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00:01:00 Councillor Jurisevic: Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the Service and Organisation Committee meeting for Tuesday, the 9th of March, 2021. Before we begin, I'd like to pay my respects to the Kabi Kabi elders. I just got my words, just got my words completely wrong. I'd like to pay my respects to our Indigenous elders and the Kabi Kabi people and pay respects to their elders past, present and emerging. We're all in attendance. No apologies today. Confirmation of minutes from the previous meeting. I have a mover. Thank you, Councillor Stewart. And a seconder. Thank you, Councillor Wilkie. All in favour? Just remind everybody, phones to silent if you haven't done that already. No presentations or deputations. No. CEO, we'll begin with item five, reports of consideration by the committee. Item one, plaques and memorials, policy and guideline. Thank you. Councillors, questions? Questions for the staff? Councillor Lorentson: I'll start.
00:02:00 On page nine of the report, under consultation, external consultation, the report notes that no specific external consultation was undertaken in the development of the policy. However, officers considered the community input, which has been provided through other avenues. I just want to expand on that, Kerry. Can you explain, firstly, what are your working relationships with groups such as the Cooroy RSL sub-branch and the Tewantin Noosa RSL sub-branch? Speaker 4: Yes, certainly. So, we have regular working relationships. Jane has a very, in her role as heritage coordinator, a close working relationship with both of those organisations as a general developmental aspect, but also a project base. So, they are, I guess, consultations. We've consulted on any type of project that would relate to this.
00:03:00 This project comes on the heels of a range of other pieces of consultation that have been done. So, for example, around the Noosaville foreshore, and so we've taken the material that has come out of that to help inform this policy. Councillor Jurisevic: Requests from the Pomona group as well, the Pomona community group, over the years, I've requested things from them. Yes, certainly. Speaker 4: Yes, so we will deal with community organisations that have an interest in this area, whether it be a heritage organisation or one of the organisations that have responsibility for a, for example, one of the halls that are, in effect, a memorial hall. Councillor Lorentson: So, in regards to the policy that we've got in front of us, Kerry, do you think there's any value with asking for further consultation with either community groups or RSL groups?
00:04:00 Is there any value that can be added to the report? Speaker 4: Well, primarily, the policy is actually around individual plaques and memorials. It certainly makes allowance for war memorials. Because they're very significant, I guess, monument to important events that have occurred in the past. But this policy provides for both new installations and maintaining installations. But Jane might make a little bit of comment around the war memorials themselves. Because they're a little bit special in terms of the role that the RSL plays, which is more important than the role that council plays in this space. Councillor Lorentson: And that's probably my next question. Yes. Can you define what's under council remit and what's under RSL remit in regards to war memorials? Yeah. Speaker 3: So, the two, I guess, what first come to mind as memorials is the one just out here in Tewantin and the one in Cooroy that sits on the little park as you come into town.
00:05:00 Both of those are owned and managed by the RSL, the relevant RSLs. And obviously, if they come to us for advice or support, we would help them with that, provide guidance, support them any way we can. But really, that falls to them. So, if any requests came to us regarding anything to do with those areas and those memorials, our first port of call would be to go straight to the RSL. Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: In fact, the RSL did that with the Cooroy site, didn't they? They had some upgrades that they proposed for there and brought a proposal to council and council considered it, yeah. Councillor Lorentson: So, in regards to war memorials, halls and the Rotunda, for instance, in Pomona, which is under council remit. Yeah. Can you explain what the normal process or policy that council follows that allows for new installations and maintenance for retention of memorials? I've got a reference here in your report, the conservation management plan. Which was written, I think, by Larry Sengstock.
00:06:00 Speaker 4: So, I guess there's a couple of differences. If it's a hall, it's actually going to more fall under our buildings and facilities. And really, in that respect, it's a piece of heritage infrastructure. We will, and we're progressively working through conservation management plans for those that are of highest priority. And, but if we, even if we don't have a conservation management plan, and we're doing some work, so for example, Pomona, we would bring on board a heritage consultant to provide us with advice around the changes that we are making there. And we would liaise in that respect with the leaseholder, so it would be the hall committee. For example, the Rotunda, when works were undertaken, then we consulted with interested community members to undertake work with it. And definitely brought on our heritage architect to assist with that.
00:07:00 Councillor Lorentson: And my last question, I've got a couple more, but my next question is in regards to some wording in the policy that includes events. There's been concern in the community regarding the wording that includes events in what is understood as a park and memorial policy. Can you just further elaborate what's meant by events? I've understood there's a park to commemorate an event, but some community members believe that it's referencing things like Remembrance Day. So I think there's some misunderstanding, if you can elaborate further, James. Sorry, can you point out where that... It's in the policy. Page 12 under RSL and memorials. Page 12. So, page 12, RSL and memorials. So, war memorials, requests for war memorials to be installed on public land will be considered in consultation with the relevant RSL sub-branch and will include consideration of whether the event or individuals have already been recognised within the Shire.
00:08:00 Speaker 3: So you're absolutely correct, Amelia. It's about a park to commemorate an event. So it's nothing, this policy has nothing to do with running events or future events or holding events. Future events. It's about a request for a park that might commemorate an event. Councillor Wilkie: So it's referencing the term historic event, which is earlier mentioned. 100%. Speaker 4: It's just, it's a slight misunderstanding of the event there. So it's about who we would be recognising. So in this case, that event is likely to be an event that is to do with a conflict or a war. It does not... Councillor Jurisevic: i.e. the Battle of Beersheba or something. Speaker 4: 100%. Yes. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah, more questions. Councillor Jurisevic: Yes, you can, through the Chair.
00:09:00 Speaker 4: Oh, can I ask a question through the Chair, please, sir? Yes, you can. Thank you. Just a question around the rotunda at Pomona. Is that considered a war memorial? It's a tricky one. It was built to recognise a war memorial. That event occurring, it is not a war memorial in terms of the RSL having custodianship of that memorial. Speaker 3: Okay. So if the community wanted to continue further work on that, for example, like they want to put the tiles to replicate that memorial as it originally was, is that just something that comes through council then? It's not anything to do with the memorial? Speaker 4: No. It's a... The piece of infrastructure itself, it's council's responsibility. And, you know... It's part of the assets and council's responsibility. We have maintenance programs and, you know, then potentially refurbishment.
00:10:00 And if we're in a position to do that, we will work with the community, obviously, with a heritage consultant because of that type of the building that it is. Yeah. Mayor Stewart: So there is a process they can follow to apply for that? Speaker 4: Well, no, it wouldn't be an application process because we're not... It's not the sort of thing where we're saying we would definitely be doing it. But if there was opportunity, absolutely we would be doing what we call maintenance and renewal to keep that piece of infrastructure structurally sound. But in terms of an upgrade, that would be like any of our other capital works programs. There would be a process that we would go through. It would be prioritised. We would then determine what funding was available. As to whether we went ahead and did something. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr Chair. Councillor Wilkie: Thank you. Any further questions, Councillor? Just some... I do have a question. Yeah.
