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00:00:00 Councillor Jurisevic: Good afternoon everybody and welcome to the meeting this afternoon of the Service as an Organisation Committee for Offensive Council. Before we begin I'd like to pay respects to the Elders of the land upon which we met, the Kabi Kabi people, and pay respects to their Elders past, present and present. Attendance and apologies, no apologies today. Confirmation of minutes from the last meeting. I'll move it. Second. Councillor Wilkie seconded, Councillor Stewart. No objections. All in favour? Thank you. Carried. Item three, no presentations. Item four, no deputations. Item five, reports for consideration of the committee.
00:01:00 Number one, Noosa Holiday Park's fees and charges. Speaker 1: Yes, so this report pertains to the fees and charges that are set for Council's three holiday parks, Boring Point, Noosa North Shore and Noosa River Holiday Park. Every six months we set fees 18 months in advance. That allows for a forward booking system of 365 days to be continually maintained. So this report is proposing fees and charges for the period from January to July in 2022. So if they come into effect now we load them into the booking system and then for January to July next year in 2021 they're available for the constant rolling 365 days of forward booking. To inform the fees and charges, we looked at keeping in line with CPI and also undertook some benchmarking of other campgrounds in southeast Queensland
00:02:00 to make sure that we're appropriately placed within pricing throughout the region. And that's brought us to the tables that are within the report. You can see that the increases range from 1.5 up to 3% with majority around the 2% mark. In dollar terms that translates to around a $1 change over most of them. Councillor Lorentson: Can I start with a question? Sure. So you said that you did benchmark and look at other caravan parks. I did, yes. I had a look also and, yes, I agree we're on par. Byron Bay, when you look at the rates that the powered sites are at Byron Bay, we sit a little bit cheaper. My question is, and I understand and maybe an explanation is needed for our viewers, the competitive neutrality principle, maybe that needs to be explained.
00:03:00 But my question is 1% to 3% increase seems really low. Can we raise that a little bit more? And still remain competitive, competitively neutral? Speaker 1: Yeah, it's, I guess there's two aspects there. There's the percentage side of it, but then consumers look at the dollar side of it. So whilst the percentages seem low, traditionally and what we're seeing with other parks as well is that the increases always typically range from that $1 to $2 amount, also keeping in line with the whole dollar amount. With Noosa River, we're at the top end of the market. I don't think there's a lot of scope there. With Bore Endpoint, for example, we are at the lower end, but that's also focused on our end consumer, who is that family looking for a camping holiday rather than a riverfront
00:04:00 caravan or high level holiday. Councillor Lorentson: That's right. Speaker 1: Yeah. So there's a couple of key factors to be cognizant of that translate through to what we're seeing, making that 1% to 3% increase appropriate. Speaker 4: And probably just to cover off on your question, Councillor, is competitive neutrality principle is putting in place so that governments don't take advantage of their scale, particularly against local competitors. So holiday parks is a good example where there are smaller local competitors. So when we set our pricing, we also do full cost pricing so that we are, you know, we're not, you know, there is a basis of how we set our fees so that we're not potentially undercharging, which could have a detrimental impact to a competitor. So we are, we are covering our full cost with these, with these prices and obviously the revenues based on our occupancy levels.
00:05:00 So we're comfortable with our cost recovery. Obviously councillor can decide to go above that if they like in terms of fee setting, but we, we feel that the current fees being proposed are, we're comfortable that they will continue to recover full cost and, and they are, we think we are comfortably meeting our requirements with competitive neutrality. Speaker 6: Yeah. The other interesting thing, I guess, and we've had debate over the years is trying to get that balance between, you know, we better make profit or provide an alternative affordable for that business, that social element. So you always got to try and get that balance and that's what the pitch is. You know, if we wanted to say we just need to make a profit, you'd take a way up. But that's not, trying to provide that service as well, that social element that no one could afford to stay in Hastings Street. So people still have that experience. Mayor Stewart: And Robyn, I'd imagine that on the data, there'd be quite a number of local families who especially make use of Dorian Point. Speaker 1: Yes, very much so. And Noosa North Shore. Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:00 Traditionally, the December's looking very strong, January and February are strong on Noosa River and a little quieter on Dorian Point and North Shore. That's typically what you'd see. February is always the quietest month of the year, but Easter is, is looking strong, but you don't often, the, the booking behaviour of consumers is they, most of the time, except for the peak periods, only book maybe one to two months out. So looking forward for a year, that is not an accurate reflection of the bookings that are coming through. But we have seen in the last couple of weeks since borders opened that the Facebook activity and website hits have slowed, probably just because people are excited that they can go somewhere else. So the concentration of visitation in the area is changing, but I think that will probably just, that's an initial reaction to the border changes and then that'll just flow back out
00:07:00 to a bit of a normal pattern. Councillor Wilkie: So we're not quite back to pre-COVID booking patterns just yet? Speaker 1: We've had a very strong six months, particularly strong, which it, it remains to be seen whether that's an anomaly or whether that will continue. Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: I think while the borders are closed, people can't go elsewhere. Speaker 6: Well, they're open now, they aren't going elsewhere. Councillor Jurisevic: I mean, the international borders. People have got nowhere else to go but within Australia. Rather than the state borders. State borders will allow more people to come here and project product people to look and plan for those summer holidays and periods beyond that. Councillor Wilkie: And Noosa North Shore was recently refurbished. Correct. What have the bookings been like since the refurbishment? Speaker 1: Very strong. So we reopened on the 20th of January this year and then shut on the 26th of March and we closed until the 19th of June. So for the first half of the calendar year, we really didn't have much to go on. But since we reopened in June, it's been particularly strong. Councillor Wilkie: So close to 100% over Christmas, for example?
