MAYOR STAPLETON: peoples of the Maar Nation.
The main Council offices in Torquay are on Wadawurrung Country and I am coming
to you tonight from Aireys Inlet, which
is traditionally known as Mangowak.
Our local lands and waterways have been protected
and nurtured by the Wadawurrung people for thousands of generations
and it's such a privilege to be able to live and work
in such a beautiful part of the world now.
This is National Reconciliation Week.
You will notice some of the Councillors have a backdrop
there with the theme Be Brave, Make Change, so I'd like
to take the opportunity to remind our community that Surf Coast
Shire Council is committed to walking with the traditional owners
of these lands on a journey of genuine reconciliation.
Now, being an online meeting tonight, we also wish
to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands
on which each person is attending, acknowledging any Aboriginal people
who may be viewing the meeting tonight and pay our respects to Elders past,
present and future.
Tonight.
We will be hearing from those who wish to speak to their written submissions
regarding the Draft Budget Report for 2022-23.
To facilitate public access, this meeting is being livestreamed
and the recording will be available on council's website.
If a submitter does not wish to be video-recorded,
it's their responsibility to turn off their video function
and just use the audio.
Live captioning will also accompany the livestream.
Councillors are bound by the behaviour and obligations
under our Code of Conduct, so please make sure you direct any
questions or comments you have through me as the Chair
and I'll endeavour to ensure that everyone has
an opportunity to speak whilst also making sure
we stick to time.
The following procedures will apply during this meeting.
Each submitter who is registered to speak will be admitted
into the meeting one at a time and given five minutes
to present their submission.
For the benefit of the speakers, when the timer
on the screen reaches five minutes, you must please stop your presentation.
The timer will turn orange when you have
one minute left, just as a bit of a warning, and then red when there
is just 10 seconds remaining.
So it would be really helpful if you could keep your eye on the timer
and stick to those times.
Councillors will then be invited to ask questions directly related
to your submission if needed.
In the interest of time, we do try to keep the questions brief so
we can move through all the submitters tonight
in a fair way.
Speakers also please note that because Councillors do have
the opportunity to ask questions, we're not always clear
on the exact timing of your presentation,
so please understand that there does need to be some flexibility
around what time you get on to actually speak, as this
will obviously depend on the amount of questions we get
through the previous speakers.
I ask that all participants remain on mute when they are not speaking,
just to allow the meeting to run smoothly.
And if a speaker has any technical problems which are
not resolved quickly, they will need to be removed from the meeting and if -
they will be contacted by a member of Council staff, and
if the issues are resolved, the speaker will be invited
to deliver their presentation at the end of the meeting.
So this Special Council meeting is not a workshop,
and it should not be necessary for officers to be asked
to make comments on the submissions.
However, if there are any questions of officers,
please make sure they're directed through me as the Chair.
And Councillors will not be making any decisions
in relation to the matters heard tonight,
as decision making will occur at a future council meeting,
once all the relevant information has been received and reviewed.
So thank you for your understanding on all of that.
I will now recite the pledge on behalf of Council:
"As Councillors we carry out our responsibilities with diligence
and integrity and make fair decisions of lasting value for the wellbeing
of our community and environment".
We have not received any apologies for this meeting but I
will just acknowledge that Councillor Pattison will be about 15 minutes left,
so she'll be joining us in due course.
And if any Councillors have a conflict of interest,
please declare so now and just prior to the submission,
at which time the Councillor will be removed from the meeting
and placed in a virtual waiting room whilst the submission is being heard
and obviously after that time, the Councillor will be returned
to the meeting.
Do any Councillors have a conflict of interest to declare?
No.
Thank you, Councillors.
And now moving on to our submissions to the Draft Budget Report for 2022-23.
So there were 24 submissions received and there are 7 submitters who wish
to be heard by Council and then there is in addition an submission
from the organisation, Surf Coast Shire Council.
So our first speaker this evening is Michael Tucker on behalf
of Growing Winchelsea and we will ask that Michael please be
admitted into the meeting.
So Michael, if you're able to turn on your video and turn off your -
sorry, turn on your audio and your video.
Fantastic.
Hi, Michael.
How are you?
MICHAEL TUCKER: I'm very well, how are you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Very well.
Good to see.
I understand you have a presentation you would like to share.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Yes, I have.
Let me just go to share screen.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Terrific.
And once you have that up and running, we're ready for you
to start your submission.
MICHAEL TUCKER: So can you see that alright?
MAYOR STAPLETON: We can definitely see that, thank you.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Terrific.
According to your notes I'm assuming that you have all seen the submission
and this is really a back-up process to that.
One thing that we've been discussing with people in Melbourne
about the figures we put in there, they're now saying
if the Tri alliance - and we'll talk about that in a minute - agree,
then there's no need to go to a large legal firm or an accounting
firm to develop the business case or tri alliance agreement.
So if that makes sense to you, I'll continue.
So this is just - here we are in this box here saying we're starting
to grow something and then the next thing you know it's
growing bigger and then, finally, we're making honey while
the sun shines, I guess.
Starting with the background to now - and I hope this isn't too complicated -
the current demand is currently being met, you can see -
I don't know whether you can see my pointer,
but there are a few businesses within Winchelsea that are exporting
out of Winchelsea and even out of Victoria.
There are a lot of businesses that are supplying local
demand but there's a lot of local demand being supplied
from outside Winchelsea.
So our vision is to say how do we increase our export
out of Winchelsea and have fewer things
imported from Winchelsea?
So that's what this graph is trying to display.
The process is that we're saying that the industrial estate could be
something that is revered, if you like, with the wonderful reputation
that people can come in and build whatever they'd like and
if we have a process that is repeatable,
then we'll have in the top left-hand box a large agile estate where
the block sizes can suit the businesses,
we can encourage heavy industrial, light commercial, and
out of business hubs which seems to be something that's really starting
to happen where people are not necessarily going to the office but
they want to go to some place where there
is interaction with other people.
The employment value for the Shire is obviously employing locally,
creating apprenticeships, staff training, developing a group
of tradies in Winchelsea that can
work outside Winchelsea, and then perhaps the Council might even
outsource some of their projects to these Winchelsea tradies.
Using the inherent values of Winchelsea -
when we have been looking at Colac and Bannockburn
and a few other industrial estates, the one thing that we have
in our pocket is we've got a very good highway
from Winchelsea in all directions but certainly towards
Geelong and beyond, so it's a highway to and to bypass Geelong.
There's a future development of rail freight in Winchelsea,
and it will happen, and I'd like to think that gives us a significant
benefit over some other regional areas.
Potential employees within the township of Winchelsea and the hinterland -
the growth of new houses in Winchelsea is obviously a great source
of finding new employees.
We've talked about the agility of the lot sizes
and then we need to have pre-cast specifications, and I'll talk
about that in a minute.
So we don't have a three-year waiting list.
If someone says "I want two acres, and then the Council and Water
and Powercor all said,"
These are the rules.
If you abide by the rules, you can get immediate
permission to start ".
So the next thing is that we - and in the submission we've talked
about a Tri alliance of the Surf Coast Shire Powercor
and Barwon Water.
The one thing that every site needs is water and power and sewerage,
so the concept is that we have a ring around the industrial estate,
and if we rezone 30 hectares to the west,
we can have the ring expand out there over the next 15, 20 years.
So the objective is to create a real estate able
to be expand for a long period of time and it allows differing businesses
to have their particular requirements.
