councilors Council officers Glen Eira
residents and community members viewing
our meeting this evening I'd like to
welcome you to the 8th of November 2023
ordinary meeting of
council I want to welcome everyone
tonight and acknowledge that we are
having many members of our community
here in the
gallery I know that there are some in
the community members here who are
concerned about council's preliminary
decision on child care this is no doubt
a very challenging time we we have
received more than 100
submissions from family members and more
than 150 submissions from the broader
community which we are considering in
detail my fellow councilors and I have
also been receiving your many emails
phone calls and have spoken to many of
you in person tonight as we continue
this conversation we want to provide you
with the opportunity to speak and ask
questions and questions that you have
raised but we also need to allow enough
time to discuss the many items of
business on this meeting agenda before
the meeting
concludes we have received a large
number of written public questions and I
will extend the time for written public
questions from 15 minutes to 30 minutes
so we can respond to as many as we can
given the volume of written publics
there will not we will not be able to
verbally respond to every single
question
tonight
all questions submitted to us in writing
will receive a response in writing even
if you don't receive a verbal response
to your question at tonight's meeting
I'll also go be going to extend public
participation to 30 minutes tonight as
we have received a large number of
requests to be
heard my role as the chair of this
meeting is to ensure that our
business is conducted in a respectful
and orderly way just as councilors will
listen to and respond to
community members with respect I would
ask community members to also speak to
councilors and officers with respect
during the course of this meeting there
is no provision for the community to
speak to councilors or officers other
than those who are registered to and
been invited to speak during public
participation to ensure everyone can
hear the proceedings tonight including
those joining us online I ask you to
please be conscious and keep the noise
in the gallery to a minimum during the
meeting and uh reaffirm that call out if
it gets too loud councilors won't be
able to hear and those at home certainly
won't be able to hear now there are a
few items I'd like to just mention
before we begin this meeting first as a
reminder to councilors Council officers
and members of the public that all
mobile phones are to be switched off or
placed on silent for the duration of the
meeting our meetings are being live
streamed to the community if a technical
problem uh is encountered during the
meeting which prevents Council from live
streaming the meeting will be adjourned
for 10 minutes if the meeting cannot
resume within 30 minutes the meeting
will be um adjourned to be reconvened at
the on 9 November tomorrow at 9th
November at 5:30 council is not
responsible for any data usages charges
or technical issues that members of the
public may experience in accessing
council's live stream of and or
recording of
meetings a copy of each live meeting
will be placed on council's website the
day after the meeting or as soon as
practical councils will now commence
with items on the
agenda item one is the acknowledgement
the city of glenar acknowledges the
people of the kulum nation as the
traditional owners and custodians we pay
our respect to their Elders past present
and emerging we acknowledge and uphold
their continued relationship to land and
waterways and Council extends its
respect to all Aboriginal and tourist
rate Islander peoples CEO do we have any
apologies yes Mr Mayor we have two
apologies this evening from councelor
AOS opoulos and Council
Zinga councilors I'll move that we
accept those apologies can I have a
second for that counselor smood all
those in
favor that is carried
unanimously item three is a reminder to
declare any conflicts of interest in any
item on the agenda councilors there is a
requirement for disclos Ure of conflicts
of interest to items listed for
consideration on the agenda or any item
that is considered at this meeting in
accordance with Section 130 in Brackets
2 of The Local Government Act of 2020 in
rule 60 in Brackets 3 of the glenara
council governance rules council is are
there any conflicts of interest to be
declared I'm not seeing any there are
none councils I will move a procedural
motion that what is to happen is if the
live streaming fails can I have a second
for that motion council is
mood all those in
favor councilors esakov and Cade all
those in favor thank you
unanimous at this stage of the meeting
we'll now commence the public
participation we've received a large
number of requests from public for
public participation tonight and I've
allocated um an extended period of 30
minutes for this section of the agenda
tonight to ensure we hear from as many
people as
possible because because of what I'm
going to ask because of that I'm going
to ask speakers to be respectful of
others and be as brief as they can to a
maximum of 3 minutes each when your name
is called please come forward to the
microphone and begin speaking you will
hear a sound when when you have 15
seconds left then your time is up you'll
be asked to finish up I appreciate your
courtesy and respect for all the other
speakers and let's keep this to this
allocated time please also note this is
not an opportunity for a debate with
either officers or councilors you're
welcome to either make a statement or
ask a
question um CEO we're now in public
participation thank you Mr Mayor um and
just so everybody knows the sound that
you'll hear at 2 minutes and 45 seconds
if you get to that point is that one
okay um so would Amo like to come
forward
[Applause]
please and there's a button just on your
microphone yeah just press it once the
light red light should come on great
thank you hi good evening councilors
mayor and representatives of city of
Clara Council
this is Ari and he's 3 and a half years
old and he's been attending corfield
Early Learning Center for the last 2
years over the last few weeks we've been
answering AR's questions which are a lot
about the pending closure of his Early
Learning Center my husband and I have
endeavored to answer Ari as truthfully
as possible but he still has questions
which we can't seem to answer so I'm
hoping that council tonight will answer
one of his questions and I hope that
you'll be as truthful and as transparent
as
possible before we ask this question I
think it's really important that you
know a little bit about Ari and his
experience as you should know about all
of the children that attend the three
Early Learning
Centers at 20 weeks of pregnancy Ari was
diagnosed with a congenital
life-threatening illness and we were
told that he had a 50% chance of
survival he was incubated from birth had
major surgery at 4 days of age and spent
