so councilors we rise this afternoon
Monday the 12th of February in order to
open this ordinary meeting of council
and an acknowledging country this
evening I wish to acknowledge the
Aboriginal Elders of the Shoalhaven and
Beyond the Elders of today the Elders of
the past and the Elders of the future I
appreciate the work that's been done by
the elders to create the Elders of the
future passing on knowledge that has
been passed to them for thousands and
thousands of generations I also
acknowledge that this land is was and
will always be Aboriginal land can we
please take a moment of
silence
thank you can we have the
anthem
[Music]
aans all let us rejoice for We Are One
and
free with golden s and we to our har is
good by
sea our land abounds in nature GES all
Beauty rich and
are in history page let every state of
Australia it all strength and let us
sing of
God
[Music]
austral thank you please be
seated so counselors and all before I
proceed on the agenda there's one
very important thing that I wish to do
this afternoon and that is to introduce
to the Shoalhaven Shoalhaven's newly
minted SEO Mrs Robin Stevens if we can
please welcome Robin on her first day
at sha
Haven may it be a first of many and may
we enjoy the many months to come so
thank you for being here Robin thank you
and also at the beginning of the
meeting I need to also let everyone know
in the gallery that the proceedings of
the meeting including presentations
deput ations and debate will be webcast
recorded and made available on council's
website and under the provisions of the
code of meeting practice our code of
meeting practice states that it is not
the intention of live streaming
recording and Publishing to capture
those attending the meeting in the
gallery however this may occur due to
the camera angles and seating
arrangements by attending this meeting
you are consenting to your voice image
or comments being webcast and recorded
and should refrain from making any
defamatory statements your attendance at
this meeting is taken as consent to the
possibility that your image and or voice
may be recorded and broadcast to the
public under our code of meeting
practice I'd like to remind our
counselors that join remotely of section
5.20 being that a councilor must give
their full attention to the business and
proceedings of the meeting when
attending a meeting by audiovisual link
the C counselor's camera must be on at
all times during the meeting except as
may be otherwise provided for under this
code under the code of meeting practice
in the code of meeting Behavior Council
and committee meetings are held to
engage in discussions on various issues
and to reach decisions as
representatives of the community this
meeting is Guided by council's code
council's code of meeting practice in
conjunction with the code of conduct
therefore I would like to remind both
councilors and the public who are
joining us today that our meeting PR
principles dictate treating each other
with respect and that all attendees
should behave in a manner that Fosters a
safe respectful and orderly environment
our adopted code of conduct which is
based on the model code strictly
prohibits intimidation harassment or
verbal abuse the code of meeting
practice empowers the chair to Halt and
adjourn the meeting in the event of any
escalating behavior and disorder
furthermore the chair has the authority
to remove anyone in attendance from the
meeting if their conduct is deemed
inappropriately consequently I kindly
request that everyone present at today's
meeting conducts themselves in a way
that respects that reflects respect
safety and
reasonableness so counselors we have
no apologies because we've got two
colleagues that are joining us online
councelor Darth and councelor Watson but
we do have a leave of absence that has
been requested by councelor Kristen
who is unable to join us this evening
as he has his other job to attend to
does anyone wish to apply for any other
leave of absence councelor
Norris thank you may Finley I'm applying
for for leave of absence for the meeting
on the 26th of
February great thank you any further
leave of absence
applications none thank you and in the
confirmation of of the minutes
councelor Boyd has brought to my
attention that she'd like to let us
know that there was an error in the
minutes please note everyone that
there was an error in the minutes of the
ordinary meeting held on the 29th of
January the error is in cl22 24.2
application to Lodge of special rate
variation I am recorded as voting for
this motion and I did not the error was
published in hard copies of the minutes
distributed to other counselors and
publicly online the minutes have since
been corrected on the SCH Haven city
council website thank you will you move
the minutes Council boy with that a
correction corrected yes yes Benjamin's
nodding his head yes yeah I have a
second to for the minutes please thank
you thank you Council Wells are there
any dissenting voices in the reception
of the minutes there being none then
that is carried thank you are there any
Declarations of Interest this evening
councilors none should any arise then
we'll deal with that as need be
councilor white you have a petition to
present this
evening have a petition to present
it's a petition from Hees Beach and it
has
411 signatures on it we the
undersign request the introduction of
time based speed limit of 25 km hour in
the village of heims beach when the
current traffic management plan
instigated by sh Haven city council is
operational genuinely December January
Easter holidays and October long weekend
this request is consistent with Oz
Road's guide to traffic management part
five table
6.3 High vehicles and pedestrian
activity during these per periods had
led to significant safety concerns for
residents and visitors existing safety
issues have not been
addressed by engineering Solutions
thank
you so councilor white I'm now going to
be try and attempt to be funing there
wasn't a second part to that about
getting some paid parking out there and
some traffic meters
okay next
time okay with the presentation of the
petition it will take us to the Marl
minutes this
evening so councilors you'll be aware
that it's it's pretty customary that
whenever we go through the the Australia
Day honors and then of course the
Queen's birthday now the King's Birthday
do they they still going to call it the
King's Birthday honors thank you
councelor L as a seconder that
Council recognizes those that have been
honored in such a way it's really
fantastic to see that there's been a
number again of Shaw Haven residents
that have been awarded Raymond
Dorset for service to hockey Peter Fitz
for service to a range of
organization Lorraine maringer for
Community or for her commitment to
community organizations Peter Moore
for his service to cricet Maria Nack
for her service to the Polish Community
Mar shei to the to service to the
