Before the first item ¶
00:00:00 Councillor Finzel: Thank you, good afternoon and welcome. I'd like to open these services and organisation committee meeting at 1.47. I would like to express my apologies on behalf of Noosa Shire Council. We've had some technical issues which thankfully have now been resolved and we can head into the meeting. Noting that we have all councillors in attendance around the table and I don't think we've got any extras online, is that correct? No. We've got Jess online. Thank you, Jess, and welcome. And Councillor Tom, welcome in the gallery this afternoon. Noosa Council proudly acknowledges and respects Australians First Nations people and their deep and abiding connection to this country. We recognise the Kabi Kabi people as traditional owners of the lands and waters of the Noosa area. And offer gratitude for their careful custodianship of this unique environment over thousands of years.
1 DECLARATION OF OPENING ¶
Nothing was transcribed under this heading — a stretch of the recording with no speech the model could make out.
2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ¶
00:01:00 There's no apologies and everyone's in attendance. Can we have a mover for the confirmation of the minutes of 9th of December 2025? Mayor Wilkie: I just have to raise a point, Madam Chair. I can't find the minutes on the agenda. Councillor Wilson: We didn't get out at this particular time, but they were included in the agenda. But that's just how we knew at this time that we were going to start the meeting, and they were having a good time. Speaker 8: But have you had a copy of the minutes? Yes, we've had a copy of the minutes. I can bring them up now. Of course, thank you. Councillor Finzel: Would you like to bring them up? Yes, so do we. Thank you. Okay. All right. Speaker 5: That's it, Jess. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Thank you.
3 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES ¶
00:02:00 Mayor Wilkie: Okay, can you just scroll through them please? Yes. Yes. Can you go back one page? Yes. And back, down towards the end, please. Happy to move it. Councillor Finzel: Second.
00:03:00 I'll take it to any questions or anything. Okay, we'll take it to the vote. All in favour? That's unanimous. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Councillor Finzel: Yes. Yes, unanimous. Thank you, Vicky. Item number five, there are no presentations. Item six, no deputations. Item seven, reports for consideration of the committee. We're going to move on. We're going to item 7.1, Noosa Shire Council Annual Report, 2024-25. We welcome to the table Deanna Stewart and Zach Wharton-Adair. Thank you for your welcome today. Speaker 4: Hello. Hello, Donna. Councillor Finzel: Hello and welcome. I'll give you a quick summary of the report, thank you, which is well written. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 4: Thank you. In accordance with Section 182 of the Local Government Regulation 2012,
7.1 NOOSA SHIRE COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2024 - 2025 ¶
00:04:00 Council has prepared its annual report for 24-25 financial year as presented in Attachment 1 to the report. The purpose of the annual report is to provide the community with a comprehensive overview of Council's operations, performance achievements and challenges during the reporting period. There is a minimum standard of statutory reporting, as you all know, that must be included within the report, primarily relating to accountability, governance and financial matters associated with the Local Government Act. We have addressed, as for previous years, we have addressed the minimum standard by complying with the State Department's annual report compliance checklist. This is also captured in the legislative compliance section of the appendices and confirmed for the readers. However, to further strengthen transparency and improve our reporting, we have gone through a number of steps to improve our reporting. We have expanded the performance section to include additional progress information against Council's corporate plan, so you will see that in that section.
00:05:00 For this reporting period, we must note Council obtained ministerial approval for an extension of time to complete the financial reporting component of the annual report. The extension was granted until 31 January 2026. As Council satisfied the requirements of sections 212 subsection 6 and 212 subsection 7 of the Local Government Regulation. Therefore, on 21 January 2026, just very recently, Council's financial statements were signed off by an authorised delegate of the Queensland Auditor-General and you will see that in the report paperwork. So, in summary, the draft annual report encompasses the following key sections. Acknowledgements and leadership messages, where at the start you see annual messages from the Mayor and CEO summarising our performance and progress for the year.
00:06:00 Our Shire overview provides an insight into our location, key facts, environmental profile, liveability and economic prosperity. We then go into Council governance and operations of our organisation and it details your elected members, roles and responsibilities, services, customer service performance, community engagement, our organisational structure, corporate planning framework and workforce overview. We then go into the performance section of the report and it summarises the year in review, progress against our corporate plan themes which are environment, liveability, prosperity, future and excellence. We also highlight infrastructure project achievements and key milestones in that area. And key performance indicators that we highlight. We then go into the governance and statutory disclosures of the annual report. This is where we outline our governance framework, our ethics and integrity measures, our risk management approach, audit activities, counsellor and executive remuneration, complaints management, community grants, business activities and procurement processes.