Communicating the pre-cast specifications -
it's important that people recognise that "If I want
to have an industrial complex at Winchelsea, if I abide
by the rules, it will happen very quickly".
Sorry, I'm running out of time.
And finally, the Tri alliance or the registration
of the developer or developers - and that's quite a conundrum -
but there are four roles here: quality, service, innovation and price,
and there needs to be specifications for all of those for the three -
sorry, in the Tri alliance to all recognise that everybody has got
a job to do.
There's a long-term focus.
We've spoken about that.
The Surf Coast Shire to encourage local employment
and working with others such as universities,
Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade, could all be
to the advantage of Winchelsea if we get a good alliance going
with those particular organisations.
So finally the question we need to ask ourselves
is: Winchelsea residents, where are they working in any of those places?
Where do they come from if they're working in Winchelsea,
and who are the people within Winchelsea that are
working currently there?
So I've gone through that fairly quickly.
I have got one minute and 20 seconds to go.
MAYOR STAPLETON: You've actually gone over by 1 minute and 20 seconds.
I thought you only had one slide.
MICHAEL TUCKER: I said five minutes of positive thinking, and questions.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you, Michael, and yes, there are some questions.
So we'll start with Councillor Schonfelder.
CR SCHONFELDER: Thank you, Michael, for the presentation,
and I thank Growing Winchelsea Inc for the work that they have done
in relation to this.
My own reflection is that it fits within the 20-minute
neighbourhood notion of people being able to live,
work and be educated within 20 minutes of where they live, and I believe a lot
of people do commute from the Surf Coast and hinterland
to other areas, so in a way the development
of the industrial estate is a sustainable proposition
and I would just ask you whether you agree with me about that.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Yes, absolutely.
I like the concept of the 20 minutes, and also I love these yellow signs,
Be brave, make a change, because let's do it.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Michael.
And Councillor Gazzard?
CR GAZZARD: Thank you.
Thank you, Michael, for your submission and for the presentation.
I was just hoping you could elaborate a little more on the costing
for the business case as projected at $100,000
and then the legal fees at $25,000.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Yes.
I tried to address that at the beginning.
Since I've spoken to two accounting firms
and a legal firm in Melbourne, they've all come back to me and said,
"If the tri alliance wants to do this themselves,
they'll probably have the intellect and capability to do it,
so you don't have to outsource it to one of the big four firms
in accounting or legal".
I mean, I've got quite a few - what would you call them?
- pre-alliance agreements and I'm sure many of you do.
It's a matter of if we get the right ownership
with those three organisations, you can do it yourselves.
It's not that difficult.
Does that answer your question?
Where have you gone?
You've all moved.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Michael.
And Councillor Bodsworth?
CR BODSWORTH: Yes, thanks for your presentation, Mike.
You did extremely well fitting that into the minutes that
you were allocated.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Yes, sorry I went over.
CR BODSWORTH: No, no, you did really well.
But I was just hoping that you could outline just briefly how you
and the Growing Winchelsea Inc people that you've collaborated with
on this think that industrial estate planning in Winchelsea falls short
at the moment with what we have?
MICHAEL TUCKER: Well, I was trying very much
to be positive but, unfortunately, when we've looked
at other industrial estates around the place, I annoy the hell
out of my wife because every time we go somewhere,
I want to have a look at one - and it seems that ours
is a big higgledy piggledy, if you like, rather than saying,
"Here is an area where you can have a 2 acre plot or a 10 acre plot",
and the ring of power and sewage and water can easily just have
a connection for you.
Right now it seems to me that each title has
to have its own specific connection, whereas
if we did an infrastructure ring around it,
it would make it much easier for people to have different sized blocks of land.
Does that answer your question?
CR BODSWORTH: Yes.
There is probably more but that will do for now.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Yes, and it would work really well
if we could do it that way because, as opposed to housing blocks,
they're not all going to be the same size
and we can't just set it up - I really don't like - we really don't
like the idea of speculative builds where someone builds a 5,000
square foot warehouse and an office and hope that someone buys it.
For those of you who are my age, you might remember Moorabbin being
built that way and it took a long time for some
of those speculative office warehouses to sell
because one might have been good but 30 wasn't.
CR BODSWORTH: OK.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you.
Thanks for your submission, Michael.
Really appreciate it and we'll give it consideration.
MICHAEL TUCKER: Thank you.
Five minutes of positive thinking and be brave.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Michael.
Cheers.
And could officers please allow Michelle Stocks and Naida Hutton,
who have been nominated by Jane Bartier on behalf of Growing Winchelsea,
into the meeting.
Hi, Michelle.
MICHELLE STOCKS: Hi, Libby.
Just to start, just to let you know that Naida
is actually away on leave at the moment so it's just me tonight.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Terrific.
No worries.
Thanks for letting me know, Michelle.
So we are happy for you to get started as soon as you're ready.
MICHELLE STOCKS: Terrific.
Thank you.
I'm speaking regarding further funding for the arboretum trail in Winchelsea.
Just to start, although COVID shut down so much of our community,
our township grew at a rate never seen before.
So with the huge amount of homes and new estates being built,
we now have a whole new community to welcome and to connect.
Obviously, thank you to Surf Coast Shire
for the fabulous work on stage 1 of the river loop walk, which
is so well utilised by the community.
It's opened up our river environment for everyone to enjoy and a large area
of that was previously hidden away and not accessible.
We want to welcome new residents and we want to grow Winchelsea
to be a destination place to live, to work and to visit.
In doing so, we need to keep working together
to make further advances, to make it a place
to attract potential residents.
18 months ago we pitched an idea for an arboretum trail
to connect the town, which is currently divided
into four quadrants by the river and the highway.
The project received rave reviews from officers
throughout Surf Coast Shire and Councillors and was rated as one
of the highest projects ever presented for consideration.
Your generosity provided $20,000 to develop an arboretum advocacy plan,
which is in its final stages and will be presented on 14 June.
You also provided officer support to assist us to work together
to further develop our ideas and plans.
This year, we've applied for Queen Elizabeth Jubilee grant funds
to jump start the project by extending a current avenue
of lemon scented gum trees that are currently planted in Barclay Street.
We want to extend that down Mercer Street towards the river
bank area below the swimming pool.
We have doorknocked residents in Mercer Street to introduce that idea
and the concept, and all of them have been very positive
in relation to it.
Some of our members have also walked parts of the trail
with Surf Coast CEO Robyn Seymour, yourself, Libby Stapleton,
and Deputy Mayor Liz Pattison, and I understand Mike Bodsworth has
also been to Winchelsea for a walk around with Naida.
Naida has also driven to other areas of Winchelsea
to explain the vision more fully.
We've provided pop-up information centres in Main Street,
Winchelsea to gauge community
feeling and feedback.
We've attended pop-up welcome breakfasts
at the new green estate in Winchelsea.
Our mats were on display and were very warmly received.
We have met with Nicky Angus and Jason Eels, who have been fantastic
in assisting us to apply for the grant application, and also
to note that we have also $15,000 of in-kind contributions.
Naida has spoken with Winchelsea Land and River Care,
keeping them abreast of developments.
We have been in contact with the local school principal
to establish interest in the school children involvement.
We have huge local community support and the support of all organisations
in relation to the project, which will provide health
and social benefits, along with environmental, educational
and economic benefits to Winchelsea.
We are so appreciative of your support so far
and we request that the project continue to be supported
to develop each stage.
Each tree planted is an investment in our environment, our wellbeing,
our connection to the outdoors and our community.