community but everyone would know that
her her real thing that she loves is
entertainment and it would be remiss
of me not to to mention that ail Henry
for her U significant services in
business
consultancy another number of awards
were also given out that were
meritorious Chief Inspector Ray
Stein's who's well known to all in
the room for his 32 years in the police
force Donna brother Brotherton from
the Australian for the Australian
Corrections medal and Brian White who
also received his ambulance service
medal for 45 years in the ambulance
service I think that if we added up the
service of all of those civilians and
other paid workers in our community
we know that we you know we've had
thousands and thousands of hours that
have been contributed to this community
by those people and we thank them for it
councilors are there any further
commentary on that
motion no then I'll put the motion are
there any dissenting voices there being
none then that is
carried so Council much has been said
in the last little while about cost
shifting onto local government and of
course we know that our Peak
organization local government New South
Wales they have also been running a
campaign around the issue on cost
shifting they've been recently in
touch and have asked for Council to
be part of their to be part of their
campaign so what is being presented to
you tonight is is the the campaign
that they're running at the moment to
try and bring that awareness and to
bring about some change in that to
make sure that there's a little bit more
equity for places like the Shoalhaven
and as we've seen you know that's over
$400 per person that's being cost
shifted from the state government
into places like the shh Haven and I
think that that's a substantial amount
and I think that we should join the
campaign and I seek a second for
that thank you councelor gray any
discussion Council Lords councilor
Norris thank you may Finley and I do
have a foreshadowed motion if you would
be open to it my foreshadow motion
has been sent to S minutes and is on the
screen basically it's writing to the
minister for local government the The
Honorable Ron honig and thanking him for
the review into how councils are funded
I think that's imperative we make that
step and and acknowledge what's going on
in that space it also request a
review of shell Haven city council's
waste Levy to transferring it from Metro
to Regional think we've all been trying
to do for a number of years and
writes the minister of the Emergency
Services Jad D and thanks him for fully
funding the Reconstruction authority to
take the pressures off local Council
during times of natural natural
disasters this for me I I feel gets
the response from the government which
is we actually want to see some change
in how you're doing this and we actually
want to see some change in the funding
going forward so put that to you so
councelor Norris what I'm happy to do is
I'm happy to take on board Parts two
three and four and add those to the
motion but number one is in negative to
the rest of the motion so if we get
rid of your number one because all it's
asking for is to receive and not so hang
on let me just check did you want all
four parts added or is this you
expecting this as a replacement to yeah
so mine was just a replacement for what
you had in yours right okay so I'll keep
continuing then with those comments so
I'm happy to accept 2 three and four as
you've move those but yeah one is
negativing the the remainder of the
substantive motion and that all it's
doing is receive the findings whereas
the substantive motion is apart from
noting the findings ings is putting a on
our website a copy of the report and
then also asking sending the letter
to the premier the treasurer and for the
and also to Ron honig so happy to
combine the Ron honig letter with the
other items in it councelor gray are
you happy to accept the the Amendments
that councel Norris has put forward
that's y yep Council Wells did you wish
to speak to something there Point madam
Norris's item one and your item one in
my mind are identical so it's not so
much a matter of negativing your motion
it's just the part one of council
Norris's amendment is
redundant not necessary thank you
councilor L thanks May and I do thank
Council Norris for bringing these
amendments forward this evening as well
I would just suggest that we if we're
going to be writing to G did that we
also include as we have noted
previously concerns around the red
Fleet issue which remains unres issue
for local government in New South Wales
and certainly something that we've
raised and through Mar minutes of yours
Madame mayor on the past so possibly to
part six
thank him for for the changes
there and to remind him about our
ongoing
concern about council's ongoing concerns
yep so to remind the minister of their
ongoing concerns around the red Fleet
I just actually I wanted to also check
to around the around the accuracy on
the fully funded funded issue on the
Reconstruction Authority no what I have
great concerns about the accuracy that
oh yeah great thank you councelor Copley
because I would I think I'd like through
the CEO to ask director McIntyre
around the Reconstruction Authority and
that fully funded statement
to as far as I am aware
natural disasters are not fully funded
that only particular items are fully
funded and those then the items that are
funded are not fully funded either
because they come with an Administration
charge could you please explain that to
councilors through Madame mayor there
are certainly certain elements of
costs associated with natural
disaster recovery which are not
necessarily covered by the funding
available from reconstruction
Authority and Council staff continue
to work with reconstruction Authority on
those issues but at this time as we
speak tonight there are some matters
that are yet to be fully
funded okay so we need councelor Copley
we need to do a little bit of word
smithing then around point six yep yes
yes please thank you I'm just really
concerned about the very specific nature
of the word fully funded because this
Council will then have an an attitude in
the next disaster that everything's fine
we have no worries everything's going to
be paid for and I think that is a
very dangerous State of Affairs if that
is not to be the case the other thing
forgive me if I've overlooked this but
are we also C seeing the member
for South Coast in this
correspondence particularly as I think
it would be relevant about the waste
Levy being an Urban fee that we are all
suffering this adds a huge impost to
rate payers and having been a SCH
Haven City councel previously the
member for South Coast would be would
know better than most what an impact
to our city that that Urban rate as
opposed to a regional rate affects us we
have all been through a very onerous
debate about rates and the costs and the
impost to the community so I just want