the next month in
niku this was July 2020 it was Peak Co
and peak lockdowns in
Melbourne over the next 18 months it was
still Co and by the time he was 18
months old we decided he was ready and
we were ready for child care we looked
at several different centers and
selected corfield Early Learning
Center part of the the reason we
selected corfield
was because the Educators were
passionate kind vastly experienced and
we loved this small setting we loved the
rambling outdoor area and we loved the
inclusiveness and the cultural
diversity over the last two years I've
seen Ari flourish he has flourished and
bloomed his cognitive development his
emotional development his self of self
his sense of self his self-esteem his
confidence his relationship sh building
with others with other children with his
teachers has been phenomenal he has a
love of gardening we've started a veggie
patch in our garden we've been inspired
by our childcare he learns about numbers
and measurements through um fun
educational car
races he brings home artwork he comes
home and he taught our other child his
little sister an indigenous Australian
song I have to credit so much of his
growth and development in every aspect
to the fact that he has access to an
amazing Early Learning Center where he
can Thrive where early childhood
education is
prioritized and to the Educators who
prioritized that and who experienced so
my question do you want to ask a
question
Papa I'm going to ask on AR's behalf cuz
he's just woken up his
question why did no one ask me about my
child care why did no one ask me about
my child
care thank you thank
[Applause]
you yeah clearly that's we can't answer
that
tonight without being technical without
being referring back to all the
information we won't be answering that
question tonight thank
you sorry um Clara would claraa like to
come forward thanks
claraa
hi thank
you as a parent disappointed doesn't
even begin to describe my feelings
towards the prary decision to close
council's run Early Learning Centers and
the process in which council's gone
about Consulting with the community I'm
a local government employee with 15
years experience ranging from children
Youth and Family Services through to
social planning Community engagement and
now large social infrastructure projects
this is not how Council should engage
with the community the children who
access these Early Learning services
will be the ones most severely impacted
by this decision yet they have not had
the opportunity to raise their their
concerns or have their say many other
local governments have committed to the
Victorian Charter for child friendly
cities and communities but glenara has
not
from what I can see council do not have
processes to ensure the voices of
children are heard there is no early
years or family advisory committee nor
children's reference group how do
children and families with young
children get to advice on Council and
their needs and issues prior to
decisions being made Council along with
many other
organizations are required to comply
with the child safe standards through
this process of the preliminary decision
and broader through council's decision
making under the standards how a council
abiding by section three or standard
three children and young people are
impowered about their rights
participating decisions affecting them
and are taken seriously and standard
seven what are the processes for
complaints and concerns that processes
and complaints and concerns are child
focused thanks claraa um Mr Saunders
through Mr May Mr Saunders will
respond thanks claraa for your question
and through you Mr Mayor uh Glenn city
council is well well aware of the child
safe standards we actually employ a
child safe officer who works closely
with our family and children's services
department and also all of our early
years Educators that involves um Council
adopting policies to enact uh our
compliance for child safe standards we
also offer training um both within our
family and children services department
and across the
organization and uh in terms of this
particular consultation process
regarding the preliminary decision a
consultation process was open for 4
weeks and it's centered on families
including children and we're quite
satisfied that that consultation process
meets the stand the child Victorian
style Child Safe standards thank you
than you thanks
claraa um Anna Clark would Anna like to
come forward
please you just turned it
off thank you all right hi my name's
Anna Clark I um I've got three children
um a 7-year-old a 3 and a halfy old at
Marina Early Learning Center and I've
got a 12 week old baby which I hope to
send to Marina Early Learning Center
next year if you make the decision that
we're all hoping you will um so my
question is in relation to the impact of
women this question was asked last time
and there was also a response but I feel
and a lot of us feel that the answer was
was quite inadequate I think the
response was that the impact on women is
you know almost irrelevant because
there's already a higher proportion of
women employed by the council given the
impact of women on women that these
closures will have in terms of the staff
at all of the dayc carees as well as we
all know that the 140 families affected
it will be the majority of the women
that will see the impact of the loss of
the child care CER ERS certainly the
immediacy of the decision as well come
early January there's going to be 150
families who won't have anywhere to send
their children it will be the women that
will then have to bear the brunt of that
and so I again I ask what is the
decision in terms of the impact of that
this will have on to women in our
community thank you for your
question Mr thank you for your question
and through you Mr Mayor uh yes we have
actually previously answered that
question but to the points that you've
raised tonight um the future of council
child care services being considered by
councils in terms of impacts on women
and gender is one of the considerations
councilors must consider but I I'm uh
happy to inform you that officers will
be undertaking a gender impact
assessment um in relation to this
particular decision and that'll be
that's based on the feedback that's been
received during the consultation process
and we'll actually form part of the
decision
making thank
you thanks anah um would Kate Kate V
like to come forward hi
Kate oh okay thank you and thanks for
having me um my fouryear old son attends
kegi I moved my son from private daycare
to a council Ed facility due to issues
in the private sector namely staff
turnover now I have a choice next year
drop some days at work or suffer through
months and months of tears at drop off
in the most important year of his life
preparing his transition to
school now I'm a senior public
servant I've always had a strong belief
in the values of our public sector very
strong belief but I've genuinely lost
faith in the decision-making process
like the one Council
undertaken I genuinely shocked by the
