Before the first item ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Finzel: Meeting Tuesday the 7th of October 2025. I declare the meeting open at 1.32pm. I note that all councils are in attendance and there is no apologies to those in the meeting. I would like to acknowledge Noosa Council proudly respects the Australia's First Nations people and their deep abiding connection to this country. We recognise that there is no presentations, no deputations. We are up to reports for consideration of the committee. Commencing with 7.1. Minor amendments to fees and charges registered for commercial fees. And welcome to the table staff members Dennis Wallace and Richard MacGillivray. Thank you and welcome. Thank you Chair. Would you like to give us an overview of the report?
1 DECLARATION OF OPENING ¶
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2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ¶
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3 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES ¶
00:01:00 Sure. Speaker 5: Thank you. Councillors this report relates to a fairly minor administrative matter that has come to light. Councillors will be broadly aware that our fees and charges are split into two types of fees. Cost recovery fees. And commercial type fees. Property section was reviewing its fees recently and noted that there is an incorrect reference to the type of fees against a number of property fees. So we have what are commercial fees incorrectly listed currently as cost recovery fees. And this report seeks to correct that administrative reference. In our fees and charges register. And to do that now rather than to wait for next year's budget process. And it's as simple as that. The type of fees involved are footpath dining fees and commercial use permit fees.
4 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
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6 DEPUTATIONS ¶
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7 REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE COMMITTEE ¶
00:02:00 So they are currently listed as cost recovery. But in fact are set as commercial fees. And it appears that at some stage there has been effectively a cut and paste error in our registration. We've only just picked this up. So that's the purpose of the report to make that amendment to that legislative reference for the fee type. And amend our register. Happy to take questions. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Do we have any questions from the staff? Councillor Phillips: I do. Thanks. Just in relation to that then. So cost recovery. Now it's going to be listed as commercial in the register. Does that change the amount the counsellor. Speaker 5: No. And the fees currently are applied as commercial fees. But it's just there's a column that notes what type of fee it is. And currently it incorrectly says cost recovery. So there's no effect on the fees. Just to correct the reference to the fee type.
00:03:00 Councillor Phillips: Okay. And so when it comes to the budget review next year. It's. We're going to be looking at the commercial. As commercial. Speaker 5: So the fees remain the same. We'll do until the next budget round. But even at that time it won't have any marked effect through this on the fees that we're applying. So it's purely just an administrative typo if you like. Councillor Phillips: Yeah. Okay. So there's no cost change to businesses. No. That are. No. Having spaced down. Speaker 6: No. Just a reference to. Okay. Okay. So the fee is the cost recovery provision. Which is. Which is basically a fee for service. So if you can only. You can only charge what it costs you to do the assessment. Versus a commercial fee. Which is actually a.
00:04:00 A commercial rate that you can set to. You know to cover the cost of say for example. Some of my client. Public land for a commercial activity. Competing with other businesses in that location. So we can set a commercial fee for that. As Dennis said there's no actual change in any idolatry amounts. It's purely the references of those two different legislative heads of power. Cost recovery versus a commercial fee. Councillor Phillips: Was there ever once cost recovery. Is that how it happened? No. Speaker 5: These have always been commercial fees. And we think that at some point in previous years. It's sort of been like a cut and paste error. And just that reference has come across. So they've always been levied as commercial type fees. And set in that way. Okay. Alright. Councillor Wilson: Any further questions? Yes. So just to clarify. The calculation connected on change has always been a commercial fee. It just wasn't incorrectly. Listed. Marked on the table. Speaker 5: Correct. Councillor Wilson: In relation. I think I came up with a few in the report.
7.1 Minor Amendments To Fees and Charges Register for Commercial Fees ¶
00:05:00 But it's no change to the question figure. Councillor Phillips: In relation to my request to move it. If I'm okay with. Now I've heard the report as well. So. So you'll set aside. I'll set aside. Yep. Councillor Finzel: Yep. Okay. So. We just think that in terms of that. In summary. Is that there's. An error. That has been reviewed. It's come up. To our right. And we can make those changes. Yep. Which will provide opportunities. Yep. Speaker 5: And our. Our website will update. The fees and charges register. Yep. Post. Post this meeting round. Councillor Finzel: Alright. Well thank you. Well done. On the diligence of the staff. Yeah. And it was in place. And we then. Thank you. We'll take it to the vote. I'm happy to move. Mayor Wilkie: I'll second the management. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: That's moved by Councillor Finzel. Seconded by Councillor Wilkie. We'll take it to the vote. All in favour.