to make sure that the member for
South Coast is also being given the
opportunity to to be included in this
correspondents about those concerns that
we have and we can send that to the
member for Cay as well absolutely send
it to everyone we need it sorted so
counselor Copley before I go to
councelor Wells and white just on the
word smithing of point six so we would
write to the minister for E for
emergency services The Honorable G had
dib and ask him to consider fully
funding the Reconstruction
authority to to take the pressure off
local
councils do you feel that that's is
that suitable for you councelor Copley
yeah absolutely we just need Clarity on
that wording because that's a big
disparity there if it's not what we
think it is yeah it's definitely not so
be does everyone else agree with right
to the minister for emergency services
and ask him to consider fully funding
the Reconstruction Authority and to take
pressure off C off local
councils
y second let me just check in with
councilor gray you're happy with that
further Amendment great great you're
also everyone's happy with the further
Amendment for including the South Coast
member and the member for Kay yep
councilor L I'll put you back on the
speaker list for a question but I do
need to go to counselor Wells have you
got an additional part to that counselor
Wells according your amendment to part
six six but my alternative would be to
delete the words fully but we've
addressed that issue already okay thank
you councilor
white yeah just a couple of points when
we're going to put this report up on
the website the council's website can we
actually put the year of the report yes
because the these reports are done
all the time so we need to know which
one that we're actually referring to Yes
as we move forward and look I fully
support this when I read the meril
minute I thought we should be actually
identifying how the cost shifting is
affecting the Shoalhaven not every
Council in New South Wales so we are
affected by the waste greatly we which
these matters have been brought out in
that cost shifting report but I think
that we really need to identify how it
affects us now I know from year on years
since I've been in this Council since
2012 we have written to the state
government every year asking them if
they will review that and I think
that maybe we need to be a bit stronger
in how we word that letter this time
around to say we want to be changed back
to rural Regional waste not
Metropolitan and put the examples in
which I think we've done before but
really highlight the examples that our
neighbors don't pay it Blue Mountains
doesn't play it and they're more closer
to the regional C oh sorry the
metropolitan cities than we are so I
think we really have to point out that
this is really hurting us and we need
something done about it and ask the
question why they won't send it back to
Regional rural instead of just saying we
want them to do it tell us why they
won't do it all right yeah thank you
councelor L did you have a question and
just a perect slight Amendment Madame
mayor so I think under part four there
where we're writing for the writing
member South Coast with the Kima that
should probably be in a new point
because we're sending sending a copy of
the motion to them so that were're aware
of what we're doing because that part
there is about writing to the minister
about the review of the funding model
so I would just add that as a part Ser
to say that we send a copy of the motion
to those two MPS yep and I'm just
with the red Fleet issue again I'm
not sure if that sits with the
minister of emergency service per where
it actually sits with the state
treasurer so it might be might
work well adding to that right to the
ministry of emergency services and the
treasurer Daniel Mii because also the
funding of the Reconstruction prority
would obviously sit within treasur as
well yep great thank
you all right is everyone happy with
that councelor Bo's pois
to no okay I'll come back I'll just
check onlines councelor Darth and
councelor Watson happy with the
Amendments yep great so if there's no
more discussion or amendments to the
motion I'll put the motion are there any
dissenting voices
councilors there being no dissenting
voices and that is carried unanimously
thank you so councilors we now go to
deputations and
presentations this evening our
presentation is by Mr Peter mlan who's
our chair of our audit and risk
Improvement committee our Eric
Peter's here this evening to give us the
rundown on the annual report and Peter
we welcome you here today and and while
you're making your way to the to the
Leon I want to thank you and all of
the other independent members who
have availed your time and your
expertise throughout the the the
last 12 months and for you I know it's
been more than just the last 12 months
but yeah thank you for all of the work
that you do with the staff members and
with the councilor members that are are
present then or the council sorry the
staff who attend and the councilors
who are also the members for Council
thank you thanks Madame mayor and
thank you councilors for the invitation
to come and present tonight on the
2023 audit risk and Improvement
committee annual report so it's last
calendar year I've I've done
this early in the new year for the last
couple of years and it's pleasing to
come and present to you again this
evening the the main objectives of
and and you've got the full report in
front of you so I won't detail through
the whole thing but the the main
objectives of the audit risk and
Improvement committee is to provide the
independent advice and assistance on
risk management internal control
governance external accountability
responsibility so it's quite a wide
breadth and scope of objective but
it's detailed in our Charter which is
going to be updated this year firstly
I'll detail some of the things we did go
over last year but one of the things I
wanted to do was specifically thank the
other independent audit risk and
Improvement committee members along
with myself there is Donna rygate and
John Gordon who make up the three
independent members thank you to them
for their contributions and commitment
and a number of counselors who are
permanent and
and alternate members on the Eric
as well councel white Kristen
councelor Butler councelor Norris and
councelor Boyd for all of their
contributions as well and equally thank
you to the executive staff and the
governance team as well for providing
input and contributions to and advice
and information to the audit
committee through the papers and reports
that are presented the
it's very very important that Council
has a strong governance team and I'm
very pleased led by Shi pad that that
is done really really well and the
support there is is very very strong and
professional but equally there's a
strong level of commitment and
attendance by senior staff and that's