lack of detail and Analysis in the
report along with the
timelines but
genuinely so my question to council is
it's a long question so I can repeat it
as I go forth how confident is the
council in making a final decision when
crucial assessments and considerations
were missing in the report that the
preliminary decision was based on now it
did say including no gender impact
assessment so I'm happy that's been done
but there was no public interest tests
on the competitive neutrality policy no
detailed exploration of alternative
options including detailed financial
analysis plus comparison with small
centers no indications of which experts
you have spoken to to generate the
report not one individual organization
name has been provided the one that
kills me the most is no prioritization
of quality or Choice within the
community no consideration of children's
early development the significance of
factors like consistency of carers
Reliance on anecdotal information no
real evidence from potential parent
staff or potential
staff lack of transparency around
Financial loss and the notional rent
inflating the annual
loss no information on what council has
done to try and keep them open the lack
of perspective on timelines many of
these items could have been done prior
to the community
consultation so instead of investing in
these assessment analysis Council
prepared a comm's plan in advance of the
preliminary decision which details on
how to manage the public image of the
closure so I ask again General
how confident is the council in making a
final decision when crucial assessments
are missing in the report and how can
you assure the community that your
decision is well informed and genuinely
in our community's best
interest thank you for the
question thanks Kate for your question
and through you Mr Mayor Kate um I'll
try and answer as many questions that
you raised you did raise a number of
them in terms of the uh child care
services uh discussion paper that paper
really sets out the information that was
considered by councilors officer St
behind that report the information that
included in that report is factual um in
terms of the national competition policy
we've previously answered that um just
so that there's no confusion national
competition policy does apply to local
government child care services and as
part of applying national competition
policy both direct and indirect costs
must be transparently applied uh council
is in receipt of legal advice to that
effect and must comply with the national
competition policy uh National Rent is
calculated by independent valuers which
is appropriate and transparent to the
application of the national competition
policy in terms of council's financial
analysis and viability that it's
associated with our older buildings
officers have provided additional
information to support families to
understand that particular process in
the viability um document that has been
publicly available that document points
out the issues associated with our aging
assets and the fact that the buildings
were converted back in the 1990s and
currently do not align with the current
standards and including educator ratios
and the size requirements that's what
makes them unviable even if they were
100% full they would still be operating
at a financial loss to council thank
you thank you for your question thanks
Kate um Megan
ly come forward
[Applause]
Megan it's actually uh quite
good that Mark mentions
ratios I am a mother of a child with
additional learning needs in a
for-profit center with the rares as set
my child would have been lost in a room
with few staff to watch over him the
staff that would have been watching over
him would have been turning over quickly
not knowing him not understanding his
additional needs my child is just one of
many child children at your center with
additional needs including disabilities
and additional learning
needs your three Early Learning Centers
are one of seven seven centers in the
area that both exceed nqs and a
non-domination this these centers allow
families to bring their culture into the
centers including culturally appropriate
Foods you say multiple times we've been
told that the centers no longer have a
place in the community that there's no
longer a gap to be filled but I here to
say tonight why do you not see the major
Gap that you are filling which is lower
ratios which benefit kids with early
additional learning needs and disability
and kids with culture that needs
additional help in having that culture
every
day that's my question
thank you thanks Megan for your question
and through you Mr Mayor um in terms of
uh educator
ratios any licensed uh child care
provider be counsil private or not
for-profit must comply with the educator
ratios and that's subject to spot checks
by the Department of Education so
everyone must maintain those ratios
children with additional needs are
funded by the wealth government um and
any child care center that operates um
across Victorian indeed Australia can
apply for that additional funding for
additional support Educators just like
um Council um provides it's part of its
service so hopefully that gives you some
reassurance in terms of um educator
ratios with children um in terms of the
um standards and who has um exceeding
and meeting National Standard ratings
there's actually 46 Child Care Centers
across the municipality that either have
exceeding all meeting standards so they
are fully compliant with the
Commonwealth um guidelines thanks thanks
for your
question Alisa day Alisa would you like
to come forward
please
[Applause]
and Alisa I'll just ask you to press the
button in front of you until the light
comes on awesome thank
you this is Harriet she was hoping to
join her siblings um her took for her
brother and sister next year um I'll try
not to cry even though my question's not
emotional um in the council minutes from
the secret meeting you guys held to
close the door on our kids we published
a longer detailed Communications plan
and it was written by I know an
expensive glitzy City based PR firm and
um and in it in this detailed plan which
includes your plan of attack to close
our centers and your talking points Jim
it um as a Communications practition I
know a report like this costs upwards of
$30,000 it appears Council spend this
exorbitant amount more than 30,000 on a
manual to make you guys look good on a
predetermined outcome prior to the vote
on the 3rd of October this report was
dated 15th of September
2023 how can you Acclaim to approach
this decision with an open mind when in
fact this comm's plan shows you wanted
our kids centers closed all
along thank
[Applause]
you look that's thank you for standing
forward and asking those questions I
don't come to this decision with a
closed mind I come to this decision when
it happens with a very open mind and I'm
so much looking forward to the analysis
of the community consultation I'm also
looking forward to other information