00:06:00 Thank you. Thanks. Thank you to the staff. Thanks. We will move to our. Item number 7.2. Mr Shire Council sold. And specialised supplier list. And we're welcoming. Lee and Mark. To the table. Welcome. Good afternoon ladies. Speaker 7: Good afternoon. Good afternoon councillors. I'll hand it straight over to Lee. To take us through the report. Councillor Finzel: Fantastic. Thank you very much. Speaker 7: Thank you. So councillors. The procurement of council goods and services. Sorry. Speaker 1: Before I've heard it. Sorry. Councillor Finzel: I'll go to declaration then. Yeah. We just ran out of time. We just ran out of time. It doesn't always have to be described. Well. Because it's. Speaker 1: The last time you did it was prescribed. That's all. That's all I remember. And she's not a committee.
00:07:00 Councillor Phillips: Okay. In accordance with chapter 5B of the Local Government Act 2009, my councillor Phillips informed the meeting that I have a prescribed conflict of interest in relation to item 7.2. Mr Shire Council sold and specialised supplier list on this agenda. In relation to the Hastings Street Association being on the site. My councillor Phillips has a list of all the items on the council supply list as my sister-in-law, Joanne Phillips is on the committee of Hastings Street Association. And as a result of my conflict of interest, I will now leave the meeting room while the matter is considered and voted on. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, councillor Phillips. No, you can't. Thank you, councillor Phillips. No, you can't. You can't. You can't. Okay, we're ready to proceed. Thank you, staff, for your overview. Speaker 7: No, thank you, no worries.
7.2 NOOSA SHIRE COUNCIL SOLE AND SPECIALISED SUPPLIER LISTS ¶
00:08:00 Councillor Finzel: Noting that also Councillor Morriston is online, thank you and welcome as an observer. Thank you. Thank you. We just have a technical issue, so if everyone is pleased, we'll just get that sorted. Thank you for those online. Councillor Morriston, just a question from the committee. In the attachment of this item today, we note that there is a listing with pages, furnishes and a supplier. We do note that in the past you have declared a declaration around this matter. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to make sure that your position is clear.
00:09:00 Speaker 4: No, pages is no longer in operation. I did actually ask the question beforehand and understood that they would be removed on this supplier list. Given that it's still on the list, I'm happy to still continue with my declaration just as a measure of transparency and declare a complete and honest switch off. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Councillor Morriston. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. And we understand the operating today, but as a precautionary measure, Councillor Morriston has made a choice to switch off and stay for one for this part of the meeting. And we'll have that clearly addressed when we go to ordinary meeting. Yes. Are you happy with that? Yes. Okay, thank you. All right. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. Appreciate that. Speaker 7: Thank you.
00:10:00 These must be carried out in accordance with the Local Government Act and the Local Government Regulation. The Regulation provides for the procurement of medium-sized and large-sized contracts and also allows for exceptions to these requirements under certain circumstances, such as the approval of a supplier being deemed a sole or specialised supplier. So this report seeks to amend the specialised supplier list by the removal and addition of nominated suppliers and also seeks to maintain the current sole supplier list. The amendment of the specialised supplier list includes the removal of nominated suppliers as they are able to be procured via other means as permitted by the legislation and proposes the addition of the new suppliers to respond to Council's current and future procurement requirements. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Do we have any questions?
00:11:00 All right. Well, thank you. It was a well-read report, a good read, a long read. But anyway, I've got every year to say thank you so much for your contribution. Thank you. And a good team to the report. I appreciate that. Thank you. We'll take it to the vote. Oh, sorry, we need to move it. Have you a second? Did you get that? Have you taken to the vote? All in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you to the staff and to the members who were on today. Thank you. Thank you. And we welcome Council of Lords back into the room. Welcome back. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: We'll move now into agenda item 7.3. Register of pre-qualified suppliers for provision of tree management and management services.