00:07:00 This is where we go above and beyond the minimum reporting standard to let the community know what we've been doing for the year. Finally, we go to the financial performance section of the report, which is important because it presents the community financial report and audited financial statements for 2024-25, including our financial sustainability outlooks. So in summary, and as noted, this annual report demonstrates Council's ongoing commitment to good governance and reflects our commitment to good governance. It reflects Council's dedication to transparency and accountability through comprehensive reporting on performance, strategic achievements and compliance with legislative requirements. I must make a note, since the report has been submitted in the Council papers for the S&O round, we have picked up some several minor amendments that will be adjusted and it will be amended following Council adoption as per the record.
00:08:00 And by the way, we will not be discussing the recommendations that allow it. I will, however, pass for commentary to Zach, our finance manager, to discuss one of the amendments relating to the financial component for you. Speaker 7: To the Chair, just wanted to draw attention to Page 126 of the report, which is our community financial report and makes particular comment to our statement comprehensive income. There is a reference on the page that it talks to the rate of the volume, so it's clear that it's not from the document. Where the removal of $52.7 million of non-operational items shows Council's actual operating deficit to the $8.2 million, that is simply a typo. It should read operating surplus. It's just an inconsistent or other reference to the report with the surplus. So it's just a minor typo that we will correct in the final production of the report. My apologies for that.
00:09:00 Councillor Finzel: Thank you for bringing that to our attention. Firstly, I'd like to say thank you to all the staff and everyone that's worked so diligently to bring this body of work before us. It is a huge undertaking and especially Dee for the final draft that you brought before us. I know that's been a big commitment on yourself to ensure that meets the timelines and the standard that we expect from such a report. So thank you. Looking forward to seeing that come out in the final, the copy that's published. That's it. And thank you to everyone involved. Thank you. Thank you so much for highlighting the value of the report. Of course, they lie in their ability to provide a comprehensive overview, as you've said, of the organisation's activities, achievements and challenges. They've served as a crucial tool for advocacy, policymaking and strategic planning to ensure that our communities and their aspirations are achieved.
00:10:00 And that we work together to support them in achieving their goals as well. And we must mention also the opportunity to advocate to all of them as a government. This is a very important document to be used internally and outward facing to our communities. So thank you very much. Do we have any questions from the councillors regarding the report? Mayor Wilkie: I'm happy to second it. Councillor Finzel: Okay. Well, thank you very much. That was easy. We'll take that to the vote. No. Oh, sorry. Yes, right, reply. My apologies, councillor. Councillor Wilson: Thank you for this report. Another huge effort. I know it takes a long time to get this report together, both from your team, Diana, and the finance team as well, especially in a particularly challenging year where we've had so much extra happening following the fraud incident and the extra fraud at work.
00:11:00 It's a great report that reflects what we're doing as a council, how we're spending our budget, and also how we are meeting our compliance requirements. Thank you. There's lots of good information there about a lot of different services, where the money is being spent, information about councillors, different departments, so it is a really good read, and I encourage people to have a look once it's published. I will note, in terms of the minor adjustments, that I have had a conversation today with the CEO about how the fraud incident has been described, and there's a bit of a contradiction in there that we're going to resolve as part of the minor amendments, so we'll hopefully bring that to the general committee meeting in terms of that amendment. But, yeah, for such a massive report, there really are a few minor things that I've picked up on, and congratulations on producing another excellent report.
00:12:00 Thank you. We really hope people make the opportunity to read it. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. I just have a question for the chair. Can we just please... Chair? No, to the CEO. Sorry, from the chair to the CEO. Can you just please clarify how we work through this process of the minor amendments before taking it to the general meeting, due to the significance of the matter? Speaker 5: Yeah, Michelle. So is it... We have got the ability to recommend this report straight through to the ordinary. However, there are... Mayor Wilkie: Sorry. No, just to point you out a moment, Chair. Yes. You mentioned it's going to the general. This recommendation doesn't say that we will go to the general. This will go to the ordinary. It can be discussed in the ordinary, of course. Councillor Finzel: Oh, we can pull it out. Well, yeah. Sorry. That was my mistake. Speaker 5: Yeah. That's okay. We can go straight to ordinary or we can go to general.