00:11:00 We've been focused on RSL aspect. Yeah. Centre tasks and memorials. Yeah. But the main purpose of this report, if I'm honest with you, is to handle many requests that council staff receive and councillors receive when someone dear to a family passes away and they want to memorialise them somehow. Speaker 4: You're 100% correct, Frank. That is the purpose of this policy is around those requests that we get very frequently. Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: And you can see this play out in areas like, say, Coolant Point Arkwright where public infrastructure, railings, around lookouts are... Yeah. There are a lot of plaques that have been installed by family members informally. And you get the sense when you go into this public space that you're actually on sacred ground. Yeah. Rather than a public space where you're enjoying the same outlook. But so what I'm... So it's to handle those sort of requests. But you've asked that there be a 12-month grace period so people can come to council
00:12:00 and then you ask that there be a 12-month grace period. Speaker 1: Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: To allow for historical perspective to be gained. Could you just tease out... Sure. ...the thinking behind that, please? Speaker 3: Yeah. Speaker 4: Jane, do you want to talk a little bit more about that? Speaker 3: Sure. So it's really in that... In those first days or weeks after someone passes, emotions are running high. And we think with a period of 12 months is to get the community or the family some perspective around what they'd really like to do to remember. I think in those early days of grief, you're wanting things to cling to and hold onto and make sure that you don't forget the person. Not that you ever will and your grief will always be there, but just to gain that bit of perspective about what's the best way. Speaker 4: We've also had circumstances where it might be that another individual wants that person remembered. But the family just, they're simply not in a space to be able to think about that.
00:13:00 We tend to find that having some time gives everybody an opportunity to heal through that initial hard grieving period and then start to think about, well, what might be appropriate? And does everybody agree about that? Does all of the family agree as well as potentially the community? Councillor Wilkie: So in the week immediately after a death, I think a few of us have experienced requests from community members. They say, I want this for my loved one, definitely this, but then down the track, other ideas occur to them. Absolutely. And they have to go through the grieving process to see things in a more clear eyed way. Speaker 4: And particularly if there were difficult circumstances around the death or potentially there's a difference of opinion within the family or extended family, you know, that immediately
00:14:00 it's not a time to be adding additional stress around whether or not to have a memorial or plaque or what form that should be or where it should be. Time is a good healer in that space and then allows for more rational discussions to be able to occur. Councillor Wilkie: And so there are other ways in which people can be remembered. There's another policy, which is about naming of parks and roads. So these are two potential avenues that family members can consider. Speaker 3: Yes. Councillor Wilkie: Well, thank you. Is there a similar criminal appeal for the naming of parks and roads? Speaker 3: You'll note we've got a recommendation in this report that if this... To align the two. To align the two. Yes. So if and when Council is happy with this policy and we adopt it, we'd also be asking Council to endorse a review of the naming policy to bring them into alignment. Councillor Wilkie: And just to clarify for anyone maybe listening, this is totally separate to the roadside memorials
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00:15:00 Speaker 4: policy. Councillor Wilkie: Definitely. But the informal... Yes. ...cultured memorials that spring up on roadside. Speaker 4: Yes. So this one is... This is absolutely an application process which would be considered. And then is a... Is a memorial that Council is installing? Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: The only other question I have, which may have been one that Amelia was going to ask about in RSL War Memorial consultation. So back to the same clause. Request for new... For memorials to be installed in public land will be considered in consultation. It's... The question was asked, instead of just having a consultation with the relevant RSL sub-branch, whether the phrase, the local community is... Could be inserted in there. Speaker 4: Well, as we've just outlined, those... Those war memorials are typically the RSL... Under the remit of the RSL. And while we would have consultation with the local community, the local community would be able to engage with them, if it was something that they wanted to install,
00:16:00 where, for example, we were a little bit concerned about what the perspective of the community, we might recommend to them that community consultation should occur, and we might assist them with that. But those war memorials are under the remit of the RSLs. Rightly so. Councillor Wilkie: And this request came from the people associated with the Pomona War Memorial. Pomona War Memorial. Yeah. Speaker 4: So they're interested community individuals. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Which is outside the RSL. Which is separate to... Yes. Yes. Very much so. The intention of this clause. Yeah. But I'm satisfied that there's a process that they can go through. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Mayor Stewart: Jane, I've got a question, and I... And you've responded to my email, but just for those listening, we... I had an email about a, obviously, just about a lady who wanted to remember with plaques people who, when they reached 100 years old, and your response to that was great. Can you just tell everyone that... So if people in the community wanted... They'd been to some other shire and thought this is a great idea, by the implementation,
00:17:00 my understanding is, of this policy will enable then things like that to be looked at going forward. Is that correct? Speaker 3: Absolutely, Clare. Yeah. What it will give is, it does establish a process. So if people have an interest in an individual plaque or something a little bit different, like the one that you've just described, this will give them sort of a framework. It'll give them some criteria. It'll give them some guidelines. It'll give them an application form to give, you know, to make an application to Council and provide all the information that we require to then process that application and give consideration to the request. Mayor Stewart: So this is, yeah, this is essentially the first step for them to be able to enable them to do that. Absolutely. Give them the framework. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councillor Jurisevic: Can we go for the questions? Councillor Lorentson: I'd like to just, if we can, and with your advice, Jane, can we add a word to just clarify event? I'm going back to page 12 of the RSL war memorials.
00:18:00 I think Frank mentioned historic event. I'm just thinking if you could just put some clarity around that word with an inclusion of... Historic? Historic. I actually like... That's the word that I threw down too. Just so that it removes any uncertainty. Is there something we do through an amendment? Speaker 4: Just quickly. Can you just show me... Is this section B? Sorry. Consideration of whether the event... Councillor Lorentson: Historic event. I think this... Yeah. What's your advice, Kerry? Speaker 4: I think... Councillor Lorentson: There was just a bit of confusion around what everyone... Reference was made to it should be addressed under our temporary event policy, not... And I explained it's... Speaker 4: This is a... We've only had one issue raised. So I think you could add the word historic. Historic event.
00:19:00 Historic event. And it would... It makes it clearer. If there were... Speaker 2: There's two ways you can do it in terms of today. If you want to. It's a fairly minor clarification. So one of the ways to do it is to authorise the CEO to clarify the... Whatever paragraph it is. Yeah. Speaker 4: Under special memorials paragraph B. Speaker 2: Clarify the meaning of the word event. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4: To change the word event to the historic event. Mayor Stewart: Do you want to change or clarify? Councillor Jurisevic: CEO? All right. You can do it either way. Say amend it. Yeah. Just do amend it then. Speaker 2: Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: Or is it more clear if we say consideration of whether a plaque commemorates an event or individual... I think...
