Here is a summary, with highlights from the Council meeting on Tuesday 22 May at the Bannockburn Shire Hall. Note, this information is not the official Council meeting minutes. These can be found within five working days of the Council meeting here.
ASSEMBLY OF COUNCILLORS
The first item on the agenda was the Assembly of Councillors; this is a record of any meetings where the Councillors had to discuss items that they may eventually need to make decisions on.
CITIZEN RECOGNITION
Council recognised the fantastic achievements made by 11-year-old Tanner Stack from Sutherlands Creek. Tanner has been selected to play in the under-12s Australian representative team in the 36th IBA International Baseball Championship, held in Tokyo in July and August this year.
Mayor Kirby, on behalf of Council, presented Tanner with a Citizen Award for his incredible sporting achievements. In her speech, she said, “This is a fantastic achievement, especially for someone so young – Tanner has only been playing baseball for three years and yet, here he is about to compete at the national level.”
She went on to say, “The IBA International Baseball Championship is a highly competitive baseball tournament that allows participants to compete at a very high level and experience a significant cultural exchange.”
“We are thrilled for Tanner’s achievements so far and can’t wait to hear all about the Championships in Japan,” said Mayor Kirby.
MUNICIPAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN
Council adopted the Golden Plains Shire Municipal Emergency Management Plan 2017-2020. Each Council is required by the State Government to have a plan prepared, approved and audited to make sure that we meet all our obligations to handle an emergency (floods, fire, etc.). This is a very important plan for Council.
TOWN PLANNING APPLICATION – TEESDALE
Council considered and approved a town planning application for the subdivision of a large rural residential property in Teesdale. Council is seeing more of these larger lots being divided into, what would appear to be, more manageable sized properties (4000m2). However, concerns are being raised that it is detracting from the reason why some peopled moved out to Golden Plains Shire in the first place and others are not happy with the lot layout.
From a planning perspective, the Planning Scheme allows for this. In the newer and newly created subdivisions, the planners are better planning for the changing needs and expectations, to allow for better communities. There was some debate and an amended motion put to have the driveway sealed and placed in common property. The amendment did not get up and the original officer recommendation was adopted.
3RD QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT
The 3rd Quarter Financial report was tabled, showing that overall, Council is on track financially. It is still important that Council is mindful over the last quarter as we near the end of the financial year. At the meeting, Councillors spent a considerable amount of time going through the details of the financial report to make sure the organisation is on track.
PROCUREMENT POLICY
Council’s existing Procurement Policy is required to be reviewed annually and with the three minor changes (listed below), Council adopted the policy:
- Clarification of what municipalities are included in G21, within the definition of ‘Local’
- Inserted the reference to ‘for the community’ under the definition of ‘Social Procurement’, and
- Reference to Child Wellbeing and Safety Act has been inserted in section 2.2.2 – Standards.
COUNCILLOR EXPENSES
Councillors were provided with a Record of Expenditure in the performance of their duties over the past three months. The report allows for transparency and enables the public to see how Councillors are spending money.
COUNCIL PURCHASES
Reports were presented in regard to Council purchases. The first was the awarding of a tender for the supply and delivery of one new maintenance truck with attached Horizontal Discharge (Flowcon) – this is a pot hole-filling truck. The second report was for the purchase of our very first Street Sweeper (a small vehicle to start with) – Council staff will be able to put this on a trailer so it can easily be taken to various towns and help maintain tidier streets.
RURAL AND PERI-URBAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
The City of Greater Geelong (COGG) has recently established a Rural and Peri-Urban Advisory Committee (RPUAC), and has offered the opportunity for the G21 Councils to nominate a Council representative on the committee, to which Cr Evans was nominated and Cr Rowe will be the Deputy. This Committee will be added to the group of Committees that get reviewed annually in November.
At the end of the meeting, Councillors each advised what they had been up to over the past month.
The meeting ended at 7.50pm.
The Council meeting minutes will be shared with the public within five working days of the Council meeting here.