So on behalf of Growing Winchelsea, we ask that you please invest in the
next stage of this project through this year's budget to plant
out an area so that the community can actually see some physical progress.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks so much, Michelle.
Would any Councillors like to ask any questions?
No?
Oh, there we go, Councillor Hodge.
CR HODGE: Thanks, Michelle.
That was a great presentation.
Just that first stage that you were talking about,
the lemon scented gums, roughly how many?
Are we talking hundreds of dozens?
MICHELLE STOCKS: In the next stage we would like to plant 60,
so to continue it on from Barclay Street
down towards the river area.
CR HODGE: Thank you.
MICHELLE STOCKS: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: It doesn't look like there's any additional questions
so thank you so much for your presentation, Michelle.
Sorry, Councillor Schonfelder has a question just before you go.
CR SCHONFELDER: I just wanted to thank you, Michelle, and Naida
and other members of the community for the work you've done in relation
to the arboretum.
Last year, Naida drove me around and showed me the different avenues
and areas that hopefully will be developed,
so it's very exciting and I think coming out of COVID,
it's something that is absolutely fantastic
and I think other townships in other Councils
will probably follow Winchelsea's lead in relation to this.
MICHELLE STOCKS: Terrific, thank you.
It is an ongoing project.
It is one that will take many years to develop
but it's also one that's going to leave a very long lasting legacy
for our community into the future.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks so much, Michelle.
We really appreciate you also taking the time to join our Hearing
of Submissions and speak to us tonight.
So cheers.
MICHELLE STOCKS: Thank you so much.
Bye.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Bye bye.
And if we could please welcome Wayne Firth on behalf
of Surf Coast Wildlife Rescue into the meeting.
Hi, Wayne.
If you're able to turn on your audio and your video.
I think we still need your video, if you want - Wayne, did you want
to turn your video on?
There you are.
That's OK.
I just wasn't sure - sometimes people prefer just
to have their audio.
Lovely to see you and thank you so much for joining us this evening.
WAYNE FIRTH: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Now, I understand that officers have
a presentation that you'd like them to share on your behalf?
WAYNE FIRTH: Yes, thanks.
MAYOR STAPLETON: If I could just ask governance
to share Wayne's presentation.
Thank you so much.
And we're ready to go when you are, Wayne.
WAYNE FIRTH: Thank you.
Thank you for hearing me tonight.
The presentation's just a little bit of background about the group.
I'm not sure if I can move the slides or not.
So most of you would be familiar with the group
but the Surf Coast Wildlife Rescue group
is a local animal response organisation.
The group comprises of about 75 local animal rescuers.
The rescuers provide response and transport services
to injured wildlife and the presentation tonight
is specifically around the large animal response group,
which is - the large animal response group is made
up of three highly trained individuals that respond to situations outlined
in this presentation.
We've actually got two other rescuers in training at the moment.
So the next slide.
This discussion, presentation, is built from four recent meetings.
So we've recently met with VicPol, the police, Parks Victoria,
the Surf Coast Shire representatives and State Government representatives.
The next slide.
What's driven these meetings - there's an escalating need
for our services, possibly due to population growth and a risk averse
of others to respond, and the necessity to ensure Surf Coast Wildlife Rescue
team is operating within the law, to develop an awareness of the cost,
frequency and response and type of response involved, explore options
to ensure the network can continue and it's currently financially
constrained due to the escalating need for response.
Activities are supported by data collection and analysis,
and are statistically proven, which I'll show you some
of that data tonight.
Next slide.
What is the large animal
response group doing?
So the group primarily responds to kangaroos and wallabies injured or
in danger within the Surf Coast.
Also birds, sheep, deer and wombats but primarily kangaroos and wallabies.
Who requests the help?
The help requests primarily come from Vic Pol, the Shire staff,
Wildlife Victoria, Parks Victoria, members of the public.
Who else can assist?
There's very few others in the region that are qualified to assist
but we do sometimes request assistance from Vic Pol or
occasionally Parks Victoria.
The frequency of response is actually increasing,
so every time we do this presentation, we have to change it, but the frequency
at the moment is about 10 kangaroos - two kangaroos on average each day.
Peak period and public holidays or over Christmas,
we respond to five to six animals in Anglesea and Torquay each day,
and we attend over 900 call-outs per year.
Just over Easter we responded to 40 animals just over the four days.
So it gives you a bit of an idea about the call-out rate.
Who can respond to the above?
Only Jason, Wayne and Steve at this stage.
In the event we cannot attend, police typically respond.
We are well supported by local police, who frequently request our attendance.
Like I said, we've got a statistical model
that collects data.
So we'll probably just go to the next slide.
This is an app that collects data from the rescuers when they go out,
and it records the location of the animal, the type and age,
the sex, the GPS location, the time and date, the intervention
and the outcomes.
So if we go to the next slide, this slide covers the Surf Coast Shire
and it actually gives you a bit of an indication
of the rate of callouts.
So that's the three-year totals.
It's very significant.
About 3,000 callouts over the three years
and the callout rate per year is escalating.
So we'll go to the next slide.
So member of the public perception - over group as over 1200 members
of public contacts via mobile numbers in our database
and they're largely ratepayers.
We have considerable public support.
Many provide small donations and help the group.
A strong belief exists that we should be supported by the Surf Coast Shire
and at the last Council elections, two Councillors campaigned
on this issue.
The next slide.
The police perception - very strong support
and we have direct contact with the DFO and the divisional vans.
Go to the next slide.
Parks Victoria are very much the same.
Very supportive.
We've had direct access with the local rangers
and we've got letters of support from them,
so they're very supportive.
The next slide.
So what is occurring to the group?
We've got an increasing cost, estimated to be 104,000
to operate the large animal group in 2022 to continue to operate.
We have rising costs in fuel, equipment.
We obviously use ammunition and drugs, insurance, training and licensing
and time away from work.
We are all at this stage volunteers.
So we have an increasing number of callouts.
We have an increasing number of kangaroos in town locations, which
is increasing the use of tranquillisers and drugs and also the time
for animals to recover.
We'll go to the next slide.
So what can the Shire do to help?
Recognise our significant contribution to the community,
as recognised by ratepayers, Parks Victoria and Victorian police.
Recognise an increasing demand for highly specialised services
relating to the situations described.
And work more closely to ensure we have alignment
with the various Departments and future planning, provide a level
of funding to support our activities in this year's budget.
So I've gone a little bit over time but thank you for hearing me.
MAYOR STAPLETON: It's our pleasure, Wayne, and thank you so much for coming
in this evening and presenting to us.
I know the work's really highly valued by the community.
So we have a couple of questions there.
Councillor Allen?
CR ALLEN: Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you very much, Wayne, for the presentation.
And thank you to you and your very dedicated group of people
for the work you do for animal welfare.
I notice from the 2020 data that you were attending to requests outside
of the Shire.
WAYNE FIRTH: Yes.
CR ALLEN: I was just wondering, since then have you had the resources
to maintain that?
Has there been an increased demand outside of the Shire boundaries?
WAYNE FIRTH: 100%, because the Surf Coast
is really fortunate to have the individuals that they've
got to be able to respond, and unfortunately some
of the surrounding Shires don't have those resources
and we're increasingly being asked to attend situations outside
of the Shire.
So we have undertaken some training of some other people outside
of the Surf Coast Shire because the reach of us at the moment,
it's very difficult for us to reach those - the deep south
of the Surf Coast Shire and all into some of those other Shires.
So it's a good question.