00:20:00 We're... Speaker 4: Complicated. Yes. Because I think, Amelia, when you read the rest of the... ...context of the policy, it's obvious that it's actually talking about events in the past. And the reason for that is that we don't just commemorate individuals. There are times, for example, a war or a conflict or an event within a war or conflict where we will commemorate that event. Okay. You know, some other local governments might commemorate a significant historical event with a plaque or a memorial. We can... I think, it's... It's pretty clear from the rest of the policy that it's historic events. I agree. I'm comfortable just adding the word historic and not over-complicating it. Speaker 2: I'm just getting that wording finalised. This is a very minor change. I don't think we've had a general committee for that. No.
00:21:00 Speaker 4: All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Any other questions... Yeah. Councillor Wilkie: What... Yeah. Speaker 2: What that would have been read in paragraph A is the Dr. Clark's memorials policy provided in attachment 1 to his report with an amendment to the Clark's associated with council project section of the policy. And item B, RSL memorials to clarify the meaning of event to refer to historical event. Speaker 4: Just, sorry, correction there, Kylie. It's actually the special memorials section.
00:22:00 Yeah. Oh, sorry. You're right. Councillor Jurisevic: Well, we get it all right before we move on? Yep. Councillor Lorentson: My last question, page 13, location of the Clark Memorial. Council reserves the right to propose an alternate location. Under what circumstances do you do that? Speaker 3: It could be a range of circumstances, but it could be that the location that the applicant has proposed is impractical for any number of reasons. You know, things like mowing, a hazard, you know, in the middle of a green space isn't ideal. Or there might be too many things already in that area. So we'd work with the applicant around the appropriate location. Speaker 4: Frequently we'll have somebody come and they've got a particular location in mind because, you know,
00:23:00 that's where the person used to sit and gave that to the water, and they met or something, and it might not be appropriate for a whole range of things. But we would be aware of many other options that might be more suitable. And so we will therefore propose other locations for them to consider. Councillor Lorentson: So what is council's preferred way of commemorating people? I think the report alluded to road naming as a preferred motive. Speaker 3: Absolutely. So that would be our preferred method. It's enduring. It's in the community. We don't change road names or park names hardly ever. And it becomes part of people's daily life. You know, as you drive across Garth Proud Bridge or up McKinnon Drive, it does prompt more thought about who was this person, why did they get a bridge or a road or a park. And it becomes part of our story that builds over generations of time.
00:24:00 But naturally, there's going to be circumstances where that might not be practical, which is then we've proposed that we will allow some parks and we've got a standard form of park that we've outlined in the policy and the guidelines. Speaker 2: Another example of the Garth Proud Bridge is a very good example of circumstances, but the original, it's probably an example of two things. One is about not trying to make the decision straight away, quickly, for things to calm down, and the second is where it's the most appropriate place. So in that particular case, the initial thought was it should be where the tripod starts from, which is Lyons Park. So that caused some grief until everyone worked through the issues and what's the most appropriate place or what's a better place to work through the family and get up with a great result. It's a really good example of that. And again, a bridge that never really had a formal name. Councillor Jurisevic: It was always named after the locality rather than the essence of the bridge. Speaker 4: And there are certainly, you know, we, Jane and Infrastructure Services, work together because there's, you know, option there for us.
00:25:00 Councillor Wilkie: And it's important to point out, and we've made it clear in the report, that this is for commemoration of individuals or families with enduring links to Nurses Shire. Individuals have made a substantial contribution. Acknowledgement of contribution by community groups that have made a substantial and outstanding social and civic contribution. Or commemoration of a significant historical, cultural event. So it would be misleading for us to give the impression that just anyone, you know, because there's an appropriate place where people are commemorated and it's cemeteries or private land. Speaker 4: And certainly with the review of the cemeteries, we're looking at other options around commemoration because we can see, you know, change in society where people may not be being either buried or having ashes interred, which has led somewhat to the situation that you mentioned about Point Perry, where now it's become de facto commemorative.
00:26:00 There's a lot of war there, that within the community and potentially within cemeteries, we need another option for simple commemoration. Coast Guard's doing a fantastic job. Councillor Jurisevic: I was just going to go there, I was going to say, we had a similar situation with the Coast Guard relocation of the wall. I mean, the original goal was to place it out on the, you know, out on the river mouth or something along those lines where, you know, potentially it could have been vandalised and things after discussions and now the Coast Guard are acknowledging that where it sits is very frankly and it works very, very well. Speaker 4: And one of the reasons that we're, you know, wanting to bring this policy in now is to put that framework in place before we have a situation that, you know, where we see other councillors, councils faced with something that has already, the community has turned into a de facto memorial area and the council is then left with this difficult decision of what do they do if they dismantle it?
00:27:00 What is that doing to the people who have memory? What is that doing to the communities invested in that de facto memorial area? So by putting a policy in place now, it helps the community understand, it provides an avenue for those options and it allows us to deal with those situations which may pop up. Councillor Jurisevic: And I know the clarity around how long the expectation of being maintained by council over a period can be. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Sorry, just one last question. So commemorations of deceased persons. This is probably not to do with the policy, but commemorations of living persons that have made outstanding contributions to the community. What avenues do they have to be commemorated? Speaker 4: We certainly would not recommend it through this type of policy. We would recommend that through one of the numerous, for example, awards, you know, where there might be, you know, Queensland Day Awards, Australia Day Awards, Queen's Honours, et cetera.
00:28:00 So we would recommend all of those types of things. We would recommend it through one of those rather than the plaque or a memorial or the naming. When it is something that is physical and enduring, like we want the fullness of their life to be considered and we want some historical perspective on that before we put something permanent in place. Thank you. Councillor Wilkie: You also touched on something previous, which is a very important aspect of this. It's about telling the story of the Shire, the heritage of the Shire. So when these people are commemorated, it's because of their outstanding contribution and historical links to the Shire. So it actually adds to the, well, you mentioned the story of the Shire, the history of the Noosa Shire.
00:29:00 So will there be much of an explanatory? Text associated with these plaques? Speaker 3: The plaques themselves are very simple, but there's certainly opportunity for us to be telling that person's more fully through our heritage websites and our other heritage activities. So I think we'd very much be capturing those stories at that time if we hadn't already captured that person's story. Yeah. Making it available through the heritage library, through the heritage website. Councillor Jurisevic: Just leading on from Amelia's question there, we don't have any formal awards type ceremonies within our local Shire. We certainly do have elements within the Sunshine Coast for some recognition, particularly with sports. But as far as contributions to the community while they're living, apart from those that go to much higher honours, we don't have anything locally.