00:08:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, looking, yeah, it's, it's rare to get to 100% just because of the way that people book and then you get days in between bookings. But we're looking in the late 80s, which for a campground in that location is very strong. Yes. Councillor Jurisevic: What's the feedback been like on the, on the new metal? Speaker 1: Fantastic. Yeah. People are really happy there. Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: Two questions for mine. One of them is the last time we did put the fees up for these holiday parks. Speaker 1: The last time we did or didn't? Sorry. Councillor Jurisevic: When did we last put the fees up? Speaker 1: It happens every six months. Councillor Jurisevic: So. Did we put them up six months ago? Yeah. Yep. So, yeah. That's that. Did the question arise that in, in the post-COVID time that we were putting fees up, there's only a marginal fee increase of only $1 for each of those power and unpowered campsites. Not an issue for me. Councillor Lorentson: I'm happy to move the motion. Oh, can I ask another question? There's a big demand for additional caravan and camping capacity.
00:09:00 Has Council considered that? Has the Council actually looked at opportunities for caravan and camping tourism and other conditions for increased investment as a Council? Have we actually ever undertaken any sort of needs assessment for caravan and camping needs in the Shire and whether we're suitably positioned to meet the opportunity or to meet the site's needs of the recreational traveller? Is that something Council is endeavouring to do? Is that something Council is endeavouring to undertake? I see an opportunity there for caravan and camping tourism. Speaker 4: There's possibly two components there. One is the broader industry, so which would not just include Council's campgrounds, which would be an economic development sort of piece in terms of looking at that opportunity. There is also Council's campgrounds and Council's, where we purchased the John's Landing site a few years ago, which is sitting there.
00:10:00 Speaker 5: Opportunity there. Yeah. Speaker 4: That project's sitting in there in terms of looking at a feasibility study and as part of that feasibility we would look at demand and the economic drivers there but it's a good question and probably something we'd have to take offline and have a chat to Anthony and the team about in terms of where that fits in the economic plan. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah because it'd be interesting to see whether that travel loan contributes to the local economy and also environmental impacts from non-compliant camping that we're seeing at the National Park and Musil Woods. It'd be good to again just to have that database so that it would support or not support further investment. Councillor Jurisevic: There is an element of economic value from the RV park at Cooroy where those... receipts from stage were put into the box. I don't know whether that continues to happen just to see the amount of input into Cooroy and that's been very positive over the years as I understand it.
00:11:00 Speaker 4: Yeah there's the two parks. There's the chamber run park that council used to operate and there's the private RV park now so there's... Yeah but it's a really valid question and we'll take that one offline and just answer it. Speaker 6: That was also the reason why council had to push that Cooroy one a few years ago was that... that particular market would be better off in the dispersal so rather than trying to get everyone towards AC3 or that main area to... not so push them but to get them into that inland area and have that benefit out there. So that was the reason why the council pushed that Cooroy site to be one of the core ones. Councillor Jurisevic: Fantastic. Okay, no further questions? Councillor Stewart you're moving it? I'll second it. Councillor Sandoz, Councillor Wilkie on the paper. Thank you. We'll move on to item two. Thank you everyone. Refinancing investigation. As I understand it, I've requested that this goes to the general committee due to the weakness of the item for all councillors to consider. Are there any questions for Michael while he's here prior to Monday's meeting?
00:12:00 Mayor Stewart: I've got a question, Michael. Can you explain the page eight, new initiative announced by the Queensland Government allows the early repayment adjustment to be funded either by cash and or debt or a combination of the two whereas previously an ERA, an early adjustment, repayment adjustment had to be paid for by cash. Speaker 4: Yes, so this is obviously a recent change in the government's approach regarding debt refinancing. So previously with local governments if you wanted to either repay some debt early or refinance, that had to be done. So you had to do an adjustment then basically a charge, a penalty charge on refinancing that had to be paid from cash. So you had to fund that. Okay. Pay it back to the Queensland Trudging Corporation. But now with the new initiative, and this was in place years ago, but then they changed their approach. You can actually basically recapitalise it and add it onto your loan balance.