00:13:00 But I'm happy to take it to ordinary. The minor amendments, as you see on the screen, it's authorised to see how we can make minor adjustments. However, if it's wording that just hasn't, again, for clarity, and we have spoken about this, I'm comfortable that we take this away, sort out the wording correctly, and have the councils all stand by that wording changes, and then bring it back to ordinary, so the final endorsement can be ordinary. So if you're comfortable, Madam Chair, we can just defer this to ordinary, so that we bring back those changes and have a vote on it at the ordinary committee, given that it is an all-encompassing document, all-encompassing information. So it's . Okay. Councillor Finzel: So just . Yeah. That's good. Speaker 5: Yeah. Councillor Finzel: So in summary, if you go offline, given all the councillors may have a different interpretation of those minor changes, they can .
00:14:00 Speaker 5: Well, I'll, you know, we'll work together and we'll make sure that everybody's comfortable with those words, because it is, it can be, you know, it can be a different interpretation of words, so we'll make sure that we're all comfortable with those words, bring it to the . Okay. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Yes. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Councillor Frank. Thank you for the report. It is a comprehensive body of information, and 24-25 was a huge year, and it is worth reflecting on. So the annual report, the first year, where the organisation demonstrated its dedication to the community. It was a year of hard work and dedication to improving the livability and resilience of our community. Over the past 12 months, council has delivered over $45 million worth of capital works, in addition to $100 million worth of flood reconstruction program funds, which has resulted in a total of $145 million directed to renewing infrastructure and repairing damage, principally in hinterland
00:15:00 communities that were impacted by the 2022 floods. I'm doing this because some of this has taken use of the council's territory. Roads, bridges, transport, and stormwater infrastructure were a major focus. Council also spent $6.4 million improving our parks, community facilities, and sports grounds. $2.3 million upgrading paths, boardwalks, and trails. The second stage of Edward Park is Sunshine Beach, the bridge and beach skate park, upgrades to Noosaville's prairie ground, and improving sports field lighting at Selmonell, over at Cooroy Sports Complex were also delivered. Council also signed a historic commitment to joint custodianship of lands, waters, and Noosa in partnership with Kabi Kabi people. This commitment recognises the role we all share as custodians in respecting and preserving Noosa's natural assets. Council also facilitated the biggest single investment in social housing in Noosa Shire's history. This commitment for a subdivision of 62 Lake McDonnell Drive in Cooroy includes an architect
00:16:00 designed 25 unit social housing project, helping deliver affordable housing for our communities most vulnerable, and a key action of the Noosa Housing Strategy. Council endorsed revised planning scheme for members to deliver greater choice of housing, increase housing supply for residents and key workers, and help meet state-imposed drawing targets. These were proactive measures intended to maintain our planning autonomy. Over the future planning of Noosa, rather than waiting for the state to mandate more drastic measures, to achieve drawing targets through the SDQ planning process. Noosa Council's planning team assessed 525 development applications, approving 508, which means 97% of all applications were approved, ensuring thoughtful and sustainable development growth throughout the Shire. The biggest and most challenging construction contract in Noosa's history, the 40 million dollar landslide repair work on Black Mountain Road at Black Mountain was also completed.
00:17:00 We're grateful to the Australian and Queensland Government's disaster recovery funding arrangements for this, because we couldn't do it by ourselves. With our budget, it was of that scale. The popular doggy beach in Noosa Spit was restored and earned a Coastal Engineering Award. Despite challenges such as labour shortages, material supply constraints, rising construction costs, the unprecedented protected industrial action, and the lack of infrastructure, the lack of funding, and being targeted by an international crime syndicate, Noosa Council will remain steadfast in its mission to deliver for our community, and remain in the financially strong position, finishing with an 8.2 million operating surplus, which includes some unstable levy and community grants. Many of the achievements, in fact I'd say all of the achievements, are a credit to our dedicated staff, directors and CEO, who contently contribute to making Noosa a special place to live, work, and visit. And I'd also like to personally acknowledge our community's councillors, Deputy Mayor Brian Stockwell, Cr Karen Finzel, Cr Amelia Lorentson, Cr Jess Phillips, Cr Tom Wegener, and Cr Nicola
00:18:00 Wilson, for their clear dedication to their work, and in bringing about this result, reflecting the annual report. Councillor Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Sorry, can I just ask a point of clarification? This important minor change between deficit to surplus, can you just confirm that that was after a recounting for the amount that was lost in the fall? Yes. So there's no impact on the future financial year because that was covered by the surplus? Speaker 7: No. Councillor Wilson: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Any further comments? Councillor Jess? I think it's all been said. Your reports are always very thorough. Thank you. Speaker 2: I think that usually you probably never get to see the lower lows that you seem to take in your stride. So thank you for the dedication that you show and the commitment to always follow the
00:19:00 line, demonstrating the spark that we use, which is something that I'll continue to speak about being part of our, you know, really big focuses. For me, this year is recognized when staff are demonstrating that. So yeah. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. We'll take that to the vote. Speaker 5: The vote or the current motion is to accept that. That's correct. Yes. But do we want to have a, do we need to have anything to take it to the audit? We'll just go to . So we'll accept it and then we're going to have a . Okay. I'll follow that. Councillor Finzel: We'll follow that. Yes. Thank you, Mr. CEO. We'll take that to the vote. All in favour? Yes. Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, the staff. Fantastic. Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you, Joanne. Yeah, thank you.