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00:30:00 But we have had in the past, have we not? Speaker 4: We have in the past, we don't currently now. We certainly make recommendations each year to the other award processes. If that was something that Council was interested in, you know, we could take that away and undertake some research about what other Shires do. Councillor Jurisevic: Possibly something around Australia Day and Australia Day, recognition of Australia Day awards or something like that. Speaker 4: Same idea. Yeah. We could go and do some research and provide some background information and some ideas on what some options for Council would consider. Councillor Jurisevic: So yeah, would it be appropriate here to make a request or? No. Different issues. Speaker 2: Yeah. No. Councillor Jurisevic: For me to make a request for you to start to undertake that study? Speaker 2: Here is what it says you're going to do. Councillor Jurisevic: That's all right. I'm happy to move. Thank you. I'll second. Thank you. All in favour? Thank you. Thanks, Jane. Thank you, Jane. Thank you, Jane. Speaker 3: Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, everyone. Thanks, Kerry.
00:31:00 Councillor Jurisevic: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Kerry. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Item two, the J half year report to 31st of December 2020. Ash. Mayor Stewart: Ash, I've just got one question. Sure. On page 23. Mm-hmm. Top line. While these sites were able to reopen earlier and more extensively than first anticipated and thus outperform revised revenue budgets, this was not the case for the J and it remained largely unused for the majority of half the year. Speaker 2: Yep. Mayor Stewart: Is there an opportunity that we potentially could open this up upstairs to ... I know that this has been in the past. Yeah. But I'm going to ask it again because that word says it all. Speaker 1: Yeah. So I guess this is reflective of the half year that's now complete and right at the end of that period, the restrictions changed, which eased up a lot of the restrictions that
00:32:00 were in place at the J with regard to our normal events. So in terms of theatre usage, we are slowly getting back to the point where it looks more like business as usual. With regard to the other areas around the facilities in terms of meeting rooms, they continue to be used. Some of them have been reused. Some of that's dropped off a little bit, but not completely. And then we've obviously got other tenants on site in terms of USC put their SIDSEL program in a space that's leased by them. So they have exclusive use of that space. There's a lease in place for that at the moment. We're having discussions with them because the SIDSEL program does cater to international students. So obviously that's been impacted by the border closures. Mayor Stewart: And I imagine so for a while to come, we won't see too many international students. Speaker 1: Yeah. I think their view is that certainly for the remainder of this year, it's unlikely that they'll have many students on site. They still do have their admin staff on site there. They're running courses remotely.
00:33:00 And there's discussions coming up with USC around what does the lease look like moving forward, because they're at the point where they need to activate the next option or request a variant potentially this year. So we continue to have a range of meeting spaces, the deck room, the boardroom, mezzanine meeting room, upper foyer that can be utilized on an ag hoc basis by groups. And we certainly welcome requests to hire those as we had previously. There's no restrictions really in place that prevent that now moving forward, so. Mayor Stewart: But not on a semi-permanent like sort of six month or something like that for community groups? Speaker 1: No. Look, I guess our view is that those rooms are best utilized on an ad hoc basis because it shares them around and makes them available to a much broader range of community groups. And there is a lot of demand for use. I guess the report, when we talk about largely unutilized, we're talking about the main theatre function. Auditorium. Yeah. Because we couldn't have music events, comedy performances, et cetera.
00:34:00 Speaker 2: And it's on the screen which is on top of page 45. That's probably the starkest example or the impact it has on this particular facility compared to the other . Yes. . Speaker 4: I think interestingly, Ash was sharing with me the other day, is that they now almost have the opposite problem. In that we have the producers who have delayed bookings want to book in. But then all of the ones who have now are under the premises now. So there's almost now competing demand for space, which is quite interesting. Speaker 1: Yeah, so I guess unless there are further restrictions that come in, and obviously we don't know for sure, but we're hopeful that we're not going to see particularly severe restrictions, then, as Kerry said, we're actually going to be trying to slot in events that were postponed last year into this year on top of the existing bookings, because a lot of the bigger performances are booked out in the next two years to an afternoon. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah, and upstairs we have an outbreak locally.
00:35:00 Mayor Stewart: And upstairs there's an arena at the end. It's all been pretty much utilised. Speaker 1: No, so as I said, USC have got their lease area, then we've really got the upper foyer, which is occasionally used for events, but one of the, I guess, downsides of the J's, it's a multi-use venue, which is great, but you can't have all areas used at once. So if we have something in the upper foyer there, and we've got staff in our box office right next to it trying to get work done, if there's something happening in there the whole time, it's very difficult for staff to be answering the calls and doing the financial reconciliations, et cetera, et cetera. Also means that the toilets upstairs, which are utilised by the union and their staff, aren't publicly available. So it's always a matter of juggling around usage. So we're happy to do that on an ad hoc basis, or if the upper foyer is used for a night-time event, for example, when staff aren't in the office during the day, or if it's very infrequent, but there's no appetite there to look at an ongoing use of that upper foyer space.
00:36:00 Councillor Wilkie: So the next six months is going to be a big bounce back for the budget, that's the hope. Councillor Lorentson: So Ash, given that there's such a huge demand for exclusive use from community groups, and given just what you just said, with just plays that have been on hold that are now coming forward, my question is, has council got an opportunity to further develop the areas surrounding the J to meet this demand? Or? Speaker 1: Well, I guess it's... it's probably not my place to provide comment on that. As it stands at the moment, there's a car park next to the J and the rear car park of the J. If we wanted to look at development opportunities, it really needs to be something, I guess it was driven by council, it would be a significant investment and a significant cost. And there has been some talk about that in the past, and it will come back to the cost benefit analysis.
00:37:00 You'd be spending millions of dollars to expand the facility. I guess you'd have to look at what kind of value creation does that result in, and is that value worth the capital investment and potentially increase in operational costs as well to manage more space. Councillor Lorentson: So has any feasibility study been done in this area? No. No. No. And are there any plans to look at this expansion? Speaker 2: I'm trying to think. Filling with the 12, no, 14 years old? Speaker 1: 15. We're getting, yeah, close to 15 now. 15 years old. Speaker 4: So there was work done around the J and its business case, which looked at maximising. The best thing to actually do was to maximise the internal space, and that created the mezzanine seating. Speaker 1: There is a very small portion of work done, I think, during the service review, where it was flagged as, I guess, an opportunity that might exist in the future.