00:13:00 You can say we want to add that onto our loan balance and then spread that repayment over the life of the new loan. Councillor Wilkie: Instead of a weighted average of 5.4% it would be at 1.7% so much lower interest repayments over that period. Speaker 4: Yes, for this particular exercise. Yes, that's correct. Councillor Jurisevic: And I assume on the table on page nine that's what you've alluded to with the ERA funded by debt versus ERA funded by cash, the two options there? Speaker 4: Yes. Councillor Jurisevic: So that you can compare the two directly and see what the benefits are over time. Speaker 6: The council's here with you and in the last term I recall we did an early repayment of 10 million off the debt. That premium, if you like, for the break cost to do that we had to pay out of cash reserves. We're going to have to do that. Yes. So it's a bit of a no brainer. Councillor Wilkie: And just for anyone that may be following this online on page 11, there's the net financial liabilities ratio. And under the three scenarios, they're all in the negative for Noosa Council.
00:14:00 But according to the QTC standards, it's anything less than 60% is the target range. We're all in below 0%. So that's an extremely good position to be in. It means we've got extremely good capacity to borrow. Speaker 4: It means that we have capacity. So obviously this is based on our current financial model where we have minimal future debt borrowings. That potentially year on year could change depending on council's decisions. But that does indicate the negative is a good thing and it indicates that there is sufficient capacity to borrow going forward. That would compromise our ratio. If we need it, we can get more than one. Councillor Lorentson: Why was a 20 year loan term proposed? Why was it preferred to say a longer or shorter term? Michael? Speaker 4: The advice from QTC is part of this exercise to most councillors is that if you want to
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00:15:00 maximise this opportunity to free up cash flows now, particularly it was obviously COVID generated initiatives. So councillors that may have some immediate cash flow pressures, and we were no different in terms of our budget this year, they recommended a 20 year loan. Anything less than that would reduce that benefit. The short term benefit. And QTC generally don't offer anything over 20 years in terms of the loan terms. Councillor Jurisevic: Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions? I'll move that. Can I have a mover that we move that to the general committee? I'll second it. I'll second it. All those in favour? Thank you. Thank you. We've got five to three. All those in favour? Opposed? Speaker 2: Okay just to give you a bit of background so this report normally comes up twice a year at budget time in December and what we do is identify any changes to the permanent establishment of the organization and to our FTE which is full-time equivalent positions. This report has identified there's no increased in our permanent establishment but it has flagged that
00:16:00 an increase in our temporary project positions which can go from say one to three years or sometimes a little longer and the reason that we report these positions is that even though they are temporary they do have an impact on the budget and from a transparency point of view it's good to be able to monitor these positions because they do have a budgetary implication. You will see this report we are extending some existing terms for various projects that have either gone over or we still need to be do some work in but there are also some new positions which have been identified and they've been marked as new and they're primarily related to the increase in grant money that we received and the boost to our infrastructure in our capital works program. The other is to progress our placemaking project and that had previously been approved by council and then just one or two others in the governance area because we're doing a review of governance and we've had an
00:17:00 increase in that area and we need some temporary assistance so that they're the primary focus areas but they are identified as new positions there on the attachment in the schedule. So you mentioned the grant there was an increase in grant funding yes and so a lot of these some of these positions will be funded out of that grant. Yes in particular in the infrastructure services area in Craig's area for example in the design and in the project delivery. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah is there still a time frame by under which those projects have to be delivered? Speaker 6: Yes some of the short term ones that will be Queensland and the United Recover ones some of those will finish in next year. Some of the bigger ones like Bridges and Boosa Parade and things like that they will be different up to the scale depending on when the funding is on.
00:18:00 Bridging Community House is another one. Yes. Time frames associated with them. So they're all different. Yep. And experience positions will help us deliver those. Councillor Wilkie: And that one position of place program that's the placemaking program. Yes. Speaker 6: And we funded that under the budget anyway didn't we? Correct. Yeah. We funded the program quite before that but we hadn't established a position. Yes. That's what this establishes to keep the organisational establishment and the budget in line. Speaker 2: Yeah and it is temporary for the pilot project that it's on. Yeah. Deb? Yep. Councillor Lorentson: I note in the report that a lot of the changes for the temporary project positions were the ones that were given.
00:19:00 Oh sorry we extended the positions for more than one year. As a sort of a learning experience where we're going at the moment with one to three year project contract agreements. Yeah. To me that sounds like it makes more sense to reap the best benefits out of staff and to retain knowledge. To have a longer term employment arrangement secures that person and gives them a little bit of certainty so they don't go looking outside the organisation. So I actually love the direction this is taking. You've mentioned financial benefits of applying a three year fixed term agreement and I get that after 12 months in a casual position that casual then takes on the status potentially of being full time and then that's a cost to us as an employer.
00:20:00 Do you agree with that? That's something that we may be looking at in the future? Speaker 2: The benefit of the temporary project positions and there's provision within the award and within our agreement for these positions is that it does recognise that there are times when a council needs to engage people for project type specific work with an end date like building a bridge for example. With some of these projects sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances for example in the development of the planning scheme we put on some additional temporary planners but we found that that process has been protracted and we now have to go into review. So we need to extend those time frames. One of the, the section of the report that identifies risk does highlight the fact that if there is ongoing employment and it's regular and it's related to a routine pattern of work and things that over a certain amount of time staff can request to become permanent, but that is probably more suited to the more routine type roles that we're looking at.