It's something that we're really battling with because we're just trying
to focus on the Surf Coast Shire and provide the services that we can,
but there's callouts to Bannockburn and Lara (?) and areas
like that that are also high-incident rate areas that we just don't have
the resources to service at the moment.
CR ALLEN: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Wayne.
And Councillor Wellington?
CR WELLINGTON: Thanks very much, Mayor.
Thanks, Wayne, that was
a really interesting presentation.
Can you - a couple of things.
Are you an incorporated association?
Do you have kind of a structure - - WAYNE FIRTH: Yes.
CR WELLINGTON: So you're incorporated.
And your members are the people that - do you know who are the members
of the association?
WAYNE FIRTH: Yes.
It's a not for profit registered organisation
and like tonight, I'm really only talking
about the larger animal response unit, not the larger response unit,
so there's only three members within that,
and we're in the process of recruiting another two.
CR WELLINGTON: Right.
And could we have a copy of the letters of support that you've had
from those other organisations?
That would be helpful?
WAYNE FIRTH: Yes.
They're on the Shire records.
They've gone to - so we've made a previous
submission and those - the Parks Victoria
and the Vic Pol letters are attached to those.
There's some level of confidentiality around them
but they've certainly been provided to the Shire, and if
they can't be found, certainly email me and I will find copies of them.
CR WELLINGTON: Fantastic.
Thank you very much.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Wayne, and Councillor Gazzard?
CR GAZZARD: Thanks, Wayne.
Thanks for the presentation.
And thank you for the work that you do.
Where did your funding come from up until this point,
and also have you been allocated any from State Government
through Andy Meddick's work?
WAYNE FIRTH: No, so we have applied for State Government funding
but we're not aware of whether we've been successful
in that or not.
We've also gone down a number of other avenues as far as funding
and most of those are in the air at the moment.
Like, we haven't had any positive news.
And I think one of the things that's evident
in the data is that this is an escalating need, in terms
of the rate of callouts - it's nearly unsustainable
because we're just getting so many.
CR GAZZARD: And it obviously relies on a lot of volunteer work,
but do you get donations and funding?
WAYNE FIRTH: Yes.
So when we respond, we often hand out cards which have got details
for people to make donations, so we do get some sizeable donations
from local ratepayers - you know, of properties that we respond to.
We've had a lot of letters of support and a lot of the actual members
of the group put in a lot of money to keep this thing afloat,
and I'm not certain that that's sustainable long term either.
CR GAZZARD: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Wayne.
And Councillor Bodsworth?
CR BODSWORTH: Thanks, Mayor.
Thanks a lot for that, Wayne, and I agree with the others.
Thanks for the work that you guys are doing as well.
So what I'm gathering from the presentation is that Vic Pol
and Parks Victoria and perhaps DELWP as well have not provided any funding
to date themselves?
WAYNE FIRTH: No.
Vic Pol are exploring some avenues, which I can send you,
but it really hasn't gone anywhere quickly.
Other than that they're recognising that the group
is saving an incredible amount of police resources
and that the group's got much higher skill level than sending a patrol car
to these situations.
So that recognition is there, but trying to get all of the groups
to align and discuss funding and how this can be better done has
been very disjointed.
CR BODSWORTH: I can imagine.
And I think that there are other wildlife carer groups
and rescue groups in the region - in the district maybe, but especially
in that wider region.
And I'm just interested in a quick idea of the opportunities for collaboration
between those smaller groups and potentially a sort
of cooperative approach to deal with that geographic reach
and pooling of resources?
WAYNE FIRTH: I think that opportunity is there, but one
of the things that we're finding is that many of the other groups,
especially as we reach out, they just don't have the skills or
the equipment to be able to respond to some of the complex situations that
we go to.
The regulatory environment, the insurance, the management
of the medications that you need, they're all impediments
to getting involved in this.
Like, the volunteers that have been involved
that put hours into training, a lot of their own money, and a lot
of their own equipment to be able to respond.
Each responder carries maybe $20,000 worth of equipment to be able
to actually go out and do these things and most
of them have funded that themselves.
So it's an incredible effort.
CR BODSWORTH: Thanks, Wayne.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Wayne.
And just one more question from Councillor Wellington.
CR WELLINGTON: Thanks.
Yeah, what happens to the animals - if they're injured and need treatment,
is there a network of - - WAYNE FIRTH: Yes.
That's a further network in itself in terms
of the joeys that are recovered - there's another tier
of carers that take over the care of those animals.
So largely our group is at this stage responding
to the emergency situations and we're critically in need
of somewhere for kangaroos to recover from tranquilising.
We just don't have anywhere for that at the moment.
So we're getting an increasing number of kangaroos actually in the towns
of Torquay and Anglesea and we actually have
to tranquilise those and take them out of town and it takes them may two,
three hours to recover from the medication
and we simply don't have anywhere to do that at the moment.
So a carer has to take that animal out of town.
They have to sit with it and wait for it to recover.
So that's a whole other level of complication and it's something that
is escalating in terms of the need to tranquilise animals that are
in difficult situations, in housing estates, in people's homes.
CR WELLINGTON: And can I just ask one more question, if you don't mind?
So with the supply of drugs, most drugs are regulated obviously,
certainly for human use they can't be accessed
without a prescription.
So are you authorised by the TGA or somebody
to access those drugs?
WAYNE FIRTH: We're trained in the use of the medications and we operate
under the guidance of a veterinarian.
CR WELLINGTON: Right.
So is there a single veterinarian who is responsible for all of this?
How does that work?
WAYNE FIRTH: There's several veterinarians but there's one
in particular in Torquay that is certainly pivotal to the group,
and obviously those medications are very expensive and
they are regulated so we have to be trained.
CR WELLINGTON: OK.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you very much, Wayne.
We'll have to leave it there but really appreciate you taking
the time to come in and make your submission tonight.
WAYNE FIRTH: Thank you for taking so much time
to discuss it with us.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: No worries.
Cheers.
Thanks, wine.
Bye.
And could we please admit Rusty into the meeting.
Hi, Rusty.
I'm not sure if you can hear me but I think you're joining us by phone,
so if you're able to unmute your phone, then we can hear from you.
RUSTY: OK.
MAYOR STAPLETON: We can hear you now.
So I understand that you'll just be speaking to us rather than
on the actual Zoom visually.
So happy for you to go ahead when you're ready.
RUSTY: Yeah.
I had no choice.
Thank you, Mayor.
And I do come to you via candlelight tonight, which
is rather ironic because part of my submission to Council was
on climate disruption.
This is my first opportunity to address Council since the election.
It is great to see two experienced Councillors
and 7 newbies.
It is particularly pleasing to see a new CEO.
It is apparent that the management and the new Council are working
to address outstanding issues.
My interest started out in looking at climate action plans and the supply
of the dollars to achieve those goals by Councils that had declared
a climate emergency.
Surf Coast Council and the spread of their seven themes makes a good
forward plan in bite-sized chunks.
Climate emergency dollars are spread over several themes and programs.
I would like to suggest, if possible, is there a possible way of, by way
of note in the budget and the financials,
to provide a complete list of the climate emergency initiatives
from all things, demonstrating the item, together
with the income and expenditure?
I couldn't find a great deal being said about the full extent
of the circular economy in the budget document
and any dollars that are going to be allocated there.
There were some existing programs but I can't see too much going forward.
The other theme is progress done properly.
Spring Creek seems to be finally being resolved
by the Federal Government.
I raise the point about adjustments to the LOP and the DCP so as
to prevent future inappropriate developments.