00:38:00 It wasn't an extensive piece of work, but it did highlight that, you know, if you were to look to expand the seating capacity, for example, and the wings. And again, this is more around the theatre capacity, more so community space. But off the top of my head, it was millions of dollars to increase seating capacity. Speaker 4: It was looked at as part of the cultural plan in terms of, you know, we did a facilities assessment. And at that point, it wasn't found. That, you know, given the plans that existed for Sunshine Coast and the facilities that they've got there, which you should always be doing, looking regionally, that there certainly wasn't a case for a large performing arts venue. And that the best wants to make best use of the space that was there at the moment. Similarly, when we do the new social strategy, we will do a facility needs assessment.
00:39:00 Then as well to determine broadly in that social cultural space, what are our actual needs for facilities that can't be met by existing stock. So often people will say there's a need for a facility when actually we have underutilised stock already or stock that's not fit for purpose. And we're better off refitting stock that we've got rather than building new. Speaker 2: In some ways, Amelia, it's a bit similar to the conversation we had this morning about the Digital Hub. In that case, the cost to Council is around about $50,000 to $80,000 a year. What economic benefit do we get out of that? Or what's the benefit of it? In this case, the average cost to Council that they pay is around about $350,000 a year. So if we were to expand it, that would probably add to that cost base and have a look at that value for money.
00:40:00 If we were to maximize what can come here, 400, 300? Councillor Jurisevic: It's about 400. Speaker 2: 400. So we have to expand the seats at the top to get to that 400, which then attracted more shows, which then sold out. So it actually was a good return at that level. If I think we go bigger, it's actually going to tip the other way. Councillor Jurisevic: Which was actually a better way of doing it. Because my recollection is the original plans for the J was that it could be expanded. It was designed with expansion in mind. There were a couple of extra, I don't know what you call them. Modules. Modules that could be tacked onto the side to give it width. But I mean, we probably reviewed, I think we looked at that when we looked at that expansion. Speaker 1: Probably wouldn't describe it as going to be a modular building that can easily be added to. There are about 400 mil thick concrete walls around the edge of the theatre there. So I think you could . Speaker 2: I was here when that original design was done. You may have heard that a camel is a committee horse designed by a committee. A J was designed by a committee. So it's a bit of everyone and it's not exactly perfect for one individual thing. Councillor Jurisevic: Sorry, I have one other question.
00:41:00 Yeah, you go. With regards to capacity at the moment with COVID restrictions, what is the current capacity? Speaker 1: So we can operate twice from, yeah, operate at full capacity as long as we're registering details. Yes. Councillor Jurisevic: All of it. Yeah. People are advised to take normal. So it's full? What is it, 300? Speaker 1: 402 if you want to measure me. 402. Yeah. So we've had a couple of shows recently where we've had pretty much full capacity there. Excellent. Good to see. Yeah. Good to see. Mayor Stewart: We've, a number of us around this table have received sort of emails and people have been in contact about wanting community space. When will that social policy be sort of begun or what? Because that could then highlight potentially, as you said, lazy assets or assets that aren't being used or we can refit.
00:42:00 Speaker 4: So we had slated that for next financial year, but I don't know that that's realistic given the workload on that. So it's certainly, we've not put it up as a piece of individual work for next year. But that's not to say that we wouldn't start doing it. It would be our intention to start doing work on it. But, you know, the work that we've done to date has not identified a need for another general purpose community building. What we would particularly, you know, we've got a lot of, for example, large, you know, flat floor halls. It's going, I would imagine there'd be some recommendation around those and how we get best use out of those in the contemporary world. Obviously, we're, and we were down there yesterday. The fences are up to commence the work on Peregian Community House. So before recommending any future more general type of community space, we'd be looking to
00:43:00 see what the capacity is like in that for the future. So we're looking at that as a way to get the community to move further. Because it's obviously a bigger building with much better operating capacity. Councillor Jurisevic: The other option there is the State Government's change of policy with regard to schools and use of school spaces. I mean, there's a lot of underutilised spaces at state schools that could be turned into community spaces and available for community use. Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely. Councillor Jurisevic: And I think we've got a set of work in progress there to try and facilitate. Speaker 4: Yes, yes. And then we'll see if that's going to be in place. We need to be able to see how that's going to work. Speaker 1: I think, yeah, the final thing is that there's certainly capacity for the hireable spaces at the Jay and also at the Leisure Centre at the moment. In fact, the Leisure Centre, you know, will obviously get onto that. But we've seen a bit of a drop off in venue hire because some groups that were utilising spaces aren't anymore. So if there are groups around that want to hire the lounge, for example, at the Leisure
00:44:00 Centre. We'd love to hear from them. Councillor Lorentson: And Council charges cost recovery fees. Is that correct? Speaker 1: With all the community halls? Yeah, there's a not-for-profit community hire rate, yeah, which is very reasonable. And a commercial rate as well. There is a high commercial rate as well, yes. Speaker 3: I'm happy to move it. I'll second it. Councillor Jurisevic: We'll move to Council Morrison, second to Council Stewart. All in favour? Thank you, Councillors. We'll move on to the next item. Thank you. Thanks. We're not going very far because we're going to the Noosa Aquatic Centre next. Half-year report to 31st of December, which is item three. A much happier story. Yeah. Unbelievable. Well, we certainly returned to use far earlier than we thought we would. Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously in the budget we weren't quite sure how that was going to pan out, so we were quite concerned in our assumptions with regard to revenue in the first quarter. Unfortunately, we were able to reopen, still with some pretty heavy restrictions early on, but they did ease now to the point where really it's just registering details, COVID safe cleaning practices, etc.
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00:45:00 So I think revenue now, I did some analysis the other day over the first seven months of the year, seven or eight months of the year, and we're within, we're over 90% of probably where we would expect to be in a normal year. So still some impact, obviously more so in the first few months of financial year than the last couple. I think over the last couple we're almost back to normal numbers. Councillor Wilkie: It looks like you're back to normal. Yeah. I'm getting close. In January, February, March. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: And given that you've just skidded. And the go-ahead for the tri-events and other larger gatherings, I'd be expecting those numbers to continue to increase. Speaker 1: I guess at the Aquatic Centre we typically don't have too many large events. We have a handful of school carnivals. Councillor Lorentson: Oh, no, I'm talking in reference to people training for the tri-events, swim events, and the winter swim events.