00:21:00 Where there is longevity. But that's not to say that we may not need that in the future. So one of the things that council needs to consider and we do this in the budget process is looking at these positions and you know if there is an ongoing need for this position does it need to be permanent and you know and then we would have to look at that process. But it does afford us flexibility. It does allow us to attract people who are interested in coming into a project for a set amount of time but not necessarily. Okay. A career in local government and it does give us some options from in the recruitment area. So where we can bring say qualified engineers in to do a project but we may not need them long term and at the end of the project they move on to their next sort of you know engagement with someone else. Councillor Jurisevic: These sort of positions are taken up under contract aren't they? Speaker 2: Yeah they are. There's a beginning and an end date and the reason that we report these is that you are aware of those dates.
00:22:00 And we do make sure that the provision is in the budget and for all of these positions there's provision within the budget in the current budget. Council will consider going forward the budget allocations for the salaries going forward but there is provision in the current budget for these roles. Councillor Lorentson: So in terms of long term positions I know that council you have in place like succession planning. With short term positions is there an equivalent like a contingency planning program that you guys undertake? To identify risk and opportunities for? Speaker 2: Yeah. We're gearing up with the workforce planning and we're progressing that. The primary focus of that in the short term will be key positions of risk. However it barely varies. For example the capital program has a number of years of work ahead of it. Right. So you can then look at well what are the needs for designers, engineers, project managers,
00:23:00 going forward. So you can actually look at the long term planning with the capital program and look at them what your skills and what staff you're going to actually need. So in some areas you can and in some areas it's not so easy. It can be more responsive depending on what the market's like but also what the labour market's like. But yeah so it can vary. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Jurisevic: Thank you. I'm leaving. Mr Stewart, Secretary of the Council of Miners. All those in favour? Thank you. We'll move on to... Thank you. Speaker 6: I don't know how much work's involved by Deb giving this up today. Yeah, no, thank you, Deb. Councillor Jurisevic: There's a huge amount of work. It's good. Thank you. I'm for the 2020 Annual Bazaar Power. Manager of the report. It's me. James Lockton, training today. No, I'm not. Speaker 6: Good to hear this. Lifestyle training. Not too sure who you're getting it or giving it.
00:24:00 Speaker 5: He's giving training to the outdoor staff to help with the field crews and the administration of that. Mayor Stewart: I've just got one, and it's the last, under risks and opportunities. It says the key risk identified was succession planning associated with the major transition of key staff in the BCC. The drive for more staff to be involved reduces this risk, however it's recognised that a prolonged event would still test Council's resources to man the obvious. We've had some changes, we're going to have some changes, how are we looking in that respect? Speaker 5: Look, I think we're fairly resilient at the moment. There's a fair bit of depth there, which is really good. We're in a lot better shape than other councils in the area at the moment. We can man. We usually have between three to five staff who are trained up for each position, and a lot of those can also move between different areas. So, I think we've got a fair bit of depth there.
00:25:00 Councillor Jurisevic: It's not a fair level of training after a situation that we've had ourselves in, do we not? Speaker 5: Exactly. After the fires, I think that was a real, and we did probably overpopulate the room, the LDCC, during the event, and we did that for a very good reason. That was to actually just get everybody trained up and experienced in what it was like to be in a room when there's a major disaster on the go. Speaker 6: Thanks a lot. So, we need to be able to manage on our own, of course, a small disaster. No one's going to come right out of the horizon. Probably a medium one for a couple of days, we're probably going to be on our own. If it's a super big one, then we're going to come from a really good state, so we've got to be able to work out what we need to do on our own. I think we'd struggle if we had to run the room for more than four days, four or five days, if there was a burnout. Speaker 5: As I said, we've got probably three people, so you could probably do eight-hour shifts, or you could do a major shift and then have a night shift,
00:26:00 which is what we found worked really well during the fires, was that you had a day crew and then you had a night crew and you actually got people acclimatised to having to do the night shift. One of the problems that we do have to be aware of is a lot of staff now don't live within the Shire. And if roads are cut, such as Eumundi Noosa Noosa Road due to flooding or trees down, same with Cooroy Noosa Road, that is an issue that we've got to be aware of. And that's why I've tried to always keep a balance there so that we've got a lot more people that are from within the Shire or very close to the Shire. Yeah. So that they have got access and get into the room and can do so safely. So it's a workplace health and safety thing as well. But we've got to make sure that they get home safely at the end of the day. Or they're on the building downstairs. Yes, that's right. Yes. Councillor Jurisevic: The challenge of COVID, we can't do this from home. Yeah.
00:27:00 Councillor Lorentson: That leads me to the question on page 23. The emergency operations team have undertaken a number of reviews, which includes looking at alternate communication methods. Has the local disaster management group looked at satellite phones that rely on satellites rather than telecommunication networks as part of that review? Speaker 5: Yeah. So that's one of the things that we have been looking at. They can get very expensive. So the ones that the SES have got are worth $18,000 each. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, wow. Speaker 5: So we're talking about very expensive pieces of kit. There is some conjecture that with MBN, if that goes down, if we lose power, that that can bring down a lot of these or we lose power to the mobile net towers. And that's very easy, really. You just have to have a tree come down over a power line. And the likes of Telstra won't be sending their crews into a dangerous location during a cyclone, an up a hill.