that Council offices will provide the
nine councils around this room hand and
my heart have not made any decision of
where they're going with this and uh and
we will not know until at least the
12th thank you very much and I know that
was very
difficult
Karina
good evening councilors I'd like get
noted on the minutes that um I've had to
apply for long service Le for 2024 and
that I haven't been able to take on big
projects at work because of the
uncertainty of whether my kids will be
in child care next year and that has a
big impact on my ability to apply for a
promotion look I'll try and keep this
short in the discussions that we've had
in the last four weeks many of us mult
times with the councilors and I address
my question tonight to the councilors
not the officers it's become apparent
that there's been many inconsistencies
some of you have told us that the loss
of
$570,000 each year is not a lot of money
and you're not concerned about that and
for for a council it's not a lot of
money and then in the same discussion
you've said you're worried about the
finances of council then for some
councilors the focus of the conversation
has now shifted to politics and
philosophy and you have this belief that
it's not local government's
responsibility to provide child care or
kindergarten for their
community and we've had some councilors
even acknowledge that the child care
system is broken in Australia but that's
a federal issue not one for Council not
sure if you're listening to any of us
but we're telling you that it is imp
impacting us our families our children
on a local level we see it as everyone's
problem and it's a significant Community
problem that we are living through today
you have the privilege of being able to
help ultimately we have discovered
though that there is a long in narrative
in this Council and the longstanding
narrative is this these centers must
close this outdated narrative to close
our centers has been on council's
unpublished agenda for over 10 years and
in fact your minutes from July 2005
where councelor esakov was the mayor at
the time tried to close corfield EAC ELC
for similar reasons as the ones you've
stated today most disappointingly though
is that we all feel patronized in
particular in some of the discussions we
have had with offic and by the
simplistic Child Care discussion paper
the Strategic Services review the
lackluster responses we have received
until now and tonight Mark along with
the questionable facts and the lack of
detailed information and Analysis that
has been provided feels very patronizing
to us and we acknowledge that the
councils here are indeed Community Focus
people business people you have high
business Acumen you are smart people
surely you can turn this loss around and
make these centers profitable you've
also tried to hit us with a compe
neutrality policy and we too have sought
legal advice from multiple Council we've
got a king's Council involved as well
and we've also been invite advised by
better regulation Victoria that it's
just a policy and not legislation like
you advised the parents okay no
penalties apply to council if you do not
comply with this particular policy note
that not doing a gender impact
assessment though has more consequences
on your community so my question that I
want to know from the councilors is are
you genuinely keeping an open mind about
these Early Learning Centers in
kindergartens or are you being told and
pressured by Council Executives that
these centers must close because it's
been put to you it appears as a fate ACC
compley thank you for your question um
I've been on this Council for 15 years
no one has ever mentioned closing the
elc's no
one no one has counselor this is the
fourth counselor group I've worked with
and none of them have spoken to me or
promoted the closure do we come do this
with an open mind absolutely we do as I
said it for the last speaker we
certainly will we will evaluate the
information that comes to us and on the
12th of December we will make the
decision and councelor would you like to
respond yes I would thank you Mr Mayor
given that I was named incorrectly
um The corfield Early Learning Center
was measured to be closed not by me
personally by Council it was not closed
obviously it's still operating and I
take great a front of being accused of
trying to close it my apologies
councelor esof
eror Amanda Smith would Amanda like to
come
forward thanks commanda
Council McGee in 2020 you were elected
as one of three representatives to the
tuck Award with
4,123 first round preference votes which
is quite
significant according to the Australian
electoral commission your candidate
statement read in part I will work to
build a council run children's Hub with
a new child and maternal Health Center
and affordable Council run long daycare
center
this sounds a wonderful proposition
however your election pledge of a hub
was actually voted against as one of the
three options in the discussion
paper in 2023 the state government
significantly increased the building
blocks capacity building Grant available
with up to 9 million available for
councils for the construction of a
children's Hub that includes maternal
Health increased kindergarten places and
a long daycare similar to what you
proposed The glenar Early Learning
discussion paper comments there was 4.5
million of potential funding which is
incorrect to date you have not reached
out to State all federal levels of
government of uh to propose funding of
your promised Hub nor funding of elc's
for that matter my questions are in two
themes firstly
funding why have you not sought any
funding to councilor support uh the
funding to improve Early Learning in
glena and will the council's request
detailed funding modeling to assess the
viability of assessing state government
funding for our
elc's secondly councilor McGee back to
your 2020 election pledge please inform
us as to the location the progress the
timeline of completion and any further
details of this children's Hub which
incorporates the council run long
daycare center that you promised in your
election pledge in 2020 specifically
what actions have you taken to ensure
your pledge will be fulfilled noting
October 2024 elections next year sure
thank you for your question I'll I'll
throw to Mr Saunders first and then I'll
answer your other
question thank you Mr Mayor and thank
you Amanda uh for your question I just
wanted to clarify the funding that's
available through the Victorian state
government the Victorian state
government funds additional kindergarten
places through its building box program
the maximum am amount of funding that a
local government can be awarded under
that program for a new children's
services Hub is in fact 4.5 million that
is the maximum amount um
council is making a decision about the
future of its Early Learning Centers one
of the options that is outlined in the
discussion paper is the construction of
a new Hub which is consolidating onto a
single site at Marina and that is
because Marina has the capacity to