00:46:00 Speaker 1: Yeah. Influx of people in September that realise they've only got another month on their hands. And then the May of Russia's the week before. Councillor Lorentson: It's been great. It's very exciting. I'm not your man. I'm the one who's been. Can I add, I went for my first swim for a long time just recently at the NAC. Whoever does all the hiring of staff, really commend them. They are part of the success story of the NAC. They're brilliant. And they're people that have been there for a long time. And I know that because I haven't been there for a long time, and some of those wonderful people are still there. So commend whoever, and Stephen James, I've got to commend him. He's part of the success story too. Yeah, they're a great team for sure. Councillor Jurisevic: You mentioned COVID cleaning regimes and all the rest of it. How much additional expenditure and time is required to ensure at this stage all the COVID safe compliance with regard to cleaning? Speaker 1: I think of the budget for next year. There's a provision of about $5,000 for the various kind of extra cleaning products and PPE, et cetera, at the centre.
00:47:00 In terms of staff time, most of it can be done within the existing shifts. So it's a matter of staff. Councillor Jurisevic: Okay, staff as opposed to external cleaning contractors and the like? Speaker 1: We do have external cleaners as well. Is there any difference there? I think initially there was and really now it's a routine of right products and following the procedure. Councillor Jurisevic: But it's not, it's all part of the routine of normal cleaning procedures. Speaker 2: Okay. That's just a quick one for me. I was just wondering between 2019 and 2021, how long were we closed for in the end of 2019 when we did our... Yeah, it's really... I'm just trying to compare the two. Speaker 1: So 19-20 was a double whammy of impacts because we actually closed in the final week of 18-19. So I think it's about the 24th of June of 2019. And we started back up early September. I can't remember the exact date, but obviously it took a little bit of time to wrap that up.
00:48:00 So it was, call it kind of two and a half months of the start of FY20, and then obviously the final three months because of COVID. Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's just the actual to actual for that six months to 31 December would only pick up that closure. Oh, yeah, so a fine entry. Councillor Jurisevic: Weren't some of those figures associated with the closure of the pool for the main executives and all that? Yeah, that's what I was getting at. Yeah, so... Okay, thanks. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: On page 31, one of your upcoming priorities is commencement of the team master plan. Yep. My understanding of that is that we're going to be looking at that whole sporting precinct, Heroin, and maybe there's opportunity there. Should we be looking at community spaces that we were making reference to in the report before this? Speaker 1: Is that the case? So with regard to the NAC, no, the thinking there is that it would really be looking at
00:49:00 the NAC site, which would include the surrounding car park, and looking at what some of the opportunities may be moving forward. Obviously, we do have a little bit of land there. So there's a variety of possibilities. And what we want to try to do is do some preliminary planning. Some preliminary work on some of that, look at the possibilities, and that may then identify things that require more detailed work. So the intent with this one was probably more so for staff internally, so myself and Stephen Jones, coordinator of the Aquatic Centre, to put our heads together and talk about, okay, well, the centre's now 21 or 22 years old. What was the norm when it opened? What's the expectation now in the industry? What's changed in terms of community expectations? Where are we bursting at the seams? Where have we still got some capacity? What might be the trends moving forward, et cetera? So I'm not sure about Girraween. That doesn't fall within my team. I'm not aware of that. Councillor Lorentson: We're a community space. Going back to community space, within that 10-year NAC precinct, there's opportunity
00:50:00 there to look at providing the community space for the master swimmers, the board riders. Is that part of the conversation, this conversation? Speaker 1: So the conversation that's been had around that to date within our team has really been about, similar to the J, providing a multi-purpose space, which could be utilised both by the Aquatic Centre, for example, if we wanted to put on additional group fitness classes, because at the moment we don't have a dedicated group fitness space, so it's done in the gym or the studio. So let's say if it was a 100- or 200-square-metre room, that we could programme ourselves for some of our programmes. And then when we're not using it, that, yes, it could be used by community groups that are on site. So if there was a carnival and they wanted to have a function afterwards, an awards ceremony after the carnival, the Swim Club, the Tri Club, et cetera, they could book that space. But again, we wouldn't be envisaging anything where there's dedicated club room space
00:51:00 or permanent allocation of space. Councillor Jurisevic: Something like a large gyro wing master plan would be done somewhere along the lines of what the Tewantin and the Cooroy complex plans were done, where each of the individual entities within had their plans put forward and put forward into a larger... Speaker 4: Certainly, that's not a piece of work that we've started on at the moment, no. Mayor Stewart: In that 10-year plan, Ash, I remember we did a tour there, there was all the talk about doing a big new change room and toilet block down the side, would that be part of this? Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'd love to find a way to get a family change area built. So yeah, that would provide change facilities that are open to any gender and also a space where families could get changed in a small private family cubicle without that situation of dad worrying about if he's got a... Six-year-old, eight-year-old, boy and girl, which change room does he go into? So again, that's probably one of those things that when we built the NAP, it was pretty
00:52:00 common to have traditional male-female change facilities. Now most new facilities have areas that can be used by families or just individuals who feel more comfortable in their own space. We have one family change room which traditionally could only be used by one family at a time. The door was locked. We've opened that up a little bit where it can be shared a bit if you've got a couple of young kids that just want to get changed after swimming lessons, they can quickly duck in there. But we have had some concept plans done for a change village, you might want to call it, where there's maybe eight separate change cubicles and some shared basin facilities, et cetera. So we'd still very much like to do that. We've applied for a couple of lots of funding over the last few years and haven't been successful. So it probably comes to a point where we either look at whether we can fund some of that internally or whether we just keep applying for grants as they become available and see how we go. Mayor Stewart: Is that about half a million? Speaker 1: Is that right? Roughly. Yeah. Yeah. That was a couple of years ago now, so it might-
00:53:00 Yeah, it might have gone up. Yeah. Yeah. Every time you re-look at it, it kind of gets more expensive. But- That does get- Loving it gets cheaper. No. Speaker 4: That gets back to what we were saying earlier about deeds assessment. There's a hierarchy of facility dreams and we really focus on some of that needs stuff. And this is one that keeps cropping up. That's a real gap in our facilities. I remember. There's also a limited amount of space here. But you'll recall when we went on a tour of our sporting facilities that contemporary changing environment is a real issue that our sport and rec sector needs to tackle over time. Yeah. Speaker 1: I guess the other matter for the NAC is when we do have schools coming, and they come there very often, there's going to be lessons or carnivals at the moment, they've still only got the choice of going into the change areas that are also used. So if we have a separate change area, we might be able to cordon one off for exclusive
00:54:00 school use for that period, but still have facilities available for other uses at the same time. Yeah. So there are some complexities there. Mayor Stewart: And school kids all get changed. I mean, I go to the Shep and my kids swim there. They all get changed in the same area. They've got separate toilets, but they're all girls and get changed in one area. Yeah. Speaker 4: So while the schools come, it's then when, hang on, if there's other members of the public in there. Correct. So you absolutely need to be concerned about that. Mayor Stewart: Yeah. Speaker 1: So I think that's certainly number one priority. Mayor Stewart: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Councillor Wilkie: Just an observation. I'm there about five mornings a week now. I'm always impressed by how well utilised every lane is. So you've got generally at least two squads operating at the moment. You've got a couple of lanes for lap swimmers and you've got the aqua aerobics people and you've got another, seem to have another squad and three swimmers down the 25 metre. Yeah. How has the opening of the St. Andrews pool affected the operations? Has that, the gap that they created, has that, that appears to have been filled with
00:55:00 users? Speaker 1: Yeah. It's a little bit difficult to get a read on it because of the various disruptions and we, we expected that. I think the numbers were around about 15% we expected over time people would choose to go to St. Andrews because it's just closer geographically to where they're living rather than drive up to a NAC for swimming lessons. We did see that initially before the disruptions. It's now quite hard to, to get a read on it and now we're also getting lots of new families coming to town. One of the interesting things we're seeing actually is a bit of a shift towards the private, request for private swimming lessons as opposed to group swimming lessons for kids. So that's probably something that's changed recently. Councillor Wilkie: Can you accommodate that? Speaker 1: We can. It's, it takes up more space.
