably got something that's closer to 50 percent at the moment I'm guessing but it's certainly very steep and so just when we look in this sandy country and anything else where we say development ends has to take into account where is it stable to do so. Got lots of sites in that sandy coastal country where development practices of the 60s, 70s and 80s perhaps didn't take into account the natural constraints and the community is now paying for that by increased responsive staff. Do you have anything else you want us to talk? Karen Finzel 01:38:56.581
Thank you, yeah I just want to thank you for the report happy to accept the recommendation I think it's timely and these emerging issues that are coming out I think it's you know it's our responsibility to actually be able to deliver know efficiently and with expertise that we require so thanks Julie and we know it's all in good hands and Shaun and all the team collaborative effort and certainly Councillors want to support that team approach to dordalock community requires so thank you. Brian Stockwell 01:39:27.944
Okay thank you oh do you wish to close um no thank you I'll put the vote those in favour that's carried unanimously uh our next item is a confidential item with someone to move for the reasons. Patrick Murphy 01:40:01.034
Good work Richard, that was very efficient. Fine, there you go. Jessica Phillips 01:40:11.658
It's fine. I need to read it still. Unidentified Speaker 01:40:16.727
It's not going to, sorry. Brian Stockwell 01:40:18.347
There we go. But it's here, I think. Yeah. That can you read it? Jessica Phillips 01:40:21.843
The meeting be closed to the public. Pursuant to section 254J3G of the Local Government Regulation 2012 for the purpose of discussing a contract proposed to be made by Council in particular. Potential commercial negotiations in relation to that contract for item 9.1. Brian Stockwell 01:40:40.607
Do we have a seconder? Councillor Finzel. Do we need any discussion? No. All those in favour? That's carried unanimously. Thank you. We get the gallery to wait outside while we discuss this matter as we appreciate it. Brian Stockwell 01:53:24.249
Okay, welcome back. Councils, we have a recommendation in front of us, would someone like to move that recommendation? Amelia Lorentson 01:53:33.712
I'm happy to move the recommendation. Brian Stockwell 01:53:35.251
Councillor Lorentson and Councillor Phillips, do you wish to say anything, Councillor? No, thank you. Anyone else? I'll put the recommendation. Those in favour? That's passed unanimously. You, Councillors. Thank you, staff. That brings us to the end of the meeting at 2.24pm. Thank you, Mr chairman. Thank you, Mr Chair. Thank you, staff. And congratulations on your award. On our award. Amelia Lorentson 01:54:00.682
Well deserved. Related Noosa Council Meetings
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