consolidate all of the place onto that
that particular site um the cost of that
is $10 million so Council would have to
make up the shortfall in the funding so
10 million minus the 4.5 was what is
what it would cost Council um state
government funding only funds um hubs in
terms of additional kindergarten places
it does not fund additional child care
places so I just wanted to clarify that
particular point Thank you and uh in
relation to to the questions to myself
uh before I made that statement I
actually traveled to other
municipalities and looked at Children's
hubs Now Children's hubs have child and
maternal Health have Kinder there's a
whole host of things that are all being
put together on one site and I like that
idea Council has run three elc's one in
corfield and two one carnegi and one in
Marina there were none in tuer Ward I
thought that was a bit unfair but also
know that we needed a new child Health
Center so I was looking at putting all
that together on one site and and that
confirms what I said in the last the
last speaker no one had ever spoken to
me about closing or elc's so therefore
it was an opportunity to a have a new
child and maternal Health Center and all
the other peripheral things that go
around that that was in relation to that
comment thank you for your question
thanks
Amanda and could I now invite Mia to
come
forward thank you can you hear me over
my
mask okay um you report that
underutilization is a contributing
factor for closing the elc's at 78%
mutualization we feel Council has not
made True efforts to fill spots through
advertising we have now been back over
Mark Saunders claims that they adverti
The Glenn Ira elc's in the newsletter I
urge you to review the last few years
newsletters as a concerned parent has
now done in our group there is next to
no advertising in place since 2017 there
have only been three adverts placed for
vacancies December 2020 on page 9
December 20121 on page 11 with a feature
of family daycare and rien Le Kinder but
no large article about elc's February
2021 on page 7 and one additional for
Mar beina in September 2021 on page 14
in the whatson section along with very
few Facebook posts in this age of
digital media advertising vacancies has
been to a very low standard and only
really four since
2018 so my question is why has Council
not advertised more earnestly to
encourage a higher utilization rate
there's word in the playgrounds that
these centers are incredibly hard to get
into more advertising would help with
this and therefore avoid the preliminary
decision to close these vitally
important exceeding expectations centers
thank you thank you for your
question thank you mayor for your
question and through you Mr Mayor um
mayor yes uh you quite rightly pointed
out how often we have um advertised for
vacancies in Glenn rnu and we've been
doing that since
2017 um I'm Al we're also aware that
we've advertised on social media at
community events play groups we've had
signage and Street flags at the front of
the centers for a number of years we've
been directly emailing families on
waiting lists um repeatedly over those
years and we've also distributed printed
collateral such as booklets and
postcards um in local shopping centers
and also refreshed all of our
promotional material on our website
um our two of our Lear Learning Centers
are actually collocated with Maternal
Child Health we actually have seven
Maternal Child Health Centers that have
about 15,000 visits each year we have 32
nurses working in those centers and
those nurses actively promote our
glenara um Early Learning Centers to
parents that are speaking with them
about Early Childhood Education and Care
opportunities so we have had a broad
range of promotion and which is quite
unique given that we have ancillary
services like supported play groups
Maternal Child Health and occasional
care servic to support us in those
Endeavors thank you thank you for your
question and ladies and gentlemen that
concludes public participation we've now
passed by our 30 minutes councilors I'll
now want to move a procedural motion the
council changes the order of business to
bring forward item 10.5 written public
questions to council to be heard at this
stage of the meeting I moved that
councilor Smo as a second councilors all
those in
favor that is carried unanimously we CEO
we're now into public question but
before you start um we have received
over 90 written public questions for the
meeting
tonight we won't be able to respond to
to them all verbally at this meeting as
I said at the beginning we have extended
the time available to respond verbally
to written public questions by to 30
minutes please remember that all
questions submitted in writing prior to
the meeting including those answered
tonight will receive a written response
and given the volume of questions we
have received we will read out as many
as we possibly can in the 30 minutes
that we will set aside for that CEO
thank you Mr Mayor um and I will read
them out in order of receipt but I will
start with those that the answers have
not been made available in right in
previously as well just so that we can
get through as many new issues um as
possible our first question is from
Hayden LaVine of carnegi when will works
begin to investigate and ideally build a
safe bike connection between voy Park
and urban Forest Reserve as in as
identified at action 1.6 of council's
2019 to 20124 cycling action plan and Mr
wood will
respond thank thank you for that
question Hayden and through mayor at
this stage we do not have a clear time
frame for that project Council cycling
action plan was adopted before the
impacts of the Corona virus pandemic due
to the financial impacts of the pandemic
Council has reprioritized the immediate
actions council's current priority
project for walking and cycling is the
extension to the Ros toown rail trail
thank
you thank you Mr wood um the next
question is from Marcus Oswald of
carnegi um as part of agenda item 8.4
Glenn Huntley major activity center
request for authorization of proposed
planning controls is proposed that
Heritage overlay
h113 be removed from 122 Grange Road the
former post office at the corner of GRA
in Glenn Huntley roads is of historical
significance and important Landmark this
site is proposed to have a six-story
discretionary height limit is the
Heritage review of the site by
independent Consultants mentioned in the
agenda publicly available Mr
wood and thank you for that question
Marcus and through you mayor a copy of
the Heritage review that supports the
removal of
h113 from 122 Grant Road will be
included in the documents that are made
available as part of the public
exhibition stage of the funding scheme
Amendment thank
you I'll now move into the questions
regarding um The Early Learning Centers
um Mia allad of carnegi wres in regard
to the issue concerning the closure of
the elc's whereas council's analysis
that it's three elc's are subject to the
competitive neutrality policy for