00:12:00 RP 25083. And we welcome to the table, Geordie Laskells and, oh, I thought Shaun Walsh was coming in. No, he's a woman and a half talent. Oh, okay. As said, welcome to you both. Who's going to do the speak over here, please? Speaker 3: Thank you, Councillor O'Neill. So this is in regards to contract RP 25083, which is seeking approval to establish a register for pre-qualified suppliers for the provision of tree management and maintenance services. In accordance with the local government regulation, a public request for tender was issued to establish the ROPS. The ROPS is to be established with the recommended suppliers for initial term of two years. Plus two extension options of up to two years for each option for extension.
7.3 REGISTER OF PRE-QUALIFIED SUPPLIERS FOR PROVISION OF TREE MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES - RP25083 ¶
00:13:00 The tender evaluation panel has completed the evaluation process and recommended 11 suppliers be placed on the ROPS, be included in the ROPS. With 10 of those based in the Noosa or the Sunshine Coast local government area. The services that are to be provided are broken into four service categories. That's tree works with tree maintenance, elevated work platforms and chipper works. Specialised tree services including root barrier works, vacuum excavation and consultancy for arborist services. Tree planting and establishment. And also traffic management. After the evaluation, we determined that eight applicants were suitable for the tree works category. With six of those also providing traffic management. Eight would be on the specialised tree service register. Speaker 1: And five were on the tree planting and establishment.
00:14:00 Speaker 3: So Council's recommendation is that we award the contract RP25083 for the register of pre-qualified suppliers for the provision of tree management and maintenance services for two years. Commencing 1st of November to the suppliers listed in the attachment of the report. And authorise the Chief Executive Officer to negotiate, finalise and execute and administer the contract on behalf of Council. And subject the satisfactory performance of the suppliers. Also for the CEO to approve the option to extend the contract. And if that is extended to approve the addition of new suppliers to the contract as a result of any refresh and discretion of Council. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you very much. Do we have any questions from the Councils? Mayor Wilkie: Sorry, if you've already mentioned, how many of these suppliers are local?
00:15:00 We have a lot. The final, the final selection. Speaker 3: So ten are based in Noosa or the Sunshine Coast local government area. So some, some have, some are actually based solely within here. And some have offices and staff within Noosa and Sunshine Coast. I don't have the exact numbers of how, how many are just solely based within Noosa. Mayor Wilkie: I'm curious to know, the one that is not based here, what services, what sort of services do they have for the one that isn't based here? Speaker 3: Just hold with me one minute while I look. Consultancy services for arborist services. So that's where we would need a report on a specific tree to determine how the tree gives a report on the, on the tree itself. And they're not based within Noosa County.
00:16:00 Sorry, sorry, there is a, another company that's just been pointed out. Which is, which is on the, on the panel for all of the categories. So tree works, specialised tree services, tree planting establishment and they also have traffic management. So there was one supplier that was based outside of the region that had, that were selected for all of the categories. Mayor Wilkie: That's the one that is not based here? Speaker 3: That's correct, yes. Mayor Wilkie: And they, they can respond quickly when needed? Speaker 3: Yes, they, they have a large company. They can provide all our services, yes. And being on the panel doesn't necessarily guarantee work. So being on the panel means that if there is an event like a, a disaster event or a large storm, we can call in companies, multiple companies to do works. Which is why we have, you know, a fairly large panel of eight providers.
00:17:00 Whereas normally just with the day-to-day operations we may only use three or four or five. If, if we do have a large event, we call on others to come, come in. Mayor Wilkie: And will there be a net saving for rate payers given that services historically was up to 1.15 million per year. But the, there's a new arrangement about the 1.4 million due to inclusion of traffic management as a service. Was it more expensive to have the two separate portions, the tree services and traffic management and all of that? Is it, is it more cost efficient to go this way? Speaker 3: It can be more cost efficient. But it is, it's actually more efficient to organise the work. So there's some efficiencies in organising the work that council staff and separate contractors are called in for one job. The actual Trulox company can call in their own traffic management company. So, so they can actually negotiate directly with the traffic management company to organise the job. Whereas previously council was essentially the middle ground.
