Before the first item ¶
00:00:00 Speaker 5: Okay. Good to go? Okay. Welcome everybody. As the CEO, I'm opening the meeting because our elected chair for this meeting is operating online today. So we'll go through the process of that. But before we do that, I'd like to acknowledge the land on which we meet, the Kabi Kabi people and pay our respects to them. Elders past, present and emerging. Going forward, I would like to see if we can get a nomination for a chair. We need to have a chair who's actually in the room with us as part of our standing orders. So I'll nominate Councillor Drisvich. Speaker 2: I'll second that. Do I have a choice? No. Speaker 5: No, we can do this. So she can't vote on this? No. So Amelia, you don't vote on this one? We've got a quorum in here to vote for a chair. So all in favour? Yes. That's unanimous. Now over to you.
00:01:00 Thank you, Mr. CEO. We just need to bring Councillor Lorentson into the meeting. Speaker 4: First things first, yes. In accordance with section 254 of the Land Government Regulation, Councillor Lorentson is approved to attend the meeting. I'll move that resolution. Second. All in favour? Carried unanimously. So welcome to the meeting by Councillor Lorentson. Speaker 1: Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Speaker 4: Sunny Melbourne as we understand it. Mm-hmm. So we'll go through the items. I have one attempt. Second. We're all in attendance with Councillor Lorentson now online. Confirmation of minutes from the previous meeting. Can I have a mover? Second. Councillor Wilkie. Second. Councillor Stewart. Discussion? All in favour?
2 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
00:02:00 In favour, yes. Thank you, Councillor Lorentson. That's unanimous. No presentation of deputations, I understand, today. No. So we'll move straight on to item five, reports of consideration. There is only one report before us today, and that is the Boring Point Campground Management Services tender. And we have our commercial property officer, Robyn Mercer. Robyn, would you like to give us an overview on the tender for the new contract for Boring Point Campground? Speaker 6: Certainly. Good afternoon, all. The report presented to you today is for the award of contract CN00459 for management services. The contract is a five-year contract with a two-year extension option. The current contract for management services has been in place since April 2019. The new contract will commence in April 2024 and is being awarded at this time due to the upcoming local government caretaker election period. Between July and October this year, we undertook an open tender process for the contract.
5.1 Boreen Point Campground Management Services Tender ¶
00:03:00 The tender was open for submissions for a period of five weeks. One submission was received from the incumbent management contractor, 1-8 Pty Ltd. 1-8 has performed strongly as the management contractor since 2019. The required tender evaluation process was followed, with a focus on ensuring the submission offered value for money, was budget compliant and scored well against evaluation criteria, particularly in light of there being an agreement. A single submission to the tender. Overall, the submission demonstrated a thorough understanding of the contract requirements. The evaluation panel concluded that the submission from 1-8 offers an advantageous and sound outcome for Council to safeguard the campground's operation and financial viability into the future. On this basis, the report recommends award of contract CN00459 to 1-8 Pty Ltd.
00:04:00 Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you, Robin. My understanding from our discussions is, from what you've written here, that it's the same contract that we've had for the last five years, but there's a difference in the format of this contract. Can you outline a little bit of the changes that have happened in relation to the contract and how this will impact on the operations of the tenderer and the returns to Council on the voucher? Speaker 6: Certainly. So, since 2019, broadly, the Noosa Holiday Campground has been open. The holiday parks program has grown in the way that we approach things operationally and contractually. A lot of the operational activities that were managed in-house are now outsourced within our contracting scope of services. So the contract now is quite different from the one currently in, or the contract to be awarded is quite different from the one in place based largely on the scale and range of services that we're asking.
00:05:00 So, we're asking the management contractor to provide. In terms of the pricing and how we pay fees for management services, the existing contract is a revenue share only. Within the new contract, we introduce a fixed portion in addition to a revenue share. Speaker 4: And that fixed portion is based on the level of services now we're going to be asking to deliver? Speaker 6: It recognises that regardless of the revenue level, we're asking the management contractor to deliver a fixed portion of the services that we're going to be asking to deliver. Speaker 4: So what sort of services are we talking about here? Speaker 6: Things like facility management, repairs and maintenance. Okay. Speaker 4: And they were previously done or managed or arranged by staff in-house? Speaker 6: Yes. The previous iteration of the contract split off some activities within the management scope of services and now we've got the next iteration where it shifts a lot more. Speaker 4: So what oversight will Council have in regards to how well those repairs, for example repairs
00:06:00 are under way? How well they're undertaken, if they're undertaken to the standard that we've had previously? Speaker 6: Yeah. So we have this approach in place now at all three parks and Boring Point's the last one to fall in line. We have a really comprehensive list of activities within an Excel activity schedule basically that is between four and 800 activities per park. We then, and they have a frequency and a timeframe in which they need to be done, we plug them into a cloud-based platform. And then the management contractor ticks those off as they're completed and uploads any documents. Speaker 4: That's fine. But who's overseeing this? Who ensures that it's actually being done to the level that we require? Speaker 6: I oversee. I oversee that. Speaker 4: Okay. So you'll be doing periodic inspections? Speaker 6: Yes. So we do quarterly inspections. Each month we receive a maintenance report that outlines all the activities that have been done. So I do a reconciliation that the scope of services has been executed. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you.