instance is Council running a
significant business activity given it
only serves 2% of ELC Services how does
this Council know if it meets the
requirements to invoke
CNP Mr
Saunders thank you mayor if you're
questioning through you Mr Mayor the
application of CN or competitive
neutrality policy to the operation of
Early Learning Centers is one of a
number of considerations that must be
taken into account by Council when
making its final decision if council's
final decision is that it will continue
to operate the three Early Learning
Centers or any of them then will observe
compuls competitive neutrality policy in
implementation of that decision that is
council's adopted approach to pricing
for the service an activity should not
have regard as significant or
insignificant solely because of the size
relative to the number of like services
in the
municipality a variety of factors
informs that assessment Council has
assessed its Early Learning Centers
through this lens and is satisfied that
they are significant business activities
for the purposes of competitive
neutrality policy thank
you our next question this evening is
from Sam wood of carnegi has Council
approached external providers inquiring
whether they would be interested in
running the service on behalf of council
if not why not and if so what was the
response Mr
Saunders thank you Sam for your question
and through you Mr Mayor no council has
not approached any external providers to
run the service Council has only made a
preliminary decision not a final
decision to exit direct service
provision from the three centers council
is now considering all submissions
received during the 4-we consultation
process prior to making a final decision
which is scheduled for the 12th of
December once Council has determine what
its own role should be in the delivery
of long daycare and other options can be
explored thank
you the next question this evening is
from Esther Gori of kegi in the
discussion paper and in various other
documents and conversations the council
and councilors have all emphasized that
they will genuinely consider individual
feedback knowing the volumes of feedback
that you have received and being quite
certain that all individual feedback
that has been Reed is 100% against the
proposed decision if you make the
decision to close the centers what will
be the deciding factors that you
obviously consider more important than
the voice of your own community members
Mr
Saunders thank you ASA for your question
and through you Mr mayor council will
consider all submissions and feedback
received as part of the consultation
process this feedback will inform the
final decision however other important
considerations were outlined in the
childcare discussion paper which was
published on the 5th of October that
included council's role and
responsibility as a local government and
a service provider in a competitive
Marketplace the financial viability of
the Early Learning Centers opportunities
and challenging challenges relating to
the existing Child Care infrastructure
assets and ass assessment of possible
options for future Service delivery and
the capacity of the local Child Care
Marketplace to beat both current and
future demand thank you es has a second
question that also hasn't been
previously um responded to on the 12th
of December if you do decide to close
the centers by the end of the year what
is your step-by-step plan for helping
100 plus families finding comparable
child care places comparable being the
same standard EG exceeding standards
reasonable distance from home aligned
values and culturally appropriate will
you call these centers book tours
organized paperwork trial days
orientation days and hours before the
Christmas break Mr
Saunders thank you Esa for your question
um our family leaon officers are
continuing to work closely with
individual families to provide support
now and to understand the types of
support families may require to identify
Alternative Care that best suits their
individual needs should count ccil make
a final decision to close its Early
Learning Centers we have now have a
clear understanding of vacancies after
advising other child care services of
council's preliminary decision however
Council cannot guarantee specific days
times or locations will be available to
suit families individual
needs of of the 55 non-council Child
Care Centers operating in glena 20 are
rated exceeding National quality
standards and 23 meeting standards 52 of
these centers also offer a state funed
kindergarten program for three and four
yearold children this means that at
least 78% of the services meet the
quality standards set by the
Commonwealth government thank
you our next question is from Jonathan
Goldsmith of Ormond why has the mayor
and other councilors refused to attend
meetings with local state and federal
MPS whose State there is Government
funding
available
thank you for your question Jonathan and
through you Mr Mayor the mayor and
councilors have not refused to attend
such meetings the mayor has both met and
spoken with a range of state and federal
members of parliament Council has also
received submissions from state and
federal members of parliament that were
received during the four-week
consultation process all of this
feedback will be considered by Council
and councilors prior to making a final
decision on the 12th of December thank
you just to add to that I have
personally met with I spoken to Zoe
Daniels Michelle anander Raja Steve
Demopolis am I missing any David
Southwick all in the last few weeks so
if any of those have said to you that we
haven't
met you're saying a meeting with them
I've met with all of
them
thank moving on um next question
is from
Dora Banes Banes excuse my pronunciation
I'm sorry about that um will you make
available to us the profit and loss
statements and breakdown of costs
including your book entry for rent
regarding the elc's given cost is a key
decision factor and if not why not Mr
Saunders D for your question uh no this
information is commercially sensitive is
in therefore for commercial inconfidence
um I would note that we have previously
answered the book entry for the rent
though um and that's been published in
previous um information and made
available to council Council child care
services operate in a competitive
Marketplace and there are 58 child care
centers that operate in the in the
municipality and it's in a competitive
Marketplace which is why the the profit
and loss statements are considered
commercially sensitive thank you Anna
Clark has a question that hasn't been
previously answered um if there is such
a demand for kindergarten places that
other centers are offering Saturday
places to meet demand why is Council
consider considering reducing a much
needed and in demand service Mr
Saunders thank you Anna for your
question demand for kindergarten places
if different to demand for child care
places the reference to Saturday
kindergarten places concerns places in
Standalone kindergartens not Child Care