Let's spend the scarce dollar resources on the ratepayers, not the lawyers.
Big tick to you guys in trying to achieve accreditation
under the climate action program, especially pleasing to forge forward
without the reliance on using offset credits.
In closing, the Federal Government should now
assist LGs that have declared a climate emergency to get a greater share
of the dollars for the planet.
Please do not lose sight of the climate emergency declaration -
please do not lose sight of the fact that the climate emergency
declaration was community led.
I feel more could be done with the Surf Coast community.
The sign off: keep up the continuous improvement.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you very much, Rusty, for your feedback.
Really appreciate that.
And I will ask Councillors if they have any questions for Rusty.
No?
It looks like we're all good there, Rusty.
So I appreciate you phoning into our meeting and speaking
to your submission and also in addition for all the feedback you provided
through your submission.
It's much appreciated.
RUSTY: Thanks, Mayor.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Rusty.
Cheers.
And if we could please welcome Sally Margaret Groom on behalf
of Surf Coast arts space into the meeting.
And I believe Sally has Virginia with her as well so
if we could let Sally and Virginia into the meeting.
Hi, Sally and Virginia.
If you want to turn on your audio and your video, we'll be able
to see you and hear you.
Hi, Sally, how are you?
SALLY GROOM: Hi.
Thank you.
There is another presenter coming in as well.
MAYOR STAPLETON: I think we have Virginia here.
VIRGINIA ALDRED: Hi, everybody.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Hi.
How are you?
VIRGINIA ALDRED: Good.
Can I just share my screen with you?
MAYOR STAPLETON: Yes.
And we're happy for you guys to get started as soon
as you've got that set up.
VIRGINIA ALDRED: OK.
Good evening, Mayor Stapleton and Councillors.
I would just like to introduce myself.
I'm Virginia Aldred from Surf Coast Art Space,
and Sally Groom here, she's the Chair of the committee.
I'd just like to give you a brief overview
of what we do and why we're here this evening,
which is to seek a contribution towards a coordinator's role in the gallery.
Sally?
SALLY GROOM: Thanks, Virginia.
Just quickly, I wanted to have a look at a few of the achievements
at Hoop Gallery that we'd like to share with you.
In November 2021, we put out a call for exhibitions
to an absolutely overwhelming response.
We were able to completely fill our schedule
and open our doors four days a week from our first day opening
to the public in March 2022.
Over 700 visitors have since engaged with our exhibition, which
is really pleasing.
The testimonials on the slide attest to the way
in which our current Exhibition and Programs Coordinator,
Daniella Rodrigues, really lives our values
of being collaborative, collegiate and welcoming.
Virginia?
VIRGINIA ALDRED: Thanks, Sally.
Just talking a little bit about our exhibition program,
the calendar is absolutely filled to January 2023
with local artists coming up - Hunter, Chris Aspendale, Ron Talbot,
Colleen O'Loughlin and Vaughan Pran.
Two of these artists are part of an artists collective,
mosaic artists and glass artists, so they're group exhibitions.
But I really want to focus on a surfing photography prize that
we're trying to put together as a committee for the age group
between 16 and 24.
We're focussing on the youth here.
And it is to align with the Rip Curl 60 Bells Classic
anniversary next year in April.
Thanks, Sally.
SALLY GROOM: Thank you.
At Hoop Gallery, SCAS runs a unique and popular event Fridays at 5.
It happens monthly on a Friday and artists are briefly interviewed
to draw out meaningful events in their artistic journeys,
their inspirations and their experiences in the industry.
It's becoming a really growing, popular event
and the conversation often then opens up to the floor and continues
over drinks and dinner.
Virginia?
VIRGINIA ALDRED: I'm really excited about the arts hub that we've got
in the gallery space.
It is a place with a table for people to come and meet each other together,
to have a coffee with the coordinator or a cup of tea,
to talk about whatever it is that they need to talk about,
potentially collaboration.
There's also a beginnings of an art library there.
It is a safe place for artists to gather and to have a chat.
Sally?
SALLY GROOM: SCAS's Hoop Gallery has really quickly grown a high level
of community engagement, as testified in the figures
on the screen.
It seems to us that there's been a need for an active and vibrant community-run
visual arts facility in the Surf Coast region, and we are,
we think, fulfilling that need.
Virginia?
VIRGINIA ALDRED: Where do I start?
Aspirations.
Really, we've got so many ideas out there.
We don't know where to put our feet down.
We've only just started.
We'd really like to get a philanthropy program together,
a Friends of the Gallery together.
We want to work with schools in the community,
partnering with the prisons and retiree communities,
really drawing the community groups out to be part of the gallery experience.
Sally?
SALLY GROOM: The unique scale at the Hoop Gallery really allows us
to become participants in the experience economy,
a shift that galleries all around the world are having to make.
The unusually large size of the gallery with its 8m ceiling
and 200 square metre floor space allows for the delivery of ambitious,
large-scale art projects, and we've had quite a few proposals,
as you can see listed here already.
Next slide, please.
Thank you so much for listening, Councillors and Mayor.
In finishing, the role of Exhibitions and Programs Coordinator for crucial
for SCAS to continue to implement and deliver our programming
at Hoop Gallery.
Still in our infancy, we are faced with a minor financial challenge
in a staffing contract in 2022/23.
We are seeking a contribution from the Surf Coast Shire of $17,550,
which is three-quarters of the total cost of the 12-month
contract at 15 hours per week.
I hope that you decide on the proposal favourably.
Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Sally and Virginia, and congratulations
on a very inspiring program that you're running.
Councillor Allen?
CR ALLEN: Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Sally and Virginia.
It is exciting and congratulations on what you have achieved to date.
I was particularly pleased to read in your vision that you see that
there are networking opportunities and there will be a ripple effect that
will elevate the creative culture within the Shire.
How would you see a coordinator fulfilling that vision of networking
and the ripple effect throughout the Shire?
SALLY GROOM: Do you want to answer that, Virginia?
VIRGINIA ALDRED: Well, the coordinator would be down
on the ground doing the work, the day-to-day work, of the exhibition,
and also networking in Surf City.
We're there near the surfing museum and also surfing Victoria
and we really need to get down on the ground there
and make those relationships there and work with the community to be part
of the community, not just this austere gallery off
to the side that does stuff.
We want to build business partnerships there,
and particularly in and around the Rip Curl junior surfing,
it would be great to get out and create the relationships to see
if we can align the creativity of the youth
with an audience coming into town, both locally and nationally,
with business there.
So be part of Surf City and the culture here on the coast.
SALLY GROOM: I'll just quickly say too that, of course, there
is a network already in existence of the Anglesea Art House,
the Anglesea Art Space, galleries like Kudos and Eaglesnest, and we're
all very connected and I think the coordinator actually
beds down those contacts by being in communication with all
of the different players in the arts in the Shire to -
we borrow each other's equipment.
We constantly interact.
To I think the coordinator is just that constant face
of the gallery that allows for those really good relationships
to build and for more and more people to become involved.
CR ALLEN: Thank you, and keep up the great work.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, guys.
And Councillor Gazzard?
CR GAZZARD: Thank you.
That was an excellent presentation.
And we're keen to support the arts where we can.
Surf Coast Art Space, so the 80 members, are any
of those paid positions or would this be the first?
SALLY GROOM: So the Shire actually contributed a six months contract
for a coordinator to kickstart the program
and now we're able to contribute about $6,000 ourselves
to this position, but we're just needing
at this stage support for the other three-quarters
of that position for the year.