00:20:00 Councillor Finzel: A good legacy. Okay, Stan. Yes. Director Walsh: It was nice, literally. Councillor Finzel: Yeah. Heading out to item 7.2, Councillor remuneration update. And we welcome Liz Smith, the people and culture manager to the table and Director Marz Gat. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you, Ms Gatt. Afternoon councillors. Good afternoon. Apologies, got a stiff back today. At this report, our table for you today is as a result of the Remuneration Commission making recommendations for councillor updates or increases in councillor remuneration. I'll just hand over to Liz to take you through the report. Speaker 3: Thank you, Liz. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to present today. So the Queensland Local Government Remuneration Commission concluded determination of remuneration as per the requirement by Section 177C of the Local Government Act, Chapter 8, Division 1 of the Local Government Regulation.
7.2 COUNCILLOR REMUNERATION UPDATE ¶
00:21:00 Their recommended increase of 3.25% for Mayor, Deputy Mayor and councillors will come into effect on 1 July 2026, subject to our adoption. In line with categorisation of Noosa Shire Council as a B3 council in association with other councils such as Isaac Regional, Whitsunday Regional, Lockhear Valley Regional Council. I'd like to submit this report as read and open for to any questions that you might have. Thank you. Thank you, Liz. Thank you. Would anyone like to make any comment or questions to the staff regarding the matter? Mayor Wilkie: What is the criteria by which Noosa Council is being declared a B3 council? Is there a definition of what constitutes, is it a geographical size, size of budgets, size of population, just general criteria?
00:22:00 Speaker 3: So there are a number of categories that they use to consider where we sit in relation to it. So some important information that they've considered are things such as, and it's in page four of the report, awareness of, you know, CPI, impact on regional livability, where we are in relation to size of the region, and population. Councillor Finzel: Any further questions, councillor? Thank you, councillor Jess. Any further questions for the staff? No, thank you. Thank you. We'll take that to...
00:23:00 Mayor Wilkie: No, I'll move the matter, Chair. Councillor Finzel: Oh, you would like to move it, sorry. Mayor Wilkie: Do you have the ball rolling? Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Would you like to make a comment before closing? Mayor Wilkie: Look, it's always a difficult thing when councillors are asked to approve. We've had a lot of increases in remuneration for ourselves, but I'd just like to make the point that the proposed salary for councillors, Noosa councillors, is somewhat significantly below the Australian average salary. And from what I have observed, the Noosa councillors are very hardworking and they deserve their dissent. In fact, many councillors have taken a pay drop to take on the responsibility of the rights of their members. I think the community is lucky to have them doing this work. It's thankless work. They've come under a lot of criticism, but still they turn up every day and work hard to deliver for their community.
00:24:00 So I'm happy to endorse this motion that the remuneration increase of 3.25% for mayor, deputy mayor and councillors be accepted. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you. I'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you staff. Thank you. And you report. Enjoy your afternoon. Thank you again. Speaker 5: You too. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Speaker 5: Very tendered or anything else? Councillor Finzel: No, it's just getting up. Thank you. We're moving into item 7.4, capital program, 2025 to 26. We welcome Mel Sheppard, Infrastructure Planner, and Aidan Flannery to the table to provide the status report.