Centers council's child care places
account run 2% of the places in glenara
and the modeling undertaken as part of
the service review concluded that there
is likely to be sub sufficient supply of
child care places to meet current and
future demand thank
you next question is from Kate relic of
kegi um why didn't the preliminary
decision Accord a higher level of
importance to Quality at the very least
equal to the budget why did the report
driving this initial decision fail to
consider the wide ranging implications
of closing three centers that exceed
National quality standards especially in
terms of their impact on children
families and the community and why does
council not prioritize quality in child
care ra rather than quantity within its
Community essentially compelling parents
to accept a lower quality
Center note a response that merely
acknowledges the quality of the centers
as per the report or states that the
final decision is pending is inadequate
Mr
Saunders thank you Kate for your
question and through you Mr Mayor the
child care services review found that we
provide quality care and have excellent
Educators which has been outlined
tonight but our buildings are outdated
and lack many of the basic amenities
such as kitchens the families expect and
newer centers offer more information
about more information about the
challenges associated with our buildings
can be found in the child care viability
explain document that was published on
council's website on the 26th of October
child care places in the municipality
have doubled since 2010 and grown by 44%
since
2019 while the number of children Age 4
has dropped by almost 10% since
2016 there are now 58 Child Care Centers
operating in the city of Glenn AA a
total of 43 non-council centers in glena
are currently rated as either meeting or
exceeding National quality standards 23
centers have the same exceeding rating
as Council run Services the glenara
municipality has Child Care Choice
capacity and quality which means current
and projected demand for child care can
be met thank you Ryan beer of Marina has
a question which is at the ordinary
council meeting on the 17th of October
the council advised that a copy of the
Strategic service review report which
was the basis of the discussion paper
used to inform council's preliminary
decision to close three elc's would be
made available to the public on the 26th
of October received an email update
about the preliminary decision the email
provided a selection of information
similar format to the discussion paper
without a copy of the full strategic
service review report what is Council
hiding and when will a copy of the full
strategic service review report be
released Mr
Saunders thank you Ryan for your
question the full strategic service
review contains material that has been
considered commercial commercially
sensitive and is commercial in
confidence and will not be released to
the public thank you Ryan does have
another question um Mr Saunders and that
is that Council officers have
recommended a two-step process to
determine the future of the elc's
firstly recommending the closure and
then secondly recommending a future
review to determine the use of the site
sites or the sale of the sites adopting
a two-step process limits the options
available for the Second Step that
include continuous operation of the ELC
Services why has a recommendation for a
future use of the sites not been
resolved as part of the council officers
report this would provide transparency
to Glenn ARA residents and the
councilors and ensure the ultimate
outcome for the sites provides the most
value to the glenara community Mr
Saunders thank you Ryan for your
question
in order for Council to consider options
about the future of its elc's including
the buildings where the services are
delivered it must first decide what its
future role will be in child as a child
care service provider Council needs to
consider the future use of the
facilities in accordance with the
council's property strategy to determine
how to most effectively use the
buildings that are no longer acquired
for their current use the current use
for coun is for um Council operated
child care council could consider
options such as leasing repurposing or
disposal of the sites the option of
leasing Council assets to a non
for-profit or parent committee to
operate the child care service could
actually form part of the consideration
for the future of the assets Council
decision making to inform the future of
the three child care assets has also
been previously answered in the in the
your questions answered publication that
was published on the council website on
the 20th of October thank
you Amo hunt of corfield has a question
um The Local Government Act States
participants in community engagement
must have access to objective relevant
and timely information to inform their
participation 5th of October families
informed of
closures 13th of October Council
provided non-transparent information
based off questions from the 5th of
October meeting took 8 days to provide
information 20th of October Council
provided information took 15 days since
start of consultation process for
relevant information to be shared 1st of
November consultation ended parents were
not provided objective and relevant
information from the beginning of the
consultation process Council took 15
days to provide relevant required
information then there's still gaps on
the 1st of November end date for
Community consultation failed to meet
the requirements of providing
information in a timely manner
information to date is still l ly
irrelevant due to lack of transparency
how does council justify its failure to
meet the local government acts
requirements to provide objective
relevant and timely information Mr
Saunders thank you for your question and
through you Mr Mayor information that
was considered to inform council's
preliminary decision can be found in the
agenda minutes and Council report for
the special council meeting held on
Tuesday the 3rd of October this includes
information that can be provided from
from the Strategic service review which
has been published in the child care
discussion paper that was published on
the council website on the 5th of
October information that is commercial
in confidence cannot be released
additional information that we've also
provided to family staff and The Wider
Community to help them understand the
information that Council considered
before making a pimary decision
including a your questions answered
family briefing paper that was published
on the 5th of October a your questions
answered publication that was published
on the 13th and sorry on the 20th of
October and the child care viability
explained publication which was
published on the 26th of October all of
these documents are available on the
council website council is confident
that it's met all requirements to
undertake a genuine consultation and
engagement process in accordance with