00:28:00 So that typically you can lose all of those communication facilities there. So we have always maintained that going old school with two way radios is the way to go, especially in the hinterland, because we find that in the hinterland there's also a lot of black spot areas where mobile you just don't have mobile reception. And we've not only got to think about getting communication, communicating with the community, about what's going on. We've also got to think about our crews that are going out into these situations to remove trees. And, you know, if you know, they're dealing with chainsaws and we've got to be careful about that. So the two way radios we've found are probably still the best. The current network, they're closing down the low range frequencies next year. So we're looking at how we can adjust to that. So we've got some experts who have come in consultants.
00:29:00 They're giving us a review of all of our different options and what we should be doing going forward. Councillor Lorentson: Just an issue that's been just surfacing on social media of late is defibrillators. In a situation with a cyclone or if a town's cut off, do we have an app or do we have on our website any way where we can locate defibrillators? That community members can access? Oh, that's a really good one. I know we do. I actually sent that question out to Council staff to investigate for me. Councillor Jurisevic: There is an emergency app that I believe does have locations on to that. And I know there are people working within the community to make sure that is kept up to date. Speaker 5: So we've got them in the building here and other facilities. Of course, the Rural Fire Service have probably got those tools as well.
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00:30:00 There's seven located. That's a really good thought though about whether we could add that to our disaster dashboard. Councillor Lorentson: I actually have made that request. Yeah. Because I know there's seven that's located along Noosa River, which not a lot of people know about. And our campgrounds. And there's also defibrillators that are available that you don't actually need training for. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And very self-explanatory. But I think that's a conversation given what's happened at Teewah Beach, what's just happened at Noosa River, that it's relevant and an opportunity for us to have. Yeah. I think that's a great idea. Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll certainly pass that on to our disaster management officer and he can investigate that further. Fantastic. Mayor Stewart: Thanks.
00:31:00 Speaker 5: I know there is an app because I think QAS, the ambulance service, actually informed us of that, but I haven't got the details, so maybe that's something I'll look into it and I'll come back to you. Councillor Lorentson: I actually can send you some details. I know someone who's in this area. Oh, great. Speaker 5: But if we can add it to the disaster dashboard, that means that that is just the one-stop shop for everything there. Fantastic. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Okay. Councillor Wilkie: Okay. I'll send that information. Thank you. Councillor Jurisevic: All right. Isn't that a good question? Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Under risks and opportunities, Mayor's question covered off on the risks, but you've mentioned the opportunity that came out of the report was building stronger infrastructure. You've talked about relationships with other regional councils and stakeholders, such as the media and QRA. What have we done in regards to building stronger relationships with the media? Speaker 5: So that's really taken care of through the comms team, dealing with the media on that
00:32:00 front. They know who to contact if we have an event. I'm used to getting those phone calls at 5.30 in the morning. And I'm sure the mayor will also be getting those phone calls going forward. So they're really fun. Councillor Wilkie: Because we realised that misinformation was a problem during the fire. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Speaker 6: Radio is one of the most immediate ways we can do stuff. And I know Ken's been meeting with all the major radio stations in that relationship to look at what we can do better there. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: Advising them to check in with the mayoral updates, for example. Yeah. Speaker 6: Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: I think we led a valuable lesson during the last exercise, and that's what facilitated
00:33:00 the change in the way that the mayor addressed the media, and the media took the information from the outgoing videos that were created by the QRA. Yeah. They were very powerful. Yeah. And they were able to help us with the other opportunities. So I think that's strengthened the relationship and also the information that's going. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: The question came up in my mind yesterday when the storms were threatening. And I was listening to ABC Radio, and they seemed to have everything but storm warnings, weather warnings on there. You seem that you have to wait for the half-hourly news bulletins to get updates. I may have not been listening long enough. Speaker 5: Again, the best source is our disaster dashboard. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: That's where I went to. Yeah. But I'm just wondering, the general member of the public. Yeah. Are they being adequately informed? Yeah. In terms of... Speaker 5: If they're aware of that website, and they know how quickly things go up on there, social feeds, everything goes up on there. So it really is the best place to go.
00:34:00 Yeah. So... Councillor Wilkie: I guess the question I would have for people who work in that field, are they comfortable with the amount of updates, the quality and quantity of updates being provided by ABC, for example, when the storms are threatening? Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah. So that's something I can certainly have a look into. I didn't look into that. I know that I personally received probably about 20 or 30 emails and messages last night just for that storm that came through. Yeah. And they usually go straight onto our social feed on our disaster dashboard. So as soon as BOM issue it, it goes straight onto our dashboard. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. We're plugged into that. Yeah. I'm just wondering about the general public. Speaker 5: Well, typically when I do those interviews, I will always try and give a plug to the disaster dashboard and try and get people to go there. Yeah. It really is the one-stop shop. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah. So that's been our messaging to look at the council disaster dashboard as the- Councillor Wilkie: So don't rely on the media. Go to the council's dashboard. Speaker 5: The media is going to be there.