seen with their regular attendance
and contributions to meetings
we're provided with all the information
and detail that we request and ask for
and that's really important for the
Assurance of the committee and the
operations of the committee to be
able to achieve and focus on the
objectives the council last year last
Financial year that is
2223 did receive an unqualified
audit opinion from the New South Wales
audit office there were some
challenges and delays in the
provision and final audit report and
that's certainly something that we are
continuing to work on with management
as a key audit item in our planning for
this year to ensure that we address
that through the project planning of the
audit and the timelining of it as
internally as well some of the other
areas we're also focusing on is another
key risk item of council Financial
sustainability report and that's
something we'll be absolutely discussing
well ongoing at all meetings
the other areas are capital projects
updates which is a regular item to
ensure the risk of large capital
projects examined and
analyzed updates on Disaster Recovery
has also been a key ongoing item as well
with many projects being focused on
there internal audit also undertook
procurement audits and other areas
such as IP andr drives audit credit
cards cyber security of course
quarterly compliance and then ongoing
there was also internal assessments and
benchmarks against industry and
government reports for example the
auditor general did one on Das and
internal controls while iak released
reports which SCH Haven benchmarked on
George's River and hereville Council and
the the controls in place there around
the councilors and processes and their
control M maturity plans as well and
this is really important to check that
Shoalhaven has the right level of
controls and procedures in place to
ensure the same things do not happen
here and we're regularly reassured
that those controls are certainly in
place but there's always room for
improvement other than that that
covers all of the major items in the
annual report I am pleased to
present that to council tonight and and
certainly welcome any questions that you
might have as well thanks Peter I'll
just check in with the councilors
assuming councelor Wells and white have
got one from your conversation or not no
great anyone else in the room got any
questions Perhaps
Perhaps have a
question well more comment to say thank
you very very much for the work that you
do it's not an easy job how much time
do you spend on the job like what's the
yeah like how much time do you put into
it and I won't ask you how much you get
paid but is there a relationship you're
not doing this as a volunteer I hope no
we're not volunteers we are we are
renumerated as as as members of the
audit risk and Improvement committee
we have five meetings per year on all
of those items including the
presentation of the annual financial
statements and each of those meetings
run for about 2 and 1 half hours each
last year we did have an additional
three extra meetings as well which
were focusing on the audit report
timeline and project planning as well as
which included everything from
revalues to all sorts of other things
and of course the aec Financial
sustainability report as well which
we've had additional meetings to examine
and no doubt there'll be a couple of
additional ones this year as
well councilor Gray
oh thank you Peter for your report so
that means up to eight meetings last
year if I added it correct that's a lot
and so during none of that time any
of the red flags that have sort of been
bought up in the last months and we've
had so many
emails did you have a sense of unease or
in your opinion all fine and we're
traveling as well as any Council grou at
this point in time with disasters Etc a
comment yeah there has I guess there's
been an enhanced focus on some of
those key risk items certainly coming
out of Co there was there's a there was
a number and and I should
highlight that these are issues being
faced by probably 90% of other councils
as well there was a lot of different
reports coming out of that and a strong
focus on a number of items there and
there's certainly lag items carrying
over from that and the natural
disasters as well has certainly been
one we've already touched on somewhat
in the meral minute as well so these
sorts of things among other
operational matters certainly need to
continually be focused on and
addressed and and analyzed to ensure
that Council strengthens well
develops a much stronger Financial
sustainability position into the longer
term pet I'll just check in with our
colleagues online Council Darth and
Council Watson do you have any
questions of Peter this
evening thank you Peter I got a
couple just in regards to the bio
Electra project I I know that Eric
had some oversight in what was
happening there can you just make
some comment please on the the risk
mitigation factors that Council had put
in place for that project mhm yeah
that's that project has been
something that's been regularly spoken
about and tabled in agendas items
with with the audit risk and
Improvement committee and and certainly
tabled in the financial statements as
well as as an area of interest for the
audit office
the
there's been some Market challenges
no doubt in that with with with
different Capital models failing to
continue to to to fund that that that
business businesses involved the
fortunately you know Council has
embarked on a project which did entail
risk and and it's and it's good to
try and enhance these things for
Community but it did it did entail risk
the fundamental thing though that was
covered in the controls and the
structure of the original I guess
model was that Council always owned the
underlying asset so knowing that that
was the case significantly in a worst
case scenario which partly did eventuate
meant that Council was still
largely covered although in saying
that now there's a I guess a lag period
where something needs to be looked at
quite more urgently now to ensure
that the longer land care land care
landfill needs and waste needs of
council will be addressed into the
future so but without that key decision
being made then the situation would be
well extremely serious yeah but we
came out of that in a reasonably good
position yeah there was some valuations
undertaken on the the value of the
project now and certainly the the the
the the the value of the asset has
certainly increased in value which
is which is really really positive to
see so certainly the the biggest the
biggest cost is the opportunity cost in
that asset not actually being realized
so last year was a pretty bumpy road for
many many Builders and construction
firms you know there was well over 1,500
of them in the space of you I think
three months that went Belly Up sh sh
Haven water was also in a position
where that happened to one of their