7.3 SOURCING RECOMMENDATION: DRFA 2025 - RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT PROCUREMENT STRATEGY ¶
00:25:00 7.3 is Julie Calvert. Oh, she might, she might be trying to join me. Did we want to go to 7.3? Or perhaps we go to 7.1 and come back. Or Shire, are you happy to report? Director Walsh: I'm happy to talk to the report. It's got a lot of support as well. Speaker 1: But I can certainly start my presentation. Director Walsh: Thank you for your patience. Councillor Finzel: You're welcome. Director Walsh: So this is a report presented by Julie Calvert, our Disaster Reconstruction Coordinator, with the assistance of our expert procurement team. It suggests an alternative approach for procurement associated with our disaster reconstruction activities.
00:26:00 As you're aware, over the last three to five years, we've had roughly a dozen major procurement activities that have required special reports to Council, because of the very limited timeframes associated with trying to execute the projects. Sometimes also because it affects residents' access, like in terms of closures of roads and the like. So rather than waiting for the regular meeting cycle, you know, we've been compelled to actually present specific reports to Council, which is, you know, a significant administration and also a significant imposter on Council's time. Councillor Finzel: Michelle, just sorry, before you give us the overview of the report, it has come to our attention that there was an admin error. I was going to get to that at the end. Director Walsh: So I'm happy to explain that. I can do it now. I can do it now. Councillor Finzel: So now we get the business effect out of the way.
00:27:00 Director Walsh: Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: You're welcome. Director Walsh: I just wanted to highlight a correction in the report resolution, that under Resolution C, at the moment, Resolution C refers to resolve the delegation in item A. It's incorrect. It should actually refer to resolve the delegation in item A. So item B in the above is not limited. So which is pretty clear in terms of the resolution above. And then the same in Resolution D is that it should refer to item B rather than item A. So, yeah. So is that clear, the Chair? Yes, thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thank you for the point of reference. That's clear. Gillian, would you like to add any more further to that explanation? No. Speaker 8: Other than I made a... I can't apparently understand the alphabet. Apparently. Speaker 3: All right. Councillor Finzel: Well, I'm happy to move that correction. And thank you, Shaun, for giving an overview on that.
00:28:00 Thank you. So I'll take... I'm happy to move that. No, we don't need to... Mayor Wilkie: We'll just accept it as a... Councillor Finzel: We'll just accept it as a correction. Would you like that moved? Yes. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Shaun. Please proceed. Director Walsh: So this report recommends an approach that delegates the financial delegations to the CEO to actually expedite the program and also reduce the cost upon councillors throughout the next, you know, basically 12 months while we perform these typical projects. In terms of the report, there are confidential attachments that, you know, our line of work on the extent of the projects and the value that we're estimating those projects to be, so a good understanding. It's also noted that as part of the approach, transparency is particularly achieved by use of the PCOR team and also noting that that is then reported through the council to ensure that you're fully across the procurement activities as they occur. So that was just a general summary.
00:29:00 Scott, did you want to add anything to that? Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. I guess the intention is that the procurement contract assessment working team, which you're familiar with, under this recommendation would be convened for each of the contracts relating to the RFA program, and their role would be to review the procurement process and make a recommendation to the CEO in regards to any rewards of those contracts. So it's that extra layer of governance which we've always had in place for procurements up to the CEO's delegation. However, it's looking to expand the program for specified contracts. Director Walsh: And perhaps if I can lead into Julie, who's been leading, you know, the procurement of the reconstruction program for the last number of years. I sort of referenced the administration burden in terms of presenting the reports and the like, which takes away from your time to actually then deliver the projects. And I thought, would you like to talk to that further, Julie?
00:30:00 Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah. Probably an example that highlights this is if we were to follow the normal cadence of monthly meetings, and whilst that process is incredibly valuable for business as usual work, that all our programs and budgets and everything rotate around that, because this is extraordinary work, we do tend to be out of sequence of those particular elements. It does rely on us coming back to you for the things such as special meetings or insertion or reserving ourselves late into approval programs, such as last minute additions to ordinary and things like that. And part of that is about our true commitment to the community to embark on work as quickly as possible, so that we can actually boots on ground doing the things we need to do and helping communities recover back. We like to start, we're starting to use the term rather than bounce back, we want them to start bouncing forward and being much more active in their recovery.