00:18:00 It was a single person trying to organise traffic control for a job that was being run by a tree management company. So if there was changes to the, either the traffic management company not being available or the Trulox company rescheduling, council was having to organise, go backwards and forwards and negotiate. But if traffic management had a person that was unavailable that morning, you'd have a Trulox company standing around waiting for traffic control and they wouldn't come, wouldn't be available on council staff then scrambling. So wherever we could, we are under this arrangement trying to get the tree management company to actually organise the traffic control themselves. There was a slight cost saving as well. Some of the Trulox companies were able to negotiate traffic management at a slightly reduced rate than council's preferred supplier. Or they train their own staff up and get their own staff trained in traffic management and they can provide that service themselves. But it wasn't necessarily about the cost saving.
00:19:00 I think it was about the efficiency of analysing all of the work. For certain times, it was the same. Of course, yes, that's right. Thank you. Councillor Phillips: I have one quick question. Yes, of course. The mulch that they produce from, because Ayrshire needs to go through like a chipper lap. Yes. Where do they take all of their? Speaker 3: Any works that they do for council, we have ownership of the mulch. So they are required to do a routine with the sites that we stipulate. So there are a number of sites within council that we stipulate within the team that they have to take that mulch to. Councillor Phillips: And is that tied up in the contract final around their waste disposal fees as well? Is that how that works? Speaker 3: Well, they won't be disposing of that waste facility. It would be a different site. So there won't be any charges for that. Where they have to pay a charge. For this sort of work, that's fairly rare. But where they have to pay a charge, they'll put that on there in this.
00:20:00 Councillor Phillips: Okay. That doesn't change anything, should it, with the waste? Like if it's two years without going into a whole other conversation, the planning of waste down the track, that won't impact? Speaker 3: Well, it should be a very minimal impact because most of the works that we do don't actually go through the chamber. And we get the final product. Okay. So it doesn't have to go through the rate region to the waste facility or bypasses that completely. Councillor Phillips: Correct. Speaker 3: And a lot of circumstances, it's just left on site for stuff to spread into the garden beds. And it's on site as well. Councillor Wilson: Okay. Councillor Phillips: Thanks. Mayor Wilkie: Julie, I have a question on that. Can you quantify how many of the customer requests you receive a month or a year with the garden trees? Speaker 3: Usually, one of the highest. Yes. It's around 80 per week requests. All right. Obviously, higher in storm season.
00:21:00 And slightly higher. But 80 requests including true maintenance, true removal, permit applications as well. Has that number increased over the years? Yes, it has increased. Yeah. It's increased. It's increased about 20%. It's increasing about 10 to 20% a year. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Is that attributed to like normal events, do you think? Or do you have an idea as to what people... Speaker 3: It can be, but not necessarily. It can just be... It can be about the resident population having expectations. It can be about the... It can be about the amount of trees that we've got in our reserves and damaged infrastructure. It can be about the... But it really varies according to whereabouts in the Shire it is. Yeah. It's also about growth. Obviously, when you have residential population close to natural areas or growing trees in
00:22:00 urban areas, you get requests for those trees. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Easy, isn't it? Easy. I thought the council said we didn't have trees. No, that's Nisa. Speaker 3: Oh, that's the benefit of Nisa as well. It means we don't have trees. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Any further questions for the staff? Okay. Well, I'm happy to move the recommendation. Can we have a seconder? Thank you. A seconder? Frank? We'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Thank you. That's unanimous. Thank you, the staff. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Brian. Thank you. Speaker 3: Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thanks, Brian. Moving right along, that takes us to item 7.4, 2025-26 out of land community grant application for a three-year community alliance agreement.
00:23:00 Thank you and we welcome staff to the table. David, Kerri and Kelly. Welcome, thank you. Who's going to list the items in the report? Thank you David. Thank you. Speaker 2: Councillors, this is an out of round grant application for the Tewantin Heritage and Historical Society, who also, basically Parkins Hut, they run the Visitor Information Centre Parkins Hut. They've put in an out of round application for a three-year community alliance agreement. This is due largely to the Heritage and Historical Society being advised by Tourism Noosa that they will no longer be able to provide additional support from 2025 onwards. As this funding change was confirmed after our grant round closed, it becomes an out of round grant application. So I just wanted to also advise that it still goes through the same rigorous process of a grant application.