00:35:00 I mean, if it's a cyclone or something like that, the ABC especially provides a very good service. But if you're looking for updates in a real-time fashion, it's probably the best thing is to get it from BOM. Have a look at their radar and also have a look at their weather warnings. Councillor Jurisevic: So if something comes through in the meantime, we can update with them. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Yeah. And the other opportunity was working with regional partners. How are you feeling that work's going? Are you comfortable with the level of partnership with the, say, the Sunshine Coast Council? Speaker 5: Oh, Sunshine Coast Council, we work very closely with them. Next year, we will be looking at doing our QERMF analysis, which is the risk analysis of all of our infrastructure in the Shire. We're doing that in combination with Sunshine Coast. And then we will be developing a new disaster management plan in conjunction with Sunshine
00:36:00 Coast Council so that when the district looks at our plans, they will see the commonality there that they are similar. We work very closely with Gympie Shire as well. So I went up there just recently with the disaster management plan. The disaster management officer, James, we went up to meet our equivalent staff up at Gympie Shire about four weeks ago. So we keep in regular contact with both councils, especially if there's things that are right on the border. That's really where, you know, those networks are really useful. Councillor Jurisevic: They take exercises and training alongside them as well. Speaker 5: Yep. And we have offered to assist Gympie if they need additional personnel because they have an event up there. Yeah. And vice versa. Yeah. Speaker 6: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Having sat at the BiTech 2020 Summit just recently at the Peregian Beach Digital Hub, to me,
00:37:00 that's another great opportunity for the local disaster management to engage with the Hub to deliver and connect not just local government reps but to have at their fingertips the latest innovations and technologies available in this field. Thank you. Speaker 5: So I don't need to tell you that is an opportunity wasn't in the report but it's not and something has come out of this since that report was written so with Fireball we are we are setting up a number of towers with cameras and they will do a rotation 360 degree rotation every two minutes. They will be combining that with satellite footage and using artificial intelligence to be able to spot where fires are starting and we are going to be trialing that here at Noosa so we've agreed with them that to go ahead with that that is going to be a very powerful tool not only for QFES to be able to use that to get the fireys out to deal with the fire but also in terms of evacuation.
00:38:00 We're hoping that that is going to be a really useful tool because the more time people have got to evacuate their houses the better especially in the Hinsland area or where there's you know there's a lot of vegetation so we're seeing that as being really useful who knows where that's going to go in the longer term but that is a really good initiative. The other one that we've been working on as well is our flood modelling and prediction software so that's an ongoing task that is a very large. initiative for such a small council and it's going to have incredible applications going forward and we're right at the cutting edge on both of those fronts so on fires and flooding I am very proud of the work that this council is doing in that space.
00:39:00 Councillor Jurisevic: I'll concur with that, I'd like to acknowledge the work that you've done in that field in bringing both those areas to our attention and upgrading us with the opportunities in the future. Thank you very much. I agree. Mayor Stewart: You've done a great job. Thank you Carl. Councillor Jurisevic: Anything further? Speaker 3: Any other questions? Councillor Jurisevic: No. I'll have you to move that. Absolutely. Thank you Amelia. Thank you Carl. Okay lovely. Thank you very much Carl. Speaker 3: I want to thank Jane for that as well. Speaker 6: Yes. Speaker 3: Thanks. Mayor Stewart: And Cheryl for all her hard work too. Yes. Thank you. Councillor Jurisevic: Thank you. I don't see any yellow traffic lights in the area. I'm concerned that the value of work is completed up until that stage. How are we progressing? Particularly with the work that we've got to have completed by the end of the financial year.
00:40:00 Speaker 7: Sure. So I guess that's based on our profile budget, why there's some green ticks there and that it's only regarding if there's overspend or any concerns with those budgets. We had a PCG this morning and we can report that we're at 30% now. So from this report being 27, we're now at 30 at the end of November. Craig's probably a better one to answer on how he's positioned for delivery with, you know, obviously in our risks, we've identified that there's some resourcing concerns with the departure of some staff. Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's a lot of money sitting in, I suppose, January and there's a lot of money sitting in June and a lot of that money stacked in January had to do with grants. We wanted all the grants finished by Christmas. So everyone did their LRE profiling that. And what we're finding is they've probably...
00:41:00 Profile where the money, the works are going to happen rather than where the invoicing is going to come in. So there's a month delay there, if that makes sense. And also some of those projects are going to start to push out some of those smaller grants projects and the LREs need to be re-profiled. Plus that large spend sitting in June, that will be addressed as part of BR3. So there's some projects there that need to be re-profiled and the TIP is a good example. Rupert Street's a good example. So there's some re-profiling that needs to happen at BR3. Councillor Wilkie: Sorry, Craig, I'm just curious, I'm just looking for that LRE. Speaker 3: Yes. Latest revised estimate. So a project manager will look at his project and he will think, I'm going to spend this much money this year. And that's constantly adjusting depending on contractor availability, rain, you know, different things that are going on.