00:07:00 Any further questions, councillors? No. Just a moment. Just a moment. Speaker 3: Can I cancel a little bit? Just a quick question. What can you say about the track record of this tender? Speaker 6: Overall, 1.8 performs exceptionally well. We have an excellent contract partnership. I can't hear anything. Speaker 4: Has that just happened? Sorry. Speaker 6: I can hear now. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. Speaker 6: I'll start again. Overall, 1.8 performs exceptionally well. So the growth of Boring Point Campground over the last five years has been actually quite special to be involved in. The visitation has grown. The product that we have there has grown. And 1.8's played a huge role in facilitating that on the ground in terms of guest management, the facilities. The accessibility management work makes sure that the product looks sharp and that guests have a high quality tourism product to enjoy.
00:08:00 Operationally, they're collaborative, open to solutions and have a really strong system based approach within their organisation that means they can deliver quite high quality services. Speaker 3: Okay. Speaker 4: Do you have anything else? Not for me. Speaker 3: Thank you, John. Speaker 4: Councillor Lorentson, I believe you may have a question. A hand raised. Yeah, I have. Speaker 1: Robin. In terms of the submissions, the council only received one conforming submission and you mentioned that there was a five-week advertising period. We advertised in a recent today. Is it unusual that we've only received one conforming tender? And has anything changed in terms of the evaluation criteria? Yes. I think there's been a change in terms of the evaluation criteria, which seems to be quite detailed. Speaker 6: Sure. So, I guess from a pure procurement perspective, it's always pleasing to see competition and
00:09:00 multiple options come in from private enterprise. But what we're seeing within local government campground and holiday park environments is that it's becoming the trend to have one management operator within a region. So, for example, if you're a local government campground and holiday park, you can have They're four beachfront caravan parks, all have separate contractors, but the same management contractor. Similarly, at Sunshine Coast Council, they have six parks, five of those are managed by the same management contractor across different contracts. And Moreton Bay and others are trending in that direction as well, and of course, that's where Noosa has moved also. So in that vein, I wasn't surprised to receive one submission. I also would note that Boreham Point Campground is our smallest operation, so if another management contractor is wanting to, I guess you'd call it, have a crack at the region, it's probably
00:10:00 not their entry point that they would select to do that. Speaker 4: That seems to be indicative of what's happening around the industry. We have these larger operatives that manage a large cohort of parks under their banner, so to speak. And councils have typically done that in the past. They've had to do with those self-managed areas. Correct. Speaker 6: And you do get advantages in value for money, because a management operator can distribute their overheads and workforce across multiple operations as well. Speaker 4: We've got a website on what we'll get from criteria, so you can understand how it's happening. Speaker 1: Anything further, Councillor Lorentson? Yeah, I've got a couple more questions. In terms of, I think it's a good question. In terms of value for money, there has been an increase, $90,000, I understand from the report, is an increase of about $7.14.
00:11:00 That's in line with CPIs, and how do we ascertain whether, even again, we've only had one submission that we are getting bang for that? Speaker 6: Certainly. So, just to clarify, the $90,000 is the introduction of a fixed fee portion. Fee, yeah. So, that's the introduction of a fixed fee portion. It doesn't correlate. That's not the 7% value. I think the 7% value is somewhere between $48,000 and $50,000 from memory. So, overall, a 7% increase to our management services was considered reasonable in the current inflationary environment. Council's cost base for the Noosa Holiday Parks is experiencing cost increases from about 5% to 21% across our expense base. The submission provided, the submission from 1A provided really detailed commercial insight into the inflationary pressures that they're experiencing as a way of explaining
00:12:00 their pricing and their submission. And similarly, they are experiencing inflation across their cost base from 5% up to about 24%. So, in, with that all being considered, 7%, which is not 5%, that's a little bit more Fairly reasonable. Speaker 4: We've returned to Council over the last five years has been on the increase year in, year out, has it not? Speaker 6: Correct. We've seen our revenue increase over time. Our business strategy has been to build our revenue, but to do that, we've had to build up costs to cause that. Moving forward, our goal is to maintain revenue, but look at how we can do our cost base better. So, that's the next phase. Yeah, that's one lever that we have. We can run a number of micro business cases across, you know, for example, instead of buying 80 cubic metres of road base, we can put in an asphalt road.