7.4 2025-2026 OUT OF ROUND COMMUNITY GRANT APPLICATION FOR A THREE-YEAR COMMUNITY ALLIANCE AGREEMENT ¶
00:24:00 So it's put through an assessment and moderation panel and then is put before you as an out of round report. Comparatively too, we've also made a recommendation for the amount for the Tewantin Heritage and Historical Society, which is in alignment with two other similar organisations, notably the Cooroy Historical Society, Noosa Museum, and the Cooroy Noosa Genealogical and Historical Research Group. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. No worries. This is a good report reading all the lists and the allocation of funding. So I can bring you some lists, thank you. Thank you councillor. Do we have any questions? This one. Mayor Wilkie: We've provided a table of other amounts given to similar organisations. Can you just talk through the rationale behind the amount that you've arrived at?
00:25:00 Speaker 8: So thank you through the chair. We have a set amount in the budget for our community alliance agreement. And then we have a formula approach which looks at each application is assessed against the criteria and scored. And then we apply a formula to make a recommendation to councillors, which takes into account the reach of the organisation and the value that it's providing. In this situation, it's a historical organisation at its heart, also providing the added value of the tourism information centre, which you can see from the data is very successful. So we have aligned it with those two organisations. Mayor Wilkie: Very fair assessment that you've given there, given through a historical society. Do you want to use the genealogy to demonstrate the researcher of the similar work?
00:26:00 Speaker 8: Yes. These ones are always a little complex because they're delivering wonderful things for the community but in slightly different ways. So that's why we have a methodology behind the scenes. You'll see that in that list there are some organisations receiving more. They're normally the ones that are doing a lot more hands-on work. Mayor Wilkie: And they're an award winning organisation. They're running a visitor information centre. I always say visitor information centre. We're doing it three times a month. They're very professional running. Speaker 8: Look, I think they, when we assessed it against the criteria, they were very professional. They, you know, had they applied with the round, they would have rated very highly, scored very highly within that. They have a significant number of people visiting them. They've got a high number of volunteers. They are very, were a very stable organisation prior to the funding being withdrawn by Tourism
00:27:00 Noosa. They've got a very stable governance model. So, and they're delivering very, very well. So, I think that's what we're seeing broadly, both on a visitor front, but also from a community front in terms of Noosa's story, respect for our heritage, and telling that story. So, it scored highly on all fronts. Councillor Phillips: Quick question. Apologies if it's in the report. To be honest, it's a no-brainer for me that, because of the years that I've seen these sites deliver such great things for our community. But, quick question around where the funding, does heritage, does our heritage levy ever contribute to the community grants fund, or is that? Speaker 8: No. So, the heritage levy has a levy policy around it, and that policy covers putting into more projects. So, it's actually delivery of projects, not the actual grants have always come out of
00:28:00 our grant fund. Okay. We, because we don't know in any given round whether there'll be heritage applications or sporting applications. So, it's from all community organisations are eligible to apply for that. Councillor Finzel: Second one. Just a question. I know it was mentioned in the report, which I suppose we're seeing. What is the risk to our broader community if this funding wasn't made available through this process? Speaker 8: Thank you, Councillor Finzel. Look. We have had a very good look at their financial statements, and we can see that the funding that was coming from Tourism Noosa was the majority funding for this organisation. And so, without this funding, they would not be able to continue operating. Like all community organisations, they face a lot of non-discretionary issues.