00:31:00 Yeah. Meaning we can get in there quicker, get there out, let them move on to their next part of their new normal that that would be. Some of the examples of how this speeds up, and I know it only seems like matters of days and things like that, but the admin that goes into it is certainly there. For a special meeting, we definitely, as part of the process, we need to give two full business days of notice. Then we need to find time with everyone. With a peer court process, I can effectively brief and have an answer back about my next steps in terms of contracting a contractor in two days. That's how responsive the peer court team and Scott and the team work in getting us resolutions from that point of view. In terms of the community that we're working in, a lot of the sites that we're working in this time around are revisits of communities. We've got previous sites and we've already embarked on contacting some of those residents
00:32:00 directly based on some of our lessons learnt last time. And we probably need to look at our recovery as a reiterative process here because they are revisiting now all the concerns and worries they had last time. So everything we can do to minimise that, we should be able to minimise that. Director Walsh: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. We can move them forward in their recovery so I think it's a really good opportunity and timely that we've got this report before us and that we can make a decision around that and tick all those boxes but you know mainly it's about that efficiency to get these things underway and provide that insurance back to our community so thank you it's a big part of your work from the team and everyone but hopefully moving forward that's going to give us really good outcomes for everyone involved. Thank you.
00:33:00 Mayor Wilkie: In terms of this new system what can you quantify how many days that were saved in terms of the report by having all those special meetings or getting a report to the meeting round? What are the potential time savings? Is it one week, two weeks? Speaker 8: Yeah it's a really hard way to dimension it because often what we'll have to be is responsive in what we're doing and probably the best example I can give you is previously I would have spoken to the wider group about this as a bit of a philosophy and in that one we spoke about another site at Sunshine Creek. The moment of walking out of that meeting the contractors in the tender phase requested of us an extra week to make sure they could get enough information from their subcontractors so we've extended that period of tendering which means we have to push out all our other deadlines which meant then I just missed that month's reporting.
00:34:00 Cadence and it would have been like we're trying to organize as a special meeting for that one and I'm then pushing into potentially going straight to ordering. So that gives you an idea of it's not it's it's really not that linear it's about how we can be actively responsive and getting into these things as quickly as possible. Not dismissing the body of work that the rest of the team does in terms of their business as usual but often those projects have been let's say four years in the making and getting to the end of the year. So a month wait for an approval is minor for their projects in some cases, some they're not, but in our case we need to get in, get out, get it done, report back to the community about getting that done, report back to our funding body about getting it done. So it's not a saving that I can dimension in hours, minutes, days, weeks.
00:35:00 Director Walsh: And I think the key point if I think about the emails back and forth between Julie and myself and Larry and the team, it's a couple of weeks. You know to actually try and establish the dates. But probably the key point is about the time that that takes away from Julie to actually deliver the work. So you know because then she's lost let's say a day's work just trying to arrange for me when that could be said on files and contracts and dates and the like. So it's that sort of interrelation between capacity as well as the lives. Mayor Wilkie: And you're talking because I know you're from grant funded disaster recovery projects. Can you outline how they'll still be publicly reported? What are the avenues for public reporting? Speaker 8: Yeah so the procurement process up front in terms of how we open like tender etc, there's absolutely no change in that. Scott and the procurement team, Adam, we've worked really strongly on making sure that that is ring fenced and we keep doing that. And it's the right thing to do because we need to keep returning value for money on all of these as public funds.
00:36:00 The next part of it is around... Working in a system that we've already used. So some of non-construction contracts we use the PCOR process already. So what we're doing is understanding how that works, go through that process. When that's signed off it then dips into the already established procurement process where that gets reported. So it'll still be reported publicly. Speaker 6: So we'll still be reporting obligations. I've made a contract over $200,000 that'll be reported publicly. So that'll be on our website on the notice board. And then on top of that we'll report these contracts through the PCOR through the bi-annual reporting that the directory of all the services does as well. Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you Madam Chair. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you. Just a question. Oh no you're on. No I didn't have a question.