We are hoping, of course, to be totally self-sufficient
within the next year.
CR GAZZARD: Can I ask another question, sorry?
MAYOR STAPLETON: Yes.
And just before - sorry, Councillor Gazzard, just
before you ask another question, Sally, could I just ask you to clarify -
so the request is a funding as a one-off sort
of contract position for 12 months?
Is that the suggestion?
SALLY GROOM: Yes, it's 75% of the contract, 12 months
at 15 hours a week.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks.
Sorry, Councillor Gazzard.
Go ahead.
CR GAZZARD: I'm just wondering, are you seeking funding
through any other streams at all?
SALLY GROOM: What are we doing?
We're putting in a lot of grant requests - grant applications.
We have had a grant application for a workshop already.
There's various sorts of grant applications we're putting in,
mainly equipment based.
Funding - we're certainly building on a program
of donors who we know they're out there and we've already had offers.
So we are building up a package of philanthropy
to seek philanthropic support, for sure.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you.
And Councillor Bodsworth?
CR BODSWORTH: Yes, thanks, Sally and Virginia for that.
Great presentation and great to hear what's going on.
I hope this is not too silly a question but are there sales
of artworks happening?
Has that got to potential to help with the funding stream in the future?
SALLY GROOM: Yes, we support ourselves largely
through renting the space and through 20% commission
on artwork sales.
So we pay for all of our own costs, rental, utilities, gas, water,
et cetera, through our business.
So we're hoping to get to a point where we've got
a third business, a third fundraising and a third grants.
That's basically where we're headed.
That's where we're hoping to head.
Did you want to say something, Virginia?
VIRGINIA ALDRED: No, I was just going to support you with the infrastructure.
We have our own infrastructure and we're building
on the infrastructure, and just with the philanthropic thing,
artists are stepping out with their skills for free.
So we have fundraising workshops.
We've got artists offering to run workshops for the gallery
as a fundraising for the gallery.
We're at very beginning stages but we're very excited
about what's happening around the space,
and also the support thus far for the gallery.
We're only four months in and the crowd's building,
the membership's building, and a lot of energy is happening
around the space.
CR BODSWORTH: It's really impressive.
Good on you.
SALLY GROOM: Yes, people's membership is also part of our business case,
the way that our business runs, yes.
Not for profit.
CR BODSWORTH: OK.
Good on you, thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you, and really appreciate both of you,
Virginia and Sally, coming in and presenting to us tonight.
Terrific.
Cheers.
Good evening.
And could we please admit Alexander Frabotta into the meeting now.
And, Alex, if you can hear me, if you could try turning on your audio
and your video, and we'll see if we can make a start.
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: There we go.
Can you hear me now?
MAYOR STAPLETON: We can hear you, Alex.
Thank you, loud and clear.
Did you want to turn on your video as well, Alex?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: I'll try it.
I'm on a very iffy broadband, so I'll try to keep it -
if I see that it's actually causing problems,
I will just go just audio.
OK.
MAYOR STAPLETON: No problem at all.
Thank you.
And happy for you to get started as soon as you're ready.
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Basically, my submission is related
to a small stretch of road that seems to have fallen through the gap
between two government bodies - that being the Surf Coast
Shire and DELWP.
I'll explain briefly.
The communities of Wensleydale and Gherang share this 10km east-west
gravel road which borders the state forest.
Between Nobles and Dangers Road, the road has fallen into disrepair
to the point that two-wheel-drive cars often get bogged.
This matter was raised with the Surf Coast Shire road
management as far back as August 2018.
The issue raised at the time was that the number of visitors ending up bogged
in this stretch of road was increasing every year.
Worse still, emergency vehicles
which are issued maps - physical maps - show Wombete Station
Road as a two-wheel-drive road in its entirety,
and conversations I've had with CFA - the captains
of different CFAs who visited the place and told me that their tankers would
definitely get bogged in the current conditions of that stretch of road.
In short, this particular stretch of road is
not only unusable for two-wheel-drive vehicles but in an emergency it could
become a trap for all users unfamiliar with the problem.
Through community action, DELWP got involved.
They improved what they called the drivability
of that section, but after two years of improvements made by DELWP,
the improvements are basically vanishing again due to the lack
of ongoing maintenance, which from what they tell me remains an issue
of jurisdiction between what DELWP is supposed to do and the Shire
is supposed to do.
This is what I've been told by DELWP.
So what I'm asking the Council is to prioritise the issue in this budget
and bring this section of road to the standard of the rest
of Wombete Station Road and adjoining unsealed roads,
rectify the jurisdiction gap and include the full length
of this road in future, that being Wombete Station Road,
to be included in the full maintenance and grading upkeep.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you so much, Alex.
Do any Councillors have any questions?
Councillor Allen?
CR ALLEN: Thanks, Mayor.
Hi, Alex.
I know the Bambra area of that road is severely impacted by logging trucks,
particularly the Bambra end.
Is the same impact on the Wombete Station Road
with logging trucks?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: No, it's a farming area.
It's not a logging area.
But for a farming area, it's quite densely populated,
particularly the Hamlets of Gherang and Wensleydale.
CR ALLEN: Was there consideration then of a special charge scheme
to approach the Council, with those properties contributing?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Not that I'm aware of, no, no.
Basically this road - it's basically - there's a significant difference
between the entire length of the road and this east end - as I said,
between Dangers and Nobles Road.
At the moment, DELWP has actually
made some improvements.
As a matter of fact, when I started talking to the Shire,
there were small trees growing on the road, so basically you had
to go around, and the locals still use it.
You can actually see it.
But anybody that is unfamiliar and my argument back then was the fact
that most people these days, believe it or not,
they would trust more what Google Maps says on their own map says than what
they see in front of them.
So if basically the online maps say that it's drivable, well, they
will keep ongoing until they get bogged.
As I argued back then, I would have thought it would be much
easier to actually fix the road than try
to convince Google and Apple or the different onboard map
systems to actually change
the information displayed.
CR ALLEN: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Alex.
And Councillor Schonfelder?
CR SCHONFELDER: Alex, thank you for your presentation.
You mentioned increased numbers of traffic using the road,
and I would imagine that with the Tanners Creek camping site,
there are more people taking horses and horse floats along that road?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Potentially.
Potentially.
The other thing that has happened with Tanners Road - when
all this was presented to the Shire, I notice that they even added a sign
on Tanners Road.
So Wombete Station Road is largely unusable in that stretch
of its length, and then on Tanners Road,
they've actually put signs saying that it's a fire access road and use
is not encouraged, even though Tanners, as you said -
the Tanners camping ground is just a few metres down.
CR SCHONFELDER: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Alex.
And Councillor Wellington?
CR WELLINGTON: Thank you.
Thanks very much for your presentation.
Is it a seasonal problem or is it a year round problem?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: I would say it's a year round problem
but obviously a lot worse in winter.
It doesn't take a lot of rain for the pots to start filling up.
As I said, people with 4WD probably might not have much
of an issue, but as I mentioned before, definitely an ambulance
would actually have - vehicles with two wheel drive
that carry heavy loads, like ambulances and tankers for the CFA,
definitely would have an issue.
And, as I said, it's something that all the maps are actually showing
as perfectly drivable, perfectly viable.
CR WELLINGTON: Thank you.
And so the distance that is the problem area?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Probably, I don't know, 400m.
Something like that.
CR WELLINGTON: Right.
OK.
Yes, thanks very much.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Alex.
And Councillor Bodsworth?
CR BODSWORTH: Hi, Alex.