00:29:00 They're a public facility, so they have public liability insurance. They've got volunteers training, because they're a visitor information centre. They must have accreditation, which they've earned. They've got training. They've got their uniforms. So, there's quite a range of costs. We went through. Dave went right through with them to see where they could make some changes. So, but there was very little in that that we saw, as far as we could see. There's been discretionary funding. You know, probably the one item that we saw is the annual Pioneers Luncheon, where they bring together older people from our community. And yet, that really is a critical part of what they do, and it's a much-loved celebration. So, you would really be having to, I guess, cut out of the heart of what the organisation's
00:30:00 doing. There were minor changes that you found, weren't there, Dave, to help them? Speaker 2: We've also lined them up with Business Mentors Noosa. So, we'll do a strategic plan with them as well, which can focus a little bit on where some income streams may be available, and where they might be able to save a little bit on expenditure. Their budget is pretty low drawn at the moment. It's very lean. It's very lean. Speaker 8: Yeah. Speaker 2: Yes. That's great. Speaker 8: So, yes, without this funding, we don't see that they would be able to continue. Councillor Phillips: One last question. Councillor Wilson: Councillor Phillips. Councillor Phillips: Thanks. My last question. Obviously, they provide such a support for tourism. Can you speak on why Tourism Noosa would stop funding? Speaker 8: Such a valuable... Through you, Chair. Thank you, Councillor Phillips. I can't speak to Tourism Noosa. I can't speak to Tourism Noosa. I can speak to the reasons that were given to us, and the reasons given were that Tourism
00:31:00 Noosa were making changes to make savings in their budget, and they decided that this was a change that they would make. They noted that it was a separate community organisation, and therefore, in their view, they were not responsible for funding it. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Councillor Haynes. Councillor Haynes. Oh, I was happy to move the motion. Councillor Wilson: Okay. Councillor Phillips: I'm happy to second. Councillor Wilson: Yeah. It's disappointing that Tourism Noosa doesn't continue that funding, but I'm happy to support this out-and-out spread. As the report says, the centre welcomed over 14,500 visitors in the last financial year. Sorry. Sorry about that. And we know it's a really important focal point in the Tawantin community. We as councillors walk past it all the time, and I pop in and say hello. There's fantastic volunteers there doing a great job, so we really want them to be able to continue with the work they're doing.
00:32:00 And it's interesting to note that over a third of the local visitors are actually local residents who come in and learn about the history, and also they've been to some fantastic events run by the centre. So it's really important that continues. We're also getting interstate travellers, Queensland visitors, international tourists. I really don't want to miss out on that, especially as the Tawantin continues to grow and thrive at the University. We need to learn about our community and our history. So I'm happy to support that. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, councillor. Any other questions? Councillor Phillips: Only that the Pioneer Luncheon is pretty much one of my favourite events every year, because it's such a great celebration of seeing like local locals come together, talk about the history, pretty much what Councillor Wilson said. So yeah, happy to, even though that it's out of rounds and the other things that I don't sit comfortably with me, what does sit comfortably, that we've gone and supported them regardless
00:33:00 in a kind of way. So, yeah, thanks. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, manager. Mayor Wilkie: It is an organisation of great heart. Professionalism is recognised by the three awards that they've won. And I think the funding that's been allocated, being similar in amount to other heritage groups in the Shire, it's an equitable distribution of local science. And they do pay a very important, you know, full support for the out of ground grant allocation. That's great. Councillor Finzel: We just wanted to provide a tongue twister. I think it's all been said, just to reiterate that, you know, this organisation has been given long term. They're really embedded in our hearts and in our community. They provide significant benefits beyond their membership base, which, you know, our
00:34:00 community thrives on. So I'm just pleased that the recommendation to support this out of ground funding, and we've got to see them move forward and really just continue their great work. So it's really good that the council can support this with the out of ground funding, and it's provided an opportunity for them to continue and do what they do best. So thank you very much for your report. I will take it to the vote. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, the staff. Thank you. Now that takes us to item 7.5. Council needs. Scheduled to close. And I'll hand it over to our CEO, Mr Larry Sengstock, to do this overview. Speaker 1: Thank you, Chair. This is something that we do every year at this time. We produce a timetable of the next 12 months of meetings, including our sub-committee meetings
00:35:00 and council quarterly meetings. So this is essentially for the period of January through to December 2026. It's an administrative exercise for transparency so people see what they've got ahead if they want to get involved in any of the council meetings or have any say in those meetings. So that's what it's for. It doesn't mean it can't be changed during that period, but it is just something as a structure to build upon, and it follows the same process, same structure that we're currently in. So I'll put it to council forum for recommendations. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Any questions? Yeah, I have a question. Councillor Wilson: If we were to change the schedule for next year, how many months of notice would we need to do that? Speaker 1: That's a good question. I think we can do it immediately. I'll have to check it once it's been resolved.