00:56:00 Yeah. If you've got one child and one teacher in a section that you would normally have, you know, four or five kids in. So it's like everything we slotted in where we can but it's a bit of a juggling act at peak times so. Councillor Wilkie: Is there fewer, is there less time allocated for waterfowl analysis and so on? Speaker 1: I think, again, throughout COVID there were lots of disruptions around their programming. I'm not entirely sure where we're at at the moment. Councillor Wilkie: So they haven't logged to St. Andrews? Speaker 1: Not, no, we're never going to do it completely. Yeah. So there's going to be some at St. Andrews but there's still going to be various training and some games at the HACC I think was the plan. Yeah. So yeah, we will, we'll certainly see a shift. I think over time we'll probably plug most of those gaps with other users or broadening our own programs into more space or more times. Councillor Wilkie: The other question I have is it's a casualised, you've got a number of casuals there and you can adjust the hours according to the demand. That's right, yeah. Is that why you've, the revenue for this financial year is higher and so is the expenditure
00:57:00 compared to last year? Speaker 1: Sorry, which table are you looking at? Councillor Wilkie: So we're looking at the historical financial performance on page 30. Speaker 1: Oh yeah, sorry. Councillor Wilkie: So you've got a higher revenue take this year. Yes. The COVID-affected year, which is fantastic. There's also a higher employee benefits cost compared to last year. Speaker 1: Yeah. So you've got a higher revenue take this year. Yeah. So financial year 2019-20 was impacted at both ends. So the start had about two months where we weren't open, excuse me, because we were doing the major pool refurb works. We drained the pool, we did the grout and the coping tiles. So the facility was shut then. Yeah. So there was obviously no revenue throughout that period. And there was some cost reductions with employees who wanted to take some time off when we didn't bring employees, et cetera. But then at the end of 2019-20, that was when we had the most severe COVID restrictions.
00:58:00 So we shut the facility in March through to... Councillor Wilkie: These actuals are 31st of December 2019. Speaker 1: Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So it's the first couple of months. Just the two months. Yes. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Thank you. Councillor Jurisevic: Anything further, Councillor? No. Councillor Lorentson: My question in regards to the canteen at the Aquatic Centre. Have we secured a lease? Speaker 1: So it's out to tender at the moment. It's out to tender. There'll be a separate report coming up shortly regarding that tender process. Councillor Lorentson: Fantastic. And that's quite an important lease given the amount of people that go to the Aquatic Centre. It's important that we pick the right tenant? Speaker 1: Yeah. Sure. It's obviously really well utilised by our patrons and it's a great service. And we want to make sure we've got the best possible operator in this. Mayor Stewart: Tell me about it. I spent a fortune at that. Councillor Jurisevic: Good stuff. Mayor Stewart: And we've got loyal support.
00:59:00 They've got great bags of all these and hot chips. And that's just for the adults. That's true. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's critical for us, even though it is one of the services that's run by an external operator. When people go to the Noosa Aquatic Centre and go to the cafe, they associate that with the centre and the council. It's excellent. It's an excellent cafe. It is really important that we make sure that that is reflected. Councillor Lorentson: And the past tenants were excellent. Speaker 1: Just they're listening. They were excellent. I'll happily talk about it when we bring the tender up. All right. All right. Councillor Jurisevic: There's nothing further? Can I have a mover? I'll second. Councillor Linestone. Second. Councillor Stewart. All in favour? Thank you. Well done. Great effort under the circumstances that we've had. We'll move on to item four. Nursing community support. Taff Healey report for 31st of December. Gee, Ash, you again. Councillor, any questions? Councillor Wilkie: Any problems? Speaker 1: I wouldn't say problems. There's been some challenges, obviously. Clearly.
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01:00:00 With COVID. And it was that quandary of delivering services to those that probably need them the most, but were also the most vulnerable with regard to COVID at the height of it. So it was certainly a challenge. We found a way to keep going. Some of the services looked different for a period, but the funding providers were very keen for us to find some kind of way to help people, even if it wasn't what it typically looked like. Councillor Wilkie: What's your position on the vaccine in relation to the staff that work in this facility? Speaker 1: Yes. I think we're still waiting for some guidance from higher levels with regard to whether that does become mandated. I don't think it'll be something that we would lead the way in, Brett. Is that fair to say? Speaker 2: Basically what we said to staff already is that it's possible that other levels of government will mandate for certain professions. If that's the case, we'll follow that mandated approach. But otherwise, we will treat vaccinations the same as what we do with the flu jab that we have available. We'll do what we can to facilitate that, but it's up to people to choose their own. Councillor Jurisevic: It certainly seems to be one of those ones that they're tethering.
01:01:00 Mayor Stewart: Well done on this, keeping this afloat during COVID. I mean, it hasn't been an easy task. No, certainly. To the team. Speaker 1: Thank you. Stressful time for the team. Yeah, absolutely. They were obviously mindful of not wanting to put anyone at risk, but they were also very keen to find a way to deliver a service. That's right. A vulnerable clientele as well. Mayor Stewart: Yeah, absolutely. Who need it the most. Speaker 4: And particularly during that period when there was little opportunity for them to have a human connection with other people. Mayor Stewart: Really vital. It's been great. Councillor Wilkie: Thank you. Mayor Stewart: All right. I'll move it. Councillor Jurisevic: Thank you, Councillor Stewart. Second. Councillor Wilkie. All in favour? Thank you. And just for something different, Ash. Welcome to the table for the Noosa Leisure Centre half year report for 31st of December. Any questions, councillors? Councillor Wilkie: Financial actuals compared to budget just look extraordinary. Yeah.