00:37:00 Just an overview Larry, how do you think this is going to contribute to the efficiency of the organisation and put us on the perspective? Speaker 5: Well as the ex Director of Gov. Instructor as well, I absolutely see the value in this in terms of being able to keep the wheels going. The motion going because it is difficult to do. However what we're asking for here is specific to grant funded disaster management which has a priority and a probably more urgent timeline often. And so it's really trying to get those through. From my perspective signing them off is we have the PCOR which is a group of in so it's a second, another layer of investigation and analysis and making sure that it's all done correctly before it comes down to it. So there's an extra step which gives me comfort and I think should give the community and
00:38:00 council comfort that that's in there. And again we are just specific to these projects so that we can make sure that we meet our timelines and we get things done as quickly as possible. Because as I say, often the community is disadvantaged at some point with the disaster so the quicker we can get it into the system we have done the better it is for everybody. So I just think this is, to me it just makes good sense. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you everyone. That's great. I'm happy to move the motion. I second. I think everything's been said but I think if we have our community and our beneficiaries at the centre of our decisions this is one of those cases where I can definitely see that this is, you know, benefit back to our community and also to the organisation. So thank you everyone for the report. Councillor Wilson: I'll switch the motion. Fully support the recommendation. So thank you for bringing this to us. We're talking about projects that need an urgent action and response.
00:39:00 We're also competing to find the best contractors as well. We need to be able to move this forward. It's high value projects. It's always going to be over a million dollars and we've got, it's grant funded by QRA and we've got the RAC team working on this with the appropriate level of governance. So I think it's a much more efficient way of working and yeah, I hope everybody makes an impact to be able to get these projects completed. Councillor Finzel: Any further comments? Mayor Wilkie: No, thank you Madam Chair. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Councillor Jess, any comments from online? No, thank you. Thank you. We'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Yes. Director Walsh: Thank you. Thank you for the correction. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Councillor Finzel: So now we move to item 7.4, capital program 2025 to 26, the delivery status report.
00:40:00 We welcome Mel Sheppard, the infrastructure planner and aid and plenary to the table. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Speaker 2: Good afternoon everybody. Speaker 9: We're here today to provide a status update on the capital works program as at the 31st of December. The approved capital works budget per budget review one is 65 million with 13.4 million in carry forwards. Actual expenditure at the end of quarter two was 12.4 million, which represents 19% of the approved budget with a further 11.6 million in commitments. Representing an accumulative 37% of the budget. Extending on that dot point, we'd also just like to bring council's attention to the fact that if we look at project progress, the average project is 65% complete within our program and the 19% we look at in the executive summary is representative only of a financial value.
7.4 CAPITAL PROGRAM 2025 - 2026 DELIVERY STATUS REPORT ¶
00:41:00 Moving forward, grant funding revenue for the year is 16.4 million with council contributing 17 million to these projects, excluding disaster. The program comprises of 117 projects at various stages of planning, design and delivery. And the planning, design and delivery team are managing 35 projects at the moment to the value of 41 million. Recruitment is ongoing for key roles within the infrastructure services department and the planning, design and delivery team continue to work on the project management framework and associated processes with that. Capital works planning are also continuing our preparations for the upcoming 2026-27 budget. Councillor Finzel: Did anybody have any questions on the report or comments? Thank you. I think that was a comprehensive report and wow, what a great effort from a small team
00:42:00 that is working hard with providing efficiencies within the frameworks in the capital budget that you've got to work with. It's very impressive. I think our community should be really assured that we're getting the work done and there's always a call for action. I think this team is delivering that call to action. Thank you. Speaker 9: If I could also, sorry, just extend, I also wanted to bring everybody's attention to a small error on page four. Within the table under finance, the actual year to date that's listed at five and a half million is reflective of the last year. That's the last report and that should be updated to the 12.4 million that's alluded to just above the table. Councillor Finzel: So we can make that amendment and redistribute. Thank you. Can we do that three minutes? Speaker 5: That's a change. We can do that three minutes. Councillor Finzel: Fantastic. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
00:43:00 Can we provide a new report? Speaker 9: Yeah, we can provide one. I can. Speaker 5: Yeah, just change the report. Speaker 9: Provided there's an attachment. Councillor Finzel: That's attachment one to the minutes. Speaker 5: Yes. Okay. Okay. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Any questions from the councils? Mayor Wilkie: No, I just want to thank you for the additional reporting where you indicate how far the project has actually been progressing, not just based on how much of the funding has been paid out towards the community. So it does give a different picture, which shows that all of these projects are far more advanced than the funding would indicate. And I think that the community likes to see that greater level of detail and accuracy in the report. And so thank you for going into that effort. I noticed you added that addition verbally.