7.5 COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE – 2026 ¶
00:36:00 I think we can do it. Councillor Wilson: But if the focus is for staff planning, then it will change. Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. But we can do it. As long as it's practical. So if we know that, because it's not something we're going to be doing immediately, so it's going to take us a little while. If we were to change it, we would have some workshops, and if it was heading that way, then we would plan accordingly and change our process to make that changeable. But I think, you know, we're still going to have ordinary meetings where decisions are taken, whether they're monthly or fortnightly, until we're able to get into that. Councillor Finzel: And I think that's how I'd like to see this opportunity to change. When councillors decide they would like to revisit the meeting agenda... Yeah. ... you know, if we were able to go through a council resolution. Yes. So we can adapt to all of it. Yes. Councillor Forbes. Councillor Phillips: Question. Locking it in or having this administrative process now. Will that...
00:37:00 My only worry is obviously many of us have now said we'd like to review it. Speaker 1: So we've got a meeting being booked in. I signed it off this morning. I'm not too sure exactly the date, but the first workshop of that to begin in the next month, I think. So we can start that conversation, and if we do decide we want to change, then we can apply the process and change. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Any further questions? I'm happy to move the recommendation to make the report. I'll second. Thank you. We'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Speaker 1: No, that's okay. Councillor Wilson: Sure, good? No, I didn't get a chance to speak to you. Oh, apologies. I've already raised a few concerns about the department working as a current, so I don't really support continuing that.
00:38:00 Councillor Finzel: Okay, so you're voting against the recommendation, so I'm not anxious. So three, four, and... Yeah, as we take that to the vote again for Cooroy. I've just got to cancel this one. How's it going again? Okay, thank you. So same as carried? Carried. Carried. Yeah. Thank you, councillor Wilson. My apologies. You didn't get a hard reply there. That's fine. Hmm. That brings us to item number eight. There's no reports from any other committee. Speaker 1: No, no, 7.6. Sorry, what did you want to say? 7.6, change of time of venue. Councillor Finzel: Sorry, my apologies, 7.6. To the CEO, change of time of venue for ordinary meeting dated 20th November 2025. Speaker 1: So as we know, we're in the process of, we've been taking some of our ordinary meetings out to the regional areas, and this is another one of those.
00:39:00 So we're proposing to take the ordinary meetings scheduled for the 20th of November out to be held at 5pm at the Lake Thuribah Sowing Club on Boeree Parade in Boeree Point. So the 20th of November at 5pm, as opposed to 10am, which we normally start if we have meetings here in our chambers. So 5pm, 20th of November, Boeree Point is the recommendation, and I'll put it to the councillor. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, great recommendation. So good to be out to our community. I think the community love it, so thank you for bringing that to the table. Do we have any questions from the councillors? Councillor Phillips: I do. I am such a supporter of being out in community, without a doubt. I just see also the extra workload on staff with IT. So my question is, I think what community really like is the meet and greet part before.
7.6 CHANGE OF TIME & VENUE FOR ORDINARY MEETING DATED 20 NOVEMBER 2025 ¶
00:40:00 And being able to really speak to councillors, seeing that the ordinary meeting is a little bit of the last one. It would be the last one that I would want to come to as a resident, because it's just watching us really ratify decisions. So my question is, where would be appropriate to start looking at not taking away at all that I'm a massive fan of being out in community, but to eliminate or maybe take the pressure off staff with IT and all of the other things to live stream? Can I have a discussion around that? Speaker 1: Sure. So this was decided as a separate exercise. So when we did the scheduling of the timetable we've just discussed in the previous forum, we did that scheduling, and then the decision was taken around council as a separate exercise.