projects could you make a comment on how
that was managed please yes there was
yeah one large project certainly with
we all have and water as well then
another smaller one as well both had
significant problems with the
major contractor being going under
Administration for example and and
failing and we we were impressed though
and again this this I've I've certainly
seen other councils face this issue as
well but it's a private sector wide
issue as well we we were
particularly impressed actually with
how Council was able to you know respond
to a pretty bad situation there was a
situation where a lot of local
contractors weren't going to be paid
for example and although Council had
to spend a lot of time remediating
the situation they certainly made a a
good outcome out of a a pretty bad dire
situation that could have turned into
and and become a a significant issue
for for council's capital projects
but also just the the the local payment
of community members and small
businesses and things like that as well
so I think we noted that in the
minutes in one of the in one of the
aric meetings that we were quite were
quite impressed with how Council dealt
with that situation quite quite
professionally and I guess pragmatically
is probably the word great we in the
discussion that we've already had as you
said with the Merl minut the
challenges around natural disasters and
the and impacts one of those
challenges as you've mentioned in the
report is the the non-receipt of
funds upfront for work that councils
do in the natural disaster space do you
want to comment sort like generally on
not just Shoalhaven but how that how the
the nonf funding situation has been
impacting councils yeah it has and
over half of the councils Cross New
South Wales were exposed to natural
disasters in last few years I I
don't know don't quote me on this but I
think the I think Char Haven was
certainly the highest if if it wasn't
it was certainly in the top and that
that meant that you had a significantly
greater exposure to all of the
impacts that go along with that the
the issue is that often those
projects aren't 100% funded as was
highlighted earlier but the the other
issue is and and this is not just in SCH
Haven but it's it's local government
wide the it requires Administration and
staff and project management from
Council which can often take the
emphasis and focus away from other
existing projects so that is that's
an internal cost that needs to be
absorbed the the other area that has
CAU out a lot of councils is the rising
construction costs as well so you're
given money to fulfill a a commitment
and the project costs actually increase
in between apart from the original
costs not always being fully covered in
the first place so there's and and
the betterment the other issue was the
betterment issues that have been
provided you weren't in many cases some
of this has been addressed but it has
been an issue you couldn't improve
those projects through through the
grant or through the insurances that
were provided as a result of the
natural disaster so a huge long list of
and and plenty more of of pitfalls I
guess which is you know each natural
disaster that might mean a few hundred
th000 times 13 14 how however many
natural disasters you've had adds up
to be a large
Quantum patent sorry sorry I hope you
don't feel like I'm just drilling you on
these questions but you did mention
that through the audit and risk
committee that the audit and risk
committee had had seen the work that
was being done by aec on behalf of
council to look at the financial
sustainability and the challenges that
Council faces today tomorrow and
you know for the the next little while
you're on a couple of other audit
and risk committees as well as being on
Camden council do you want to just
comment around the financial
challenges in local government and that
you know the work that aec carried out
for SCH Haven and the quality of
it that's yeah certainly the the the
analysis and investigation of the AC
report will be certainly something we
it's only been taken late last year so
we'll we'll continue to look at that in
a lot more detail but there there really
is a you know a long list of you know
additional I guess cost shifting items
that are that are being faced by by
local government there's no no question
about that
and and I'm pleased to see the
the the advice coming from the
local government Association on that
and the the campaign they're developing
that it is a long array it affects
Metropolitan councils differently to
Regional councils and alike some of
the other areas and you know what we're
finding these councils are taking on all
of these outside of very very core
business activities and programs and
they have been doing so for many years
and they do it incredibly well and
it's a it's a missing Gap and it's
definitely a need for for local
communities and how that's addressed in
the future is is going to be a very very
very difficult task for for all councils
to address going forward to ensure that
that meets their longer term Financial
sustainability because that's the
fundamental core focus and priority
as well as delivering f for the
community and and those those two
priorities don't go hand
inand so it is undoubtedly going to
be a a challenging few years for
for Shoalhaven and and and lots of
other well most other councils not lots
of them yeah thanks I'll just check back
in with my colleagues are there any more
questions for Peter this
evening none okay so Peter before you
leave the lectin we're just going to
go a little bit off record again and
I'm going to call now I'm going to move
that the audit and risk annual report be
accepted can I have a second to please
thank you councelor gray are there any
dissenting voices from the audit and
risk report being received there
being none then that is passed thank you
and thank you again to you and all the
independent members the councilors and
staff for that work appreciated thank
you thank you councilors I thought it
was important to deal with that while
Peter was here which brings us to the
call over of the business
paper understanding that there is a
question on sorry a notice of motion and
that there's an urgency motion by
councelor Norris councilors to you now
does anyone wish to withdraw the ongoing
register of pecuniary
interest does anyone wish to withdraw
the post exhibition and finalization of
the medium density
report no does anyone wish to withdraw
the classification of land and city
services no anyone wish to withdraw the
update report on the outcome of the
tender
negotiations
no anyone wish to withdraw the
development application for p Forest
Road no does anyone wish to withdraw the
application with the community
consultative body
yep
okay can I sorry does anyone wish to
withdraw the shaven Water Report towards
net zero
yep okay so councilors can I have
someone then to move the but the reports