Thanks for talking to us about this.
Why - apart from the fact that it shows up on apps like Google Maps
and also locals who are using it for local access,
why do people use that section of the road?
Where is it taking people and is it an important way of getting -
of moving east-west in that area?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Yes.
Where we are, we're bordering - the two communities of Wensleydale
and Gherang are bordering the state forest.
It basically communicates us with Forest Road, it connects us
to Forest Road, and obviously people that are going
to Torquay can keep ongoing inland, and many locals actually do,
rather than going all the way down to the Great Ocean Road.
CR BODSWORTH: So people from further west heading
to Anglesea or Torquay would go that way?
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Pretty much.
The other thing I was actually going to mention is from my understanding,
the ambulances in the area, the closest to us would actually be Anglesea,
they would actually use that as a shortcut, rather than cut
through the forest obviously.
CR BODSWORTH: OK.
Thanks, Alex.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you very much, Alex, and appreciate you taking
the time to come in and talk to us tonight.
ALEXANDER FRABOTTA: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Cheers.
Good night.
And could we please admit Claire Osborn on behalf
of Surf Coast Little Athletics into the meeting.
Claire, if you could turn on your video and audio and then we can get started.
Hi, Claire, how are you going?
CLAIRE OSBORN: Good.
How are you?
MAYOR STAPLETON: Good.
Good to see you.
Thank you for joining us.
CLAIRE OSBORN: Thanks for having me.
MAYOR STAPLETON: We're happy to get started as soon
as you are ready.
CLAIRE OSBORN: Thank you.
The Surf Coast athletics community strongly believes it can improve
the lives of those living in the region.
We are comitted to delivering a fun, inclusive connected
and supportive program for families to enjoy
and participate in wholistically.
Our Little Athletics program involves a range of track and field events
as well as cross country, designed for children aged 5 to 16 years.
The events and equipment are modified to suit the developmental age
and ability of children.
We have also sought Council to support a dedicated facility
via a petition, in which we also mention that it would
be great to see a feasibility study supported
in this budget.
So I have not included that in this submission.
But I would like to see funding - our committee as well would like
to see funding for this in the budget or
to consider moving straight to funding in the master plan
if deemed more suitable.
We've requested moderate support for operational running costs,
as we get going, as well as some minor infrastructure.
We believe that Surf Coast Little Athletics supports the Surf Coast
public health and wellbeing plan incorporated
in the Council plan, which aims to increase the participation
and contribution to community life.
Little Athletics assists Council in achieving these objectives
to facilitate high levels of volunteering in the community,
to support healthy eating and active living, to improve access
to services for young people and their families, and
to provide
opportunities for age-appropriate, social and hobby-based activities
for youth with special needs.
Rejecting to support this Little Athletics
venture or taking a do-nothing approach means that families
will not be able to participate in track and field sports
without significant effort on their part and it adds pressure
to our committee, who are trying to increase participation, as well
as our offerings, as we get started.
This funding would allow us to redirect some of our funds to invest
in timing equipment and some of the other infrastructure
to improve the program that we're able to offer to children.
And so far we've had really great uptake from the community
in just our first year.
I think you heard us recently say we have 100 members.
But we also have really engaged families
and children taking opportunities that they previously didn't.
To date we've had three athletes represent Surf Coast Little Athletics
at the regional track and field and one of those went on to come 10th
at the State Championships, and next weekend we've got an under-10
girls relay team participating at the State Cross
Country Relay Championships.
So it really is something that families are taking
on and really grateful for, and setting up the cross country locally,
I've had so many people ask, "What are you doing?".
And the response often is, "Didn't we have athletics here
before?".
So it really does highlight the gap that there has been
and the way that the community has appreciated Surf Coast athletics coming
along and filling that gap.
So we'd just love to continue to see some support
for what we're doing.
I think that the biggest challenge for us is that we're coming
from a very new place into a community that, as you know,
is growing at a very rapid rate, and just picking it up
to a pace that allows us to really grow our program
and grow involvement, and we'd really like to see that ongoing support
from the Council that we did receive early on through the grant program.
Oh, I do have one other thing to say.
To date we have covered all those costs from a significant effort
of sponsorship funding and community contribution
to what we've been doing.
So I think that the amount of community support -
we don't have big donations of money but we have had lots of small donations
of money and people wanting to really see this become
successful and thrive, and I think that shows a level
of community support which is really important.
MAYOR STAPLETON: That's great.
Thank you so much, Claire.
And well done on all your advocacy and efforts to get Little Athletics
up and running.
I know it's been a huge job, and thank you for coming in
and making your submission to us tonight.
So we have some questions from Councillor Pattison
and then Councillor Allen.
CR PATTISON: Thanks, Claire.
That was a great submission and I agree,
there's just so many families that are so involved in the Little Athletics.
It was a pleasure coming on and there was coffee vans and things
for the parents as well as activities for the kids so it really did cater
for the whole - the broader community, not just the kids running
but the parents, gathering, meeting people and
all those sorts of things.
Could you just clarify around the venue hire fees.
Are you planning to continue doing it at Torquay College?
And the fees from the school and the like, could you just explain a
little bit around that?
CLAIRE OSBORN: So the fee structure that came
with the school was that it was a $35 an hour fee.
We use it for just over two hours but they gave us a bit of grace
in our first year, as we started, just to charge us
for the time that we were using it.
We've got a meeting upcoming with them to talk
about how that looks going forward.
But 16 weeks of a program at three hours at that $35 rate
is the venue hire fee.
And as far as planning to continue at Torquay College, well, I think that
until we can come up with a place that suits our needs,
it is the best place in the area at the moment because it's got pits.
So we really do need funding for long jump pits
and the discus caging infrastructure that will allow us to participate.
But interestingly, there are 95 Little Athletics
in Victoria and only nine of them run on less than 400m,
and we're one of those.
Out of all of those centres, 39 are on synthetic
and 26 are dedicated facilities of some kind.
Everything that's not running on - anything that's running
on a 400m oval has a separate long jump pit.
A lot of them are - even though some of them run on grass tracks,
they'll have a synthetic long jump run-up into that.
So at the moment, yes, Torquay College is -
I think that that's logical that we are going
to probably run our next season there as well.
But the way that I see it and the way that I think Would like
to see athletics grow in the Surf Coast and I think other people would too,
it would be to move to another facility that's 400m so
that we're competing - our kids are going off to region
and doing really well.
We can't be offering them the same level of training
on our 300m grass track that's up-kept by the school with its dumps and divets
and the grass donated from Anco that I put in
over the muddy patch of football field to make it safe.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Claire.
And Councillor Allen?
CR ALLEN: Thanks, Mayor.
Thanks, Claire, for your presentation and fantastic program,
wonderful program, and thank you to you and the other volunteers
for the work that you do.
I noticed in the submission that part of the submission is
for expenses rather than capital expenditure.
Would you envisage in the short to medium term that you would expect
the Shire to continue to pay those ongoing costs,
for example, for venue hire, and I think the other one was container
hire I think?
Would that be your expectation?
CLAIRE OSBORN: Look, I would expect ongoing that we would
at some stage have venue hire, but the venue would be an appropriate
facility for athletics that we would be hiring,
and that at some stage we would get funding
support for a storage facility.
We're hiring a container but it's not appropriate
to be pulling athletics equipment in and out and storing it safely.
We were donated, fortunately from Geelong Athletics,
the high jump mats that are suitable for children who are under 10 and over,
but that's tens of thousands of dollars in the initial purchase
that's being stuck in a container because we don't have our own dedicated
venue and storage facility and the like.