00:41:00 So we could follow the same process, we could review the meeting schedule and process, and then have a further discussion around whether it's still best to take the actual meeting to the community, or actually do it as a meet and greet on various occasions out to the community. And that's the purpose of this thing, to have this meet and greet and discuss the localised issues that we know we get when we take these meetings out to the community. So that's something that you as a council can discuss and decide upon. Because again, these aren't set in stone. They're something that I think on a manual basis we should say, review it and say, did that work? Is there a better way to do it? But at the moment that's the process is, this will be the final one for this year, and then we'll have time to review it. Does that help? Councillor Phillips: Yeah, it does.
00:42:00 Councillor Wilson: Yeah, I think it's great that we're continuing this commitment that we set at the beginning of our term, and to be able to fit three into this calendar year has been a great effort. I know it takes a lot of organising, getting things set up, and to live stream as well. But I think it's been really appreciated by the community, and I'd love to hear from members of the community about where else we could take our meetings to, and what they're actually doing, or getting back there from as a result, so that we can assess whether we continue to have longer meetings on site, or whether it's more about having a meet and greet. But it's important that we get that feedback from the community as well, to make sure that we're meeting that expectation, and then putting post and effort into something that's actually worthwhile as well. But, yeah, happy to support this and look forward to seeing everybody at a forwarding point.
00:43:00 Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Councillor O'Connor? Councillor Phillips: Happy to support it as well, because, yeah, again, we have to be our own community as much as we can. Probably just more for me, moving forward, is just to review it and make sure that we're doing, we're not putting extra burden on the staff for the purpose of an ordinary meeting, which I think is set up perfectly in this room. So it's not, to be very clear, it's not about that I don't want to do out in community events. They're quite the opposite. But I do see the work that goes in, and even just like the money on food and things like that, and just I would like to see that we're doing, we're just making sure that community are really, what do they actually want from us doing it? And then maybe we can look at a review, because I think it's important to make sure we're, yeah, hitting the right mark with it. So that's all the line. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Councillor Forbes?
00:44:00 Mayor Wilkie: I think, sure, reviewing everything we do is valid and very important. What I love seeing is when we take these meetings out to communities, the opportunity that it presents to residents and staff, owners of the Shire to have their deputations direct to all councillors as a captive audience, which happens in here regularly. But there are, the distance and the time that we have the ordinary meetings normally during working hours is an impediment to a lot of residents to actually attend them, to make a deputation direct to the four provincial councillors and also present questions. So the idea of taking out the community does that. The meeting groups are really well attended and really enjoyed. The ordinary meetings, there's often debate at the ordinary meetings, there are various motions. So we do get to see some action as well. They're not always a fun, very gratification of everything.
00:45:00 There's opportunity for debate to occur. And, but of course, reviewing is a very healthy process. And I'm really glad that councillors remain committed to taking the councillor meetings out on the road. And it's all part of being accessible to our community. And in hand-in-hand with the councillors' coffee chats. I think they may not always be super well attended. Coffee chats I'm talking about. But they know the opportunity is there. And sometimes they really are for no particular reason. And other times they're not. But we're at least creating the opportunity. And this is part of that. And I'm really glad that councillors are not here at the moment. And it's an average word. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Yeah, I think it's all been said. But I think, yeah, as long as we continue to listen to our community, be available, create opportunities for people to be able to approach us,
00:46:00 you know, in our local community is even better. So I think, thank you for the recommendation. I'm sure the sailing club out at Cootharaba is keenly awaiting our arrival. And their community there. So thank you for that. And we look forward to seeing the meeting out there. And, of course, always continuous improvement. And to review, you know, how effective these things are. And is this what the community wants? What can we do about it? So thank you, everyone. Other questions? No. Councillor Phillips: Sorry. Councillor Finzel: All in favour? Thank you. That's unanimous. Thank you, Mr. CEO. Go ahead, Vicky. Item number eight. Reports relating to the committee. There is none. There is no confidential session. And I note the meeting closed at 2.19pm. Thank you all for your attendance. Thank you, Council on Leinster Online. Thank you, Mr. CEO and staff.
00:47:00 Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. Thank you. Councillor Wilson: Thank you.
8 REPORTS FOR NOTING BY THE COMMITTEE ¶
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.
9 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶
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.
10 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.