thank you councelor white do I have a
seconder councelor well
are there any dissenting voices on 2427
2428 2429 2430 and 2431 being
accepted if there are no dissenting
voices then the following items are
passed
unanimously CL 24.2 7 the ongoing
register of pecuniary Interest returns
to January
2024 CL
l428 the post exhibition and
finalization of the medium density
amendment number 51 for the shaw Haven
development control plan of
2014 in city services cl429 the
classification of land at a lot 126 dp1
29539 Lancaster Drive
bagarang CL
2430 the update report on the outcome of
the post tender negotiations for some
Vincent Street South Street intersection
upgrade for traffic signals and the
South Street shared user pathway allad
Dolla triy saying that fast three times
CL 2431 in City development the
development application for the
subdivision of
sf11
02 for the two lot torren title
subdivision on pineforest Road Lot 23
dp1
7746 all pass unanimously thank you
councilors councelor L that makes the
next piece of work with you which is the
application to form a CCB sorry a
community consultative body an
endorsement to get this out on public
exhibition for the cbar beach and orent
Point Community Forum thanks Madame
mayor very happy to be moving this this
evening and in so doing I just wanted to
acknowledge as the motion does the
contribution of the outgoing committee
particularly Gary Bell who is someone
who I've had a lot to do with over the
years and has always been a champion for
kbar I think it's really good to see a
new organization stepping forward and
I know some of the people are involved
in that as well and we've had some
really good discussions around some of
the very important priorities for kbar
which I am committed to as award 2 counc
as I know my colleagues will be on
progressing as well around drainage
issues out at cbar the works we need on
Prince headwood Drive which a lot of
people are contacted me about and
the ocean thre BX so which I met with
some people on recently who are involved
in this new Forum so look forward to
seeing what comes back after the I
guess the exhibition period and seeing
this new group come to friss and
continue to work for us as counselors
thank you so it's been moved by
councelor L seconded by councelor cot
lash any further discussion
councilors there being none then I'll
put the motion are there any dissenting
voices there being none then the motion
is carried thank you councelor Wells
next one with you to net zero emissions
in the annual energy review yes thank
you Madame may this is one of those
annual reports that u i probably enjoy
more than many many other reports that
this Council considers because it U this
report plots and tracks the city's
performance
in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions
but also reducing the cost of the
administration by the application of
renewable and other technology I
raised the item for comment only because
I have a couple of questions of Staff
which I have already foreshadowed to
them the first is in relation to the
Joint tering activity with K shell
Harbor and ourselves for with flow
power for a single contract for
electricity for our Street lighting
system I note very pleasing progress on
the installation of LED lights and the
that's had on budget but I would ask
whether staff would see any value in
Consulting with Endeavor
energy along the lines that the
Department of Education in New South
Wales has had with multiple energy
suppliers across its school system
and that is to switch the lights out at
a certain point in time during the
night for example high schools now
the lights go out at a set point in time
and remarkably enough vandalism and
break-ins has gone down because you
can't see what you're doing in the dark
so if we were for example the turnour
lights off at 1:30 to 2:00 in the
morning I doubt very much that very many
people would be concerned by that but
the positive impact on Cal's bottom line
could be quite substantial so I just
suggest to staff that they might open up
a dialogue with our energy providers and
and flow power as to what latitude
there is in that area the other issue I
would want to raise tonight is the very
pleasing performance of our community
with installation of photovoltaic cells
on domestic rooftops and indeed
commercial houses across the city
whereby we established a target for
ourselves
of
33% photovoltaic cell installation by
dwellings by the year 2025
and I noticed at the beginning of this
year 2024 we've already reached
31% so what I'm suggesting to staff is
that Council challenge Itself by
adjusting its 2025 Target from 33 to 35
or even 40% and under undertake a
Community Information campaign to
further encourage members of our
community to go the F phot volte route
with those few comments Madame mayor
I'm happy to move the recommendation
thank you second up by councelor gray
councelor actually councel Wells did you
want some answers to those questions
do you want oh I wouldn't mind a
comment but I did give them several
hours of heads up great I'll just check
in with the CEO as to who will answer
those
questions go to Mr y James
is y yep yep great we've got oh look
everyone's lining up we got Rob and
James and Darren's also online
yeah yeah thanks Rob will go first Mr
herner from sh water thank you through
you Madame mayor we have Mr oconnell
online and I forwarded those
questions to him this afternoon and
he may be able to be able to comment
on those than great thank you hi
Darren by Madame mayor how are you good
welcome thank you and thank you
councelor Wells for your interest in
this so I can give some answers to that
those two questions through you Madame
mayor yes the street lighting
councilors are aware that the LED Street
lighting upgrade is is almost complete
and that's obviously getting the lowest
wattage street lights in that are
actually available so some really
good Energy savings electricity savings
coming through on that initiatives
from this point on and for the next 20
years so that's very good I think what
council WS is looking at is is is there
any further savings possible for Street
lighting and interestingly I think
what he's talking about is is this sort
of part night lighting where street
lights you know could they be turned off
for a period of the night when you
know the really really early hours of
the morning strangely enough this the
lights could technically be adapted to
do that so all the LEDs have what's
called their smart node
potential so they're not enabled as
smart nodes yet but they've been
installed with the ability at any point
in the next 20 years to add on
technology to make them smart lighting
so smart lighting does allow street
lights to be dimmed and trimmed so
dimmed is like your sort of lighting in
your Lou room at home if you've got a
dimmer you can turn it down so it's
less illumination trimmed is where you
might want to actually have a shortened