00:42:00 So that's something that he revises each month. Councillor Wilkie: And just to clarify, Brian, you mentioned that 30% of, there's been 30% of expenditure to date. Yes. But that doesn't necessarily mean 30% of the capital work program completed. It could actually be more of that, but just the invoices haven't come in for it. Speaker 7: As Craig said, yes, we're probably a month behind or at least three weeks in the invoicing and what the work is up to today. So, yes, we'd see that either come through or start to be generated in early January in our actuals. Speaker 3: And there's probably been some recent changes, as you've written this report, Mark resigning and Carl resigning, which are changes that weren't sort of, I suppose. Speaker 7: Didn't have Carl on that one, but we had Mark included. I suppose the other thing is that there is a body of work that's been done particularly around the grants with all the, public amenities have been completed. So we're waiting for the invoicing to come in on those awards.
00:43:00 Speaker 6: It's all 12, 12 a day, I think. Speaker 7: Yes. Speaker 6: The one that's still going? Our pension. All the toilets have been finished. All the pensions were finished, you saw it the other day. Councillor Jurisevic: It's down now. Speaker 7: It's down now, yep. Councillor Wilkie: I'll go and have a look. Speaker 7: Yes, so they're done. Stages one and two of the switchboard renewals were also, you know, Chris updated us today, that are nearing completion as well. Councillor Jurisevic: Can I get you on the work in Oriental Bridge, by the way? Yeah, it looks great. Councillor Wilkie: It looks like it's finished now. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah. Speaker 6: Yeah, the head roll, yep. You might recall those 42 or 45 projects it was that came out of that, you know, recovery program that worked for Queensland. So on page 37, they're all listed out, so we can put those separately, and they're the ones that we want to make sure we get over the line with if we want to get to that same funding in the future year, don't we? Councillor Lorentson: So with the works for Queensland, there is a date that the works need to be completed, is that right? Yeah, 30 June.
00:44:00 30 June, okay. So that brings me to my question about the rescheduling. So the rescheduling has been done. Has increased workload or staff working at breaking point contributed to people leaving? And my question for that is, where I'm going with this is, do we actually look at exit survey data and workforce data so that when we look at the budget and propositions put forward for more staffing, we actually can make, you know, a data-based decision? Councillor Jurisevic: Did you ever say an element of that came up in the organisational structure item earlier on in this scenario? Councillor Lorentson: It did, no, but I'm just, I just think it's really quite relevant, so rather than us saying we don't have the money, we do have the money, we need to be data-driven in our decision-making, so workforce data to me, exit survey data is critical for those sorts of decisions.
45 minutes in ¶
00:45:00 I can go if you want to. Speaker 3: Go ahead. What do you want to do? You guys can go and I'll take over. So, yes, we do do exit surveys and I had Mark Pointer's exit survey and he's gone to work for Unity Water, delivering some of the SEQ water, some of the dam projects, so he's on a much, much, much, much higher salary and he's working on much, much, much, much larger projects and that's sort of Mark's background, so we anticipated having Mark for two years and we had Mark for two years. Speaker 6: So in terms of, you know, matching the staff levels to the program, that's one of the things we look at every year and that's one of the, I guess, the caution of what we've been saying here, we just can't keep adding stuff onto the cover program with the same staff, so we always look at when we adopt the program, you know, I always crave a word from him every year.
00:46:00 I'll say, you know, have we got enough to do this? He goes, yes, to this level, but if we're going above that, then something's going to not be able to be done and that's part of the issue is that we adopt our program and start adding stuff on year to year and that's the issue for us and we carry out as well. Councillor Jurisevic: And again, some of those positions in that earlier report, it was a great result from the added workload and keeping those guys on, retaining people that were on temporary contracts for a longer period of time to help deliver them. Speaker 3: And I think something Brian and I have always done is grow AI, so we have a program of bringing young engineers through and then that report has two young engineer roles. Mayor Stewart: Brian, I know some of the grants we were looking at the potential of incorporating and it's hard to get staff, I know, but using some of the grant money for funding and staff, where are we with that? Is that able to be achieved that we can use some of that grant money to fund? Speaker 7: We do, we capitalise a lot of the expense there and that's how we actually justify an increase in our positions
00:47:00 because it can be capitalised against the project, so it's not coming from operational money and that's really the case. I don't know about the Works for Queensland because that was all contracted work out. But our bigger projects like bridges, the roads, all of those we can capitalise our staff and some of the overhead costs as well, including like administering invoices. We all, we do what we can to allocate to that project rather than take it from operational funding. Speaker 6: Occasionally a grant will prohibit us from doing that depending on the grant conditions, but the bigger capital ones we can't restrict that condition. We can't restrict that condition. Yes, that's right. Councillor Lorentson: I think what I think is a little bit sad is retention of organisational knowledge, that when we lose key staff we lose that knowledge and I don't think we understand the real value of that.
00:48:00 Councillor Jurisevic: Well I think we do, I think I spoke well. Councillor Lorentson: I'm sure, let me take that back. Yeah, let me take that back. Speaker 7: I think it's worth a lot. I suppose probably if we just look at it in the capital delivery element of it, it is a discipline where people can engage and disengage because they're delivering a project for part of an asset just by constructing it and then we operate it and we have pretty good retention in our operating area and in buildings and facilities and the like. So I think that, you know, on the other hand, yeah, I totally agree. And that's where Deb reported earlier, workforce planning, because we do have an aged workforce and we need to make sure that we retain the knowledge with staff moving through the project. Councillor Jurisevic: We are a pathway. We are a pathway as Craig alluded to. We've got young guys coming on. We'll look and see for better opportunities in the future.