And when those - I'm not sure what
the fee agreements are, but certainly other
sports like cricket, like football, who have amazing facilities are not
necessarily paying the same level of fees as we are as we're trying
to get going and off the ground, on top of line marking, which
is absurdly expensive.
CR ALLEN: I understand.
And thanks again for your commitment.
CLAIRE OSBORN: Thank you very much.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thank you, Claire, for your presentation, and as I said
for coming in tonight.
We really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us directly.
So thank you.
CLAIRE OSBORN: Thank you for having me.
MAYOR STAPLETON: No worries.
Cheers.
Goodnight.
And our final presentation will be from Gabby Spiller, who's the Manager
of Finance at Surf Coast Shire Council and she'll be making a presentation
on behalf of the organisation.
So welcome, Gabby.
I can see you've joined us there in the video and we will encourage you
to commence your presentation as soon as you're ready.
GABBY SPILLER: Thank you.
Good evening, Councillors.
I've put up on the screen here - I've listed
all the items that we've got on the organisation's submission.
So officers have prepared the organisation's submission
with items that mainly relate to new information arising
since the preparation of the Draft Budget
and also a couple of corrections.
I'll talk about projects initially.
Then I'll talk about our current budgets.
The first important point that I would like to make - and I'm pleased to say -
that we are proposing an additional $1.1 million spend on renewals.
This is due to successful grant funding from the Federal Government
Bridges Renewal Program.
So additional spend on renewals but without additional cost to Council,
and those renewal projects are mainly in the Winchelsea ward.
The second point is that whilst we are proposing
an overall increase to the project budget of $3.3 million,
that is not affecting our bottom line at all because that's been grant funded
and a contribution from Golden Plains Shire.
So I'll talk to the Pollocksford
Road Bridge Project.
So whilst this bridge is controlled by Surf Coast Shire, it's jointly owned
by Surf Coast Shire and Golden Plains Shire
and we have an agreement in place with Golden Plains that
they contribute 50% to any capital costs.
The draft report only included Council's contributions
and this submission includes Golden Plains' contribution of $500,000, and,
as I spoke to before, the grant funding of 2.8 million that we were
successful in achieving.
So this 2.8 million, 50% of it relates to Golden Plains Shire' contribution
and 50% to Surf Coast Shire's contribution.
The total project cost is 3.8 million.
The draft budget was contributing 1 million
from the renewal reserves towards the project.
Half of that we can return and will be allocated further down here.
And we were contributing 1.05 million from our Roads to Recovery funding,
which we are contributing here.
So the Roads to Recovery - we're contributing 300
to unsealed roads renewal, and 301,000 to sealed road renewal,
with the balance of the Roads to Recovery funding to be allocated
to road improvements, 280,000, with sealing
of some rural gravel roads, and 40,000 to Sparrow Avenue
Special Charge Scheme, drainage, road sealing elements included
in that project, and 130,000 for Barwon Park Final Seal.
So this project has partially been completed this year and this 130,000
next year would allow the final sealing of that 2.6 kilometres that they've
been working on.
So this 500,000 allocation to renewal here that we're looking at,
the 200,000 to unsealed renewal program and 300,000
to the sealed renewal program, is the transfer that this funding was
previously on the Pollocksford Road Bridge.
So Horseshoe Bend Road is a renewal project -
sealed road renewal project - with rehabilitation of existing road,
pavement and sealing.
We have a road-widening project of this section
of the road which we intend to do in 23/24 and that will be funded
from Roads to Recovery.
What we're proposing now is that we push the delivery
of this project out to the '23/24 so the road widening
and this project can be done concurrently.
We will retain 70,000 of this budget in next year's budget
to do the design works, so the design works
will be completed in the '22/23 budget, then they'll proceed
with the completion of the actual project
in the following year.
So with moving this 590,000 out to the following year,
it has freed up 590,000, which 480,000 will go
to the unsealed renewal program and 110,000
to the footpath renewal program.
So then we move on to our recurrent proposals,
the first one being application for software maintenance growth.
So this is 19,800 that we require in the budget
to pay for this.
So this is a new project that DT has worked on
and for the ongoing maintenance annual fee.
We should have put a recurrent budget bid in for 19,800 for next year.
Councillor allowance - so there was an error
in the calculation where we doubled up basically
in relation to superannuation.
So 18,800 is savings in the budget.
And a grant funding has been confirmed, so there's a change of 4.7 thousand
in relation to that, so it was less grant funding than what
we actually budgeted for.
And then with our rates and charges, we have finalised
all our supplementary rates and valuations from the Valuer-General.
It has brought through a savings of $8,199
and also with that, there'll be some final adjustments
with the rate in the dollars, some very minor tweaks that
will occur in the final adopted budget as well.
So that's a total in our recurrent operations
of savings of $2,430.
And I have just gone over.
MAYOR STAPLETON: We'll forgive you, Gabby.
Councillor Allen?
CR ALLEN: Thanks, Mayor.
Thanks for your presentation.
Just to clarify, the 500,000 that's going into allocate renewal,
I presume that's going into RMP - the road management plan
for the entire Shire, prioritising the entire, Shire,
not just Winchelsea.
GABBY SPILLER: So it's the priorities of the whole Shire but
because Winchelsea is such a large, broad and it encompasses -
there's a lot of roads in there, it does so happen
to be that a large portion is Winchelsea ward.
CR ALLEN: Thank you.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Are there any other questions from Councillors?
Councillor Wellington?
CR WELLINGTON: Yes, thanks, Mayor.
I don't quite follow all the tos and fros from the budget here.
I'd have to look at it a bit more closely.
But there is a desperate need for more funding obviously
for unsealed roads in the Winchelsea ward and I can't quite work out just
from that presentation how much additional will be put
in this year compared with last year.
So for resheeting and significant maintenance
on unsealed roads.
Are you able to - rather than the tos and fros of it, Gabby, are you able
to tell us what the total budget looks like compared with last year?
GABBY SPILLER: If you want some comparisons from last year, I will have
to take that on notice and give that to you,
Councillor Wellington.
CR WELLINGTON: That would be great, if you didn't mind.
Because we put in an extra 150,000 in unsealed road maintenance a couple
of years ago but half of it went into communications,
which I think was trying to - to be honest,
there was a view that people were expecting too much and there was a view
that they needed to be persuaded that they didn't need their roads done.
So I'd really just like to see some absolutely substantial
investment in it.
There's this huge backlog and tremendous problems, as we heard
from Wombete Station Road.
There's an enormous number of problems, particularly down in the Gherang,
Wensleydale area, the area around Winchelsea.
MAYOR STAPLETON: Thanks, Councillor Wellington.
And thanks, Gabby, for your presentation.
So Councillors, can I now have a mover of a motion to receive
and note the submissions and the Draft Budget 2022-23?
Councillor Allen, thank you, and seconded by Councillor Bodsworth.
And we will now need to vote on that.
So all those in favour, please raise your hands?
Councillor Wellington, your screen is off at the moment.
CR WELLINGTON: Sorry, I have been having a
few computer issues.
I have been having it off to save the bandwidth.
MAYOR STAPLETON: The motion is carried unanimously.
Thank you, Councillors, and thank you again
to everyone in the community who joined us tonight and particular thanks
to those who came in and made a submission
to our budget process.
So there being no further items of business for tonight,
I declare the meeting closed at 7.30pm and wish you all an enjoyable evening.
Thank you.