period of the light thing being fully on
so interestingly enough though the
trimming and dimming of lights because
Light Street lighting is
unmet Council would not actually
realize any electricity savings so
Endeavor have advised that they are
obliged under this strain energy
regulator through both the new South
bars public load lighting code and also
what comes into an IT strain standard
1158 which is the lighting for roads and
public spaces
is the actual formula set under that
is that Council will be build from
Sunset to sunrise for Street lighting
regardless of whether the things are on
or on or off you know during the night
so there's no actual electricity
savings or switching them off at this
point in time so there's a limitation
there but there are some councils who
have shown an initiative in putting
street lights either dimmed or trimmed
and they're in areas where there might
be a high value of stargazing so you
know the western New South Wales where
there's observatories and the like but
also for some areas for wildlife
sensitive areas so things like on the
tropical beaches where Turtles come to
Shore and things like that where you
want as less light spillage as possible
from your street lighting so there's
you know it is possible but what I
would suggest there is down at Bley
point and kyola Endeavor energy have
actually installed some smart street
lights so the reason they did that is
they just wanted to test the technology
all they're enbl to do at the moment is
to tell Endeavor when they're actually
at fault or not so they send a signal
when they are at fault but they do
have a much broader application and I'm
wondering maybe through councilor Well's
suggestion that I speak a bit more to
Endeavor about some other
opportunities for starting to try some
more Street lighting functionality
down there you know because baly Point
Corola is fairly small good starting
point rather than a blanket sort of
switch up across the whole LGA so that's
my suggestion anyway but yeah some
other councils like Paramount Council
are certainly trialing some of this sort
of onoff
Technology move on to the second
Point yes please great yep so thank you
again for that question Council was
about the solar penetration yes about
one in three dwellings across our LGA
now have solar both residential and
businesses combined that continues to
tick up and certainly in the last 80
months you won't see any short shortages
of solar and stallers around the LGA
virtually every street at any point in
time have solar people putting solar
panels on people's roots in terms of the
target the target for the the 33%
or whatever it was for the 20 25 the
one you mentioned that was also in the
anual annual energy review actually came
from the sustainable energy policy that
policy got res sended in late 2022 when
Council adopted the new sustainability
and climate policy so Ina that policy
with some other objectives and targets
and the new Target relating to you know
Community initiatives in is support
our community to adopt sustainable
living practice IES so we don't have any
hard and fast numbers in there but
certainly have the intention to do
something about and the words that we
use around that not forgetting that
Council only has a limited role in
telling people to put solar on their
roof or to drive electric vehicles so
what we do is we promote and we support
the community in doing that and and in
the annual energy review you will see
that we've done quite a few things
regarding helping the Community with
solar installations and so we've now
subscribed to the Australian
photovoltaic Institute Sunspot tool so
people can check their roof for solar
suitability we ran some joint workshops
with repow Shoalhaven on Electrify
everything and on solar and Battery
Technology we're actually just working
with is Joe on a joint Community
Renewables initiative which will also
help the uptake of solar throughout
the four Council areas as part of his
show so the target isn't really hard
and fast in the new sustainability
and climate policy that policy has a
review date of December 2024 so by the
end of the year there would be
opportunity to look at all the
targets and objectives in in that policy
as Council does you know with all
their policies so that's my sort of
comment on those couple of items if
anybody yeah had any other questions
I'll just check in the room are there
any further
questions yeah councelor White's got
yeah thank you councelor white yes so
with Endeavor energy if we're going to
continue to talk to Endeavor Endeavor
energy on the exist it's my
understanding on the existing systems
that they have for Street lighting that
they do have to upgrade them with a mode
because they actually have work at the
moment in a block so you know it might
be half of an hour it might be on one of
those nodes and it's got to be divied
up but I am aware that in Sydney and
it would be worth the discussions with
Endeavor energy on the new subdivisions
that are happening they're making
them put these upgraded smart technology
on every light now the developer has to
do that not Endeavor so at the moment
it's my understanding that's optional
but if we can work with endeavor to
get that happening on our development
applications as Sydney our councils
in Sydney are doing because as we grow
in in future years that technology
will already be in the in the in the
system that can start to you know turn
lights on and off where or dim them
where we need to so i' just like if
you're going to if Mr oconnell is going
to be talking to Endeavor actually
explore that as well if we can start
making new subdivisions have all of this
Tech techology in it as we go forward
thank you councilors are there any
further questions to Mr a Connell this
evening none thank you thanks so much
for your comprehensive answers that were
really
Illuminating sorry I just had
to so we have a move in a second now
is there any further discussion on this
particular report this
evening there being none then I'll put
that report and that is carried thank
you councelor Norris has an urgent item
that he wishes to raise no
motion all right oh sorry notice of
motion yeah first or second you're first
because the notice of motion comes first
sorry
apologies fantastic I Rose tonight to
talk
around fires that are happening as we
speak in Chile in the area of valaro
and a little Beach Community called Vino
Delmar V Delmar V Vena Delmar thank you
very much there was a typo in the N
there have been some very very serious
fires occur in those places in the last
week or two and they are in the position
that we were in in 2019 and the position
that Hawaii found itself in just last
year I think it was so what I've asked
for our mayor and our CEO to do is to
reach out again to the mayor of Valar in
Chile and offer support guidance
and and a way forward if you like and
in that process mayor Finley it might be