01:02:00 Speaker 1: It's very conservative. It's free. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. You probably get a slightly better picture if you go to the historical table on page 41. So revenue was still down, just that the budget had factored in a longer period of closure than what actually perpetuated. Yeah. But really pleasingly, we've seen group fitness in particular recover very strongly. And I think we're now actually busier in group fitness than what we used to be. We were in previous years at the same time over the last couple of months. Venue high has taken a bit more of a hit. So that's down from 90, almost 93 the year prior, down to 63-odd now. So I guess some of that's around bigger events that occasionally we have at the Leisure Centre in the stadium, but also small bookings of a lounge. We've had a few groups there that stopped during the COVID shutdown.
01:03:00 We've had a few groups that have been shut down. And whether or not they've discovered some of the online tools that they can run groups through and they've stuck with that, or whether they just haven't come back together yet, we're not quite sure. But that's had a bit more of an impact also. Cafe sales, as you might expect in the first few months, they were pretty low. People typically weren't coming in and sitting around and having a coffee and a piece of cake with their friends after a class. They'd come into the class, but then get out of there pretty quickly. So we're hopeful over time those areas recover, but otherwise it's held up pretty well. And touch wood, if we don't have any worsening restrictions moving forward, it should be a pretty good year coming up. Mayor Stewart: There doesn't seem to be a correlation. And I thought there would have been between crèche revenue and group fitness revenue. I would have thought that mums doing group fitness would put their kids in a crèche. It doesn't seem to be the case. Speaker 1: Yeah. I guess the crèche revenue is fairly low regardless. So it doesn't take much to impact it.
01:04:00 So the data may not be quite... Mayor Stewart: It's just an interesting... Councillor Jurisevic: I think dads might want to do it as well, a lot of dangerous mums. Mayor Stewart: Sorry, Joe. Councillor Lorentson: I stand corrected. Parents, perhaps. Mums dropping off their kids. A lot of them are just mums dropping off their kids to school to use the facility. Mayor Stewart: Yeah, I think I would do it. Speaker 1: There may also be a bit of an impact there with crèche with people that had passes. So they bought 20 visits at a time prior to the COVID shutdown, and then it's kind of carried forward so we don't actually see the revenue coming in because they're using up things that they've already made paid for. Yeah. I'm sure the accountants have got a formula in the background there that's proportionate to the right period. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Councils weren't... No councils were eligible for the JobKeeper allowance. During this COVID period, did council stand down any employees, or were they all redeployed to just other facilities?
01:05:00 Ash? Speaker 1: Yeah. So we had really good levels of redeployment. So sometimes there were tasks within the facilities that required people to work on. We had staff redeployed to other council teams. So we had some of the staff go out to the outdoor workforce, out in parks and gardens, and some of the crews out there. We had a leisure centre, actually. We had a food drop off point going for a couple of months, I think, from memory. So we had staff manning that as people dropped off. We were then cleaning it down, and packaging it up, and then delivering it out to the various community groups. We had some staff working out with community groups, doing meal delivery, et cetera, so. Working on wood care. Wood care regeneration. Speaker 4: No, we did stand down staff. Speaker 1: Yeah, which was really pleasing and great to be able to stand by the staff and support them. Yeah. Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. And that was the case as well, even with the J, which was impacted for much longer.
01:06:00 We were able to keep the staff engaged. Councillor Lorentson: And did council ever lobby the local government association in regards to councils not being eligible for JobKeeper? That was... Yeah, it's been... Speaker 2: Yeah. Both the JQ and Local Government Association of Australia lobbied the federal government to get into that. Mm-hmm. Right. And we're not successful. Much to my... That just stuns me. Councillor Lorentson: Because we were one of the lucky councils that didn't have to... Speaker 2: That's right. We had good financial position to be able to do that. Yeah. Yeah. The argument was we're not a commercial activity. Councillor Lorentson: That was the argument. Councillor Wilkie: Yeah. Speaker 2: But the argument was that we run some commercial activity. Absolutely. It's different from parks and gardens compared to running a... What we're seeing here today is a commercial activity. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: And we're just centre the journey. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: Right. Nothing further? I move Councillor Stewart, second Councillor Wilkie, all in favour? Thank you, councillors. Councillor Wilkie: We're moving on to the last item.
01:07:00 I have a conflict of interest here, Mr Chair. I have a prescribed conflict of interest as I'm the secretary of the Noosa Gymnastics Councillor Jurisevic: Senator Hall, community said that half year report to the 31st of December. Clearly, we've, you know, all of our facilities have been impacted, including this one, Ash, with the viability of these centres being, these activities within being able to continue, like the Gymnastics Club and the Montessori School that were obviously severely impacted by COVID. But we seem to be back on the, like all facilities, back on the road of recovery.
01:08:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, the Gymnastics Club had a similar shutdown to our other facilities. So I think by the start of term three, they were resuming something that looked like normal operations, although I can speak from firsthand experience. And so they're very vigilant down there with their COVID safe practices, so credit to them. But I think their numbers have recovered pretty well. Councillor Jurisevic: Given the age of the Bicentennial Centre, like built in back in 1988. Is there anything coming up? That maintenance-wise we need to be aware of? Speaker 1: We had a fairly extensive, well, extension and partial refurb on the main hall a couple of years ago, and the Gymnastics Club extended that. The roof, like a lot of our ageing buildings, will probably be the next major.
01:09:00 Councillor Jurisevic: There's a lot of things, I'm thinking age-wise, but the other facilities that are built around the same time, we've had bits and pieces being done. So I think this one, we've had this one's due. Speaker 1: This one's done, that's no flagging something. That's something that's coming up, but it's not imminent. I think the remainder of the facility is in fairly good shape. No major dramas that we're aware of. Good to hear. Yeah. Councillor Lorentson: The Gymnastics Club were offered rent relief during the COVID phase. Is, I'm assuming that's stopped? Is that right, Ash? Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah, so it's just for the period where they had the major shut down, and then once they're back up and running, then that's resumed as normal, yeah. Okay. And we're seeing they're back to pretty much business as usual, and same with Montessori? Speaker 1: Yeah. Councillor Jurisevic: Yeah, well, Montessori kept going the whole way through, like, other schools, I guess. Yeah. Speaker 3: All right. I'll move the report. Second. Councillor Jurisevic: First, Councillor Asuncion. Second, Councillor Stewart. All in favour? The ayes have it.
01:10:00 Yes. Speaker 2: And should you pass on to the other staff to thank you for the great work you're doing at the moment? Yes. Councillor Jurisevic: I guess we're prepared to be in here. Thank you, Mr. CEO. I think we all prepared at very difficult times. Yeah. Yeah. It might lead to Councillor Wilkie back in somewhere in the closing building. Thank you for watching.