00:49:00 And come back. And probably come back then. Speaker 7: And probably to add, we know we get a new COVID budget and then in between having that agreed to, we then got, you know, a swag of grants that we put on board. And some of those will be presented at the budget review process at the general meeting. And then we've also got more to come in at the next budget review in April. So there's a lot more work than we anticipated and programmed initially for our staff. So, yeah. Mayor Stewart: Just going through a quick question. The Tim Bewer Hall cladding, it said contract to be awarded prior to Christmas. Has that been awarded yet? No, I'm just . Speaker 3: It was mentioned today at CW, wasn't it? Yeah. I think everything's on track with what Chris has been doing. Speaker 7: He showed no... Speaker 6: I spoke to him last week. He said they were all on track. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mayor Stewart: And Boring Point unsuccessful local tender. There were bets are out to market again for the Boring Point campgrounds.
00:50:00 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's still out there. Speaker 7: But all within good timeframe to be delivered. Okay. Terrific. They're mainly just a contracted service. Yeah. So it'll just mean that we'll have to get outside of the local area. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah. Thank you. Speaker 3: Well, I was just about to say, I think the risk going forward for us over the next two years is supply chains and contractor availability because what's happened is all local governments have had the increase we've had and DTMR as well. And so resources, sorry, not resources, supply chains and contractors again become scarce and you'll either have to pay more or wait longer. Yeah. So that's the risk going forward. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: And staff turnover, it's one of your graphs that you provide regularly. Noosa Councils tends to be well below average. Speaker 6: Yeah. Staff turnover's an interesting one. You actually want some turnover to get some fresh ideas and generation.
00:51:00 Yeah. Fresh ideas. But not too much that people ever say. So it's somewhere between 5% to 10% is the happy place. So less than 5% and you're probably not getting organisation renewal. More than 10% you've probably got some challenges. Yeah. There's a council in central Queensland that's sitting at 32% turnover. Wow. So they've got competing floor staff for mine. So if you're a truck driver or a project manager there and you work for the council, you can walk up the road and double your salary and live in the same tent. Yeah, right. That sort of stuff. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: I want to compliment you on your management of your staff. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: Like you knew Mark, for example, one of the project managers was going to be here for two years and you knew he was going to move on. You've been able to accommodate an extra, this extra, all these extra projects as a result of this COVID money, grant money flowing in.
00:52:00 And looking at all the green arrows you've got next to all, each and every one of your projects. So I'm assuming that, I'm assuming, hopefully correctly, that that means. They're all on track. They're all where you expected them to be at this stage. Speaker 6: At this stage. Speaker 3: We're planning to be at this stage. Yeah. That's our planning. Because I know there have been orange. Mayor Stewart: There have been orange. Yeah. And a few reds. And a few reds. So. It's a sea of green. This is. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. So despite this being the biggest year of capital works on record for this council, 35 million, you're comfortable with where you, well comfortable is perhaps the wrong word, but each and every project seems to be where you're expected to be at this stage. Speaker 3: Yeah. That's subject to resourcing up the resources that we have proposed as part of Deb's report. Yes. Yes. Subject to the weather.
00:53:00 Yes. Speaker 6: So far so good. Yeah. There's a lot of things that we depend on to be able to keep going. Yes. Councillor Wilkie: So for example, if we get a very wet Christmas, all of these could go to orange. Yep. Councillor Lorentson: And if we get. Just delay the construction and. And if we get more funding. That's an issue we haven't discussed. But if there's more money coming to council. I'll note. Speaker 6: I'll note. We've talked to council about that at some stage. The capacity to deliver. There is. There's also the question of whether or not we're chasing money for the sake of it or actually achieving our goals. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. So. Because there comes a point where that tap turns off and we're stuck with the whole Speaker 6: of our costs. Yeah. But also every one of those new projects, all the sexy nice projects, that also creates an operating cost to actually maintain them in the future for depreciation.
00:54:00 Speaker 7: Yeah. And I suppose just that's to emphasise what Craig's been saying about planning. If we don't get the planning, the cost of the projects really go up if we don't get that planning right. So we need to have the time to plan. And that's. And not rush projects. Speaker 6: The best projects we have ever done have taken the longest to plan. Yeah. Yeah. Boardwalk's a good account. Yeah. Hilton Terrace. Councillor Jurisevic: Hilton Terrace. Speaker 3: And Chris Steele as well. He's done a super job. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah. A lot of the work has been done by Chris Steele. Yeah. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Thanks Chris. Thanks Chris. You've done a good work. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Councillor Jurisevic: Moving for Amelia. Seconded by Councillor Stewart. All in favour? And that's the last item on the agenda. Am I ready? Yep. I did too. Thank you very much. Thank you Mr Chair. Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you Greg.