appropriate for you to brief our new CEO
on the resilience program that we run
here in the sh Haven it's a fantastic
program I understand that it might not
be time for us to go talking to Chile
about what comes next it might be time
for us to say to them just we've been
there we feel for you please reach out
if there's anything we can do it's that
simple do I have a second of for
councelor cot lashes thank you councelor
Wells any discussion councilors on
this
one there's no discussion then I'll put
the motion any dissenting voices there's
no dissenting voices and the motion is
carried thank you now councelor Norris
thank you may Finley and I have sent
my urgency through to see on minutes so
it can pop up on the screen my
urgency motion is really seeking to
resolve an impass with which is that
this week the seats committee will be
sitting in Vega over two days February
15th and 16th and we'll be discussing
the virtual fencing funding that Shel
Haven city council was seeking to obtain
from seats as the current delegate
myself and Alternate delegates
Council Ellen Copley are all not able to
attend the meeting I've spoken to our
former delegate councelor white who is
able and willing to attend the meeting
given councel White's extensive history
with seats in the virtual fencing
project I feel is only right this
Council resolves to allow Council white
to attend the SE meeting in biger over
the next over the two days February 15th
and 16th with full Voting
Rights Council of whites attendance at
this meeting will give shell Haven city
council a very strong Advocate at the
table to continue the advocacy for
virtual fencing in the Shell Haven and
as we all know the budget position it's
always good to get money into the city
for project in our city thank you so
just on urgency I'm going to rule that
the motion is urgent because the the
meeting is imminent and there are no
delegates of available for that meeting
I take it that Council Norris has
moved it and Council Wells has supported
that are there any is there any further
discussion
councilors no councelor White's agreed
to go because she's already talked to
councelor Norris about that so I will
put the motion are there any dissenting
voices there being none then that is
carried thank you Council C lash I'd
like to move a notice of urgency as
well may Finley
regarding a nom that I put into our
organization earlier last week that was
rescinded by me I was asked by a
member of staff to to to to not put
that motion forward because staff were
already working on some outcomes I
have since then realized that it is
important that that Nom goes in for a
number of reasons that I don't
necessarily want to go into now thank
you councilor Cotes while I consider
urgency through the CEO I would like
to because CEO is aware of the content
of the of the motion as are the other
senior staff which is in respect to
publishing or moving forward with
dates on workshops so just through
the
CEO could I please go to director
Hamilton to address the the issues
around the upcoming calendar thank you
yes you Madame mayor a schedule of
calendar invites was sent just this
afternoon and therefore the work the
financial workshops that we're going
to to hold with counselors the first one
being next Tuesday they will be fortn
nightly on a Tuesday night so you
would have all received that before the
meeting the reason why they're only
sent today because we have been working
since the ordinary meeting on the 29th
to organize all this is we wanted the
opportunity or the the space to be
able to speak to our new CEO Robin today
before we we sent those schedule of
calender invites out an agenda for the
first meeting which will be held next
Tuesday night the 20th will be sent on
Wednesday thank you
question yes question thank you very
much Carrie will those agendas be
negotiated with councilors because I'm
pretty sure that all councilors are very
keen to be involved in that process
making decisions around what we're go
forward within capital projects and
expenditure in our Council in general
yeah so we we have organized for a
project manager and a project that has
just started and we've been in two
meetings today actually to look at what
that schedule looks like and what will
form each of those meetings as yet we
don't
have we we have a good idea of what we
want the first meeting to look like I'm
happy to send that agenda out and to get
feedback knowing that there's going
to be quite a few meetings
and when we have a little bit more time
maybe we can send out the agenda for the
the rest of the meetings too so you know
that we've covered everything at the
moment we kind of we we've just got an
idea of what we want that first meeting
to look like so if you can just hold
with us with that agend the agenda for
next week I'll try and get a list of
what's going to be in those next
meetings for you and we can negotiate
that would be fantastic the other
issue I was wanting to cover off on
is what is the reporting back to the
community because the motion that I was
bringing tonight I was hoping to get
some input from other counselors to find
out exactly what the reporting
requirements would be because without
going into too much detail I think it's
important that we show transparency
staff and counselors working together to
get this done and if there's too many
delays or there's not reporting back
then our communities will think that
something's happened so I need to be
mindful that we are actually doing the
work that we're abely every intention of
being transparent and and Reporting back
to to the community I just I'd have
to take it on notice of what that
actually looks like we haven't gone into
that much detail but is certainly aware
as part of this project scope there will
be a communication plan that will be
developed and part of that communication
plan obviously will be a big part of
that is reporting back to the community
so councelor cot considering the
information that director Hamilton
has provided this afternoon and
considering that we're going to have our
first Workshop next week with an agenda
that will be prepared by staff I
consider it that that it's that that
meeting is the opportunity to bring
forward any discussion around how you
would like agendas in the future to be
shaped and I would also remind you to
have a look at the resolution that
Council has already made that
24.44% now you've got almost a week or
you have a week to consider if the
resolution that we have already passed
is sufficient enough for you and
also then considering the outcomes of
the first Workshop so I'm not ruling
urgency on the introduction of your
business this evening we can work
through that with Grace with the with
the new CEO and the senior staff next
week and then you you can reconsider
your position at that point and that
brings us to the close of the meeting
and I'm now going to close the meeting
thank you
all