00:44:00 Will that be given? Are we able to wipe those out? No. Speaker 9: Yes, most definitely. So moving forward, we can incorporate more of the project related progress based on completion in addition to the financial progress that we have reported on so far. So at the moment, this has been a verbal update of the 65% project progress, but it's something that we could incorporate in future reports. Councillor Wilson: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: I'll make a motion. Mayor Wilkie: I'll second it. Councillor Finzel: Okay. Thank you. We'll take it to – oh, sorry, do you want to write a reply, Michael? It's not a reply. We haven't started today. Oh, sorry. Councillor Wilson: Thank you for the report and all the work, again, that goes into complicated reporting with so many different projects to manage and such a big budget as well. It's just good to note, again, that we've got major projects on the way right across the show. So we're certainly spreading the love with our capital budget here and the different
00:45:00 types of programs as well that we're investing in. So we've got lots in sports and community facilities, bridges, obviously roads, safety issues like roof renewal and stormwater and sewer works. And the upcoming tenders as well that we've got some great projects that we're about to take on. Yeah, always good to have you on. We've got some good news stories in these reports which is good to see when things get completed and for everyone to be able to see what's up and coming in this next year as well. Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Jess? Speaker 2: No, I have nothing further to add. Thank you. Everyone said what I needed to say. Thanks for how I was speaking. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: We're just passing our thanks to the team. As Madam Chair said, we're a very hard-working team and we do appreciate the work you do.
00:46:00 Councillor Finzel: Thank you. Do you want to close? No. Alright. We'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Councillor Jess? That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you to the school. Thank you. Enjoy your afternoon. That takes us to agenda item number 8, reports for noting by the committee. We are going to move into confidential sessions. Item 9.1, it's not the public release, CN 24799, composting expression of interest, EOI, outcome and recommendation to commence early contractor involvement.
9 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶
00:47:00 So I'll move the motion that we gave to confidential meeting that the meeting be closed to the public facility for section 254J3G of the local government regulation of 2012 for the purpose of discussing the contract proposed to be made by the council and in particular the potential commercial negotiations in relation to the contract item 9.1, CN 24799. Thank you, we'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Councillor Jess. Yes. Thank you, that's unanimous.
9.1 CN24799 COMPOSTING EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) OUTCOME AND RECOMMENDATION TO COMMENCE EARLY CONTRACTOR INVOLVEMENT (ECI) ¶
01:19:00 Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Okay, um, we'll go to our camera. Yeah, have you got something for everyone on the camera? Ah, I was going to say, I'll just walk away. Ah, I was going to say something. Is that what we're moving? Yeah, because don't we have to move it? Speaker 5: Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Do you want me to read that out, or should we go back out? Speaker 5: No, you don't. I mean, we normally read this, don't we? Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Councillor Wilson: Okay, are we ready? That's not confidential, is it? No. Speaker 5: No, that's confidential. Councillor Finzel: That's in the report. Councillor Wilson: Okay. Sorry, Madam. Speaker 5: Yeah, of course. Councillor Wilson: It's not been released. Yeah. Speaker 5: Yeah, just do it back down. Yeah. Councillor Finzel: Are we good there? Ah, yes, we are. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome back. We are at current item 9.1.
01:20:00 We're going to note the report by the Waste Manager to the Services and Organisation Committee dated 10th of February, 2026, regarding the composting of waste. We will now move to theidos Lance觀ance prospecting facility procurement process. B approved the selection of Ores Solutions Pty LTD as the successful respondent to the request for tender CN 24799, the procurement process for a contract amount no greater than 1 million 1,100,000 excluding GST. This one? C. Authorise the CEO the power to negotiate, finalise and execute an early contractor involvement contract, ECI contract, with the successful respondent on behalf of Council, and take any other steps necessary or incidental to finalising the procurement process, including notifying any unsuccessful tenderers.
01:21:00 Pursuant to the section 2571 of the Local Government Act 2009. D. Note that A. In the event of an ECI contract is entered into, Council intends to enter into a design and construct contract, DNC contract, pursuant to the ECI contract at a later stage. B. The award of the DNC contract is... C. Subject to and conditional upon a further Council resolution, and a report will be presented to Council for a decision by any DNC contract in due course. Mayor Wilkie: I happen to move the motion. Councillor Finzel: Happy to second. We'll take it to the vote. Do you want to say something?
01:22:00 Mayor Wilkie: No, thank you. Councillor Finzel: We'll take it to the vote. All in favour? Council suggests. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you to the staff. Enjoy your afternoon. Thank you. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Councillor Finzel: Item number 10, meeting closure at 3.09pm. Thank you, Mr CEO. Thank you to the councillors. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the staff. Enjoy your afternoon. Thank you. Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair.
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.