00:13:00 So, there's a number of micro business cases we can look at as levers to improve our cost base. Speaker 4: Anything further, Councillor Winston? Speaker 1: Oh, I don't have enough time. If anyone wants to ask a question, I have got one more, Councillor Jo. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 3: No worries. Speaker 4: You're the only one still with questions. Nobody else has any questions. Speaker 1: No worries. Methodology revenue generation on page 12 of the report. The applicant had to demonstrate or, should I say, identify opportunities for innovation and improvement. My question is, have they identified the opportunity in accessible tourism and funding opportunities that are open in that area? I don't know. Speaker 6: Yes. So, this is the Yolk, some of the Yolk funding that came through as part of the year of accessible tourism. We did look at rolling out that program across the Noosa holiday parks earlier in the year,
00:14:00 but the funding isn't for local government. So, it gets tricky with a contract partner obtaining funding and then council actually funding it. So, it's definitely something that we look at. It's on the radar. But without funding at the moment, we haven't progressed any planning in that space. It's definitely a topic of conversation, though. Speaker 1: So, just out of curiosity, Robyn, are there any sites that, or accessible campsites existing already at any of our caravan parks? Speaker 6: Broadly speaking, the topography at all the campgrounds is flat. Yeah. With the exception of Boring Point. The other sites have concrete pathways with sufficient widths for wheelchair or other access. We have disabled toilet and shower facilities at all our campgrounds now.
00:15:00 Yeah. So, in that regard, we are ticking some boxes. Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Robyn. That's all. Thanks. Speaker 3: Thank you. Just to re-attribute a question. Robyn, before you said that revenue has increased and that also the costs have increased. What's the trend of profits over the last few years under this particular operator? Speaker 6: So, overall, our profits have grown. The report I put through in August demonstrated that. Yeah. And that's across the aggregate as well. Boring Point and North Shore do offer bigger challenges in maintaining a good level of profitability into the future. Just because they're more regional and we have waste water that we have to dispose of and we have water supply and a lot more trucking and cartage involved in the operations. But overall, profit has grown. And the cost base, when I talk about the cost base increasing, those are our variable costs.
00:16:00 So, water, waste water, electricity, gas use, all increase as the revenue increases because it's driven by a higher occupancy and visitation. So, the cost base has increased. Speaker 4: I'll second it. Speaker 2: I'll say, I just want to thank Robyn. She does such a great job and we see really great, you know, these are great revenue income streams for Council. And I want to thank you because there's so much work behind all of this and, you know, all the compliance and due diligence. So, thank you, Robyn, because I think everything you touch, it turns to gold quite literally. So, thank you. Very much a team effort. I know. Yeah. Speaker 1: Hi. Can I just add? Can I just add? I hope, Robyn, that you'll be partaking in our destination management plan. I see our caravan parks as a really great opportunity and leader in sort of the experience sort of development.
00:17:00 And I think that's the direction I think we need to take as our Council in these sort of transformationalist type experiences. So, I hope that there's, that we'll be collaborating with Procurement and yourself in this paper. Speaker 6: Certainly. Speaker 1: And thank you for all your great work, Robyn. Speaker 6: Thank you. Speaker 4: I'll confirm with the comments around the table. We've certainly seen some enhancements and improvements since you joined the team, Robyn, with regard to the holiday parks and services in that area in particular. Having just come back from New Zealand, I saw the benefit of, you know, having just the opportunity to see the different kinds of campgrounds and things with, when you've got opportunities of experiencing nature in the way that they do there, the tracks and trails are really, as we enhance our tracks and trails, I've imagined, eventually we'll capture a whole new market and the opportunities going forward. And so, yeah, working on those facilities and having those facilities at first class levels will be, will be critical in making sure that those sort of things are accommodated
00:18:00 in the future. So thank you for all the input. Speaker 6: I think moving forward, it's the expansion phase is what we need to consider and that's how we grow the program, because you can clearly, and I've clearly seen from going to these areas frequently that a coffee shop might be able to stay open longer than it normally would have, or there's an increased level of service for that community that's driven by having more economic activity within the region. So now it's looking at how we do that. How do we do that across more of our Shire, which of course brings in land use, land availability, planning constraints, and those sorts of considerations. Speaker 4: So I've already pointed out the struggle to keep that coffee shop open. That's probably a very... Speaker 6: It's always open now, so I get my front black. Yeah. Speaker 3: And here's to looking at John's land. Speaker 6: Yeah. Speaker 4: All right. If there's nothing further, I'll put the moment to a vote.
00:19:00 All in favour? Speaker 1: In favour, yes. Speaker 4: Carried unanimously. Thank you, Robin. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2: On a convoy. Speaker 4: . Speaker 2: Thank you all for your attendance. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
8 MEETING CLOSURE ¶
Council's recording ends before this item. Where a meeting resolved to close its doors, that is what the end of the recording means — see what council discussed in private.