the Local Government Act and Glenn AR's
Community engagement strategy and policy
thank you next question is from Jeremy
codo of corfield following this
four-week consultation period how do
councilors now feel shutting down
Services when they know which they know
are the best run elcs in Glenn
AA Mr sorry thank you Jeremy for your
question and through you Mr Mayor the
quality and care of Education provided
at our three centers has never been in
question the cons ation only closed last
week and councilors are yet to
personally review all of the submissions
in order to inform their view however
this will occur before a final decision
is made on the 12th of December thank
you um a question from Andrew Baler of
Marina regarding the amount Council says
it costs to support the centers
currently which they forecast to
increase where is the financial
responsibility for continuing to run at
such a loss and why hasn't anything been
done about it Mr
Saunders thank you Andrew for your
question and through you Mr Mayor each
Year's senior Council early year staff
undertake a financial and service model
review to ensure the three centers
operate as efficien efficiently as
possible and this p is primarily driven
by two key needs compliance with the
quality standards and the needs of
families which is informed through an
annual enrollment process this means the
use of rooms and staff needs to reflect
the children's age groups that are
enrolled in the service in any given
year whilst the three centers are
operating at a loss of approximately
$570,000 a year the senior staff have
significant experience in operating
centers and are confident the centers
are running as efficiently as possible
whilst also ensuring that they deliver
exceeding National quality standard
ratings which families enjoy and have
provided feedback about the service
review was undertaken in accordance with
the Aging buildings Financial losses and
The Growing Child Care Market in the
municipality and the current and
emerging State and Commonwealth early
years reform agendas this included
declining utilization rates and
increasing costs amid increasing costs
and economic uncertainty is becoming
more difficult to count for Council to
run Services Council undertakes regular
reviews of its services to ensure it
makes responsible choices now and to
ensure its service provide value to the
community thank
you we now have two new questions from
ebony marello of Marina were factors
such as unique needs of local families
and the potential advantages of small
centers like lower staff turnover given
adequate consideration in the
preliminary decision-making process if
not why not Mr
Saunders thank you thank you aony for
your question and through you Mr Mayor
yes the service review found that we
provide quality care and have excellent
Educators however the review also found
that our small and aging Early Learning
Center buildings are no longer fit for
purpose because they prevent Council
from achieving the economies of scale
required to operate financially viable
Child Care Centers this is primarily due
to the small room sizes and educator to
child ratios required by the
Commonwealth government's National
Quality framework for more information
about the challenges of our aging assets
can be found at the child care viability
explained publication was published on
the council website on the 26th of
October thank
you uh ebony second question is does the
community and or impacted families get a
copy of the community consultation
documents that will be submitted to the
councilors before the final decision is
made on the 12th of
December Mr solders thank you eony for
your second question yes the papers for
the 12th of December 23 council meeting
will be published on the council's
website on Thursday the 7th of December
2023 thank
you next question is from Ashley hope of
mulvin East could you please provide
specific evidence or details regarding
the educational activities that are
asserted to be infeasible in small
daycare centers that are that already
exceed National quality standards Mr
Saunders thank you Ashley for your
question Council competes with 55 other
child care providers in glena larger
centers are able to offer additional
activities the council cannot because of
because of its small rooms some examples
include Yoga Music and Dance thank you
thank you Ashley has a second
question Ashley has a second question um
glena's Community well-being plan
written by Council also states that
early childhood birth to 6 years is sets
the foundation for a child's long-term
development and learning investing in
the early years of a child's life is
crucial as these years have a
significant impact on the child's future
physical psychological and emotional
well-being given the above what does
council think the impact of uprooting
children who have settled into the care
of Educators and who have become
accustomed to the environment will feel
when they are promptly dumped from these
places Mr
Saunders thank you for your question and
through you Mr Mayor
feedback received about the potential
timing of the closure of council centers
and the feedback received about support
the families and children may require
transition to an alternative Center will
be considered by Council before it makes
its final decision on the 12th of
December thank
you um a the next question is from
Amanda Smith of corfield South Council
has stated that it identifies a
shortfall in kindergarten places for the
Glenn IR municipality in 2028 but only
in Bentley and McKinnon this was done as
part of the kisp kindergarten
infrastructure and services plan however
this assumption was made on the basis
that glena's 0 to fouryear Old
population is expected to increase by
1,700 children between 2016 and 2036
this is completely incorrect the
discussion paper attached to this
preliminary decision states there will
be an increase of
3,111 children in the municipality
between 2021 and 203 six as the kisp is
clearly Incorrect and has underestimated
the increase in 0 to4 population by
1,411 children why a council considering
reducing the number of places available
across the region by closing the centers
when there is clearly a much greater
demand than Council projections Mr
Saunders thank you Amanda for your
question and through you Mr mayor
council actually just supported the
development of the glenara kisp and that
that document was actually led by the
Victorian Department of Education the
current kiss was developed in 2021 2022
before the most recent census and was
conduct and was conducted um with some
of the information which now needs to be
updated as we understand and Council
will do that in partnership with the
Victorian government council is waiting
on the Victorian government to confirm a
date for this however the kisp only
reflects kindergarten demand and Supply
demand for kindergarten places is
different to demand for child care
places specific modeling was undertaken
as part of the Services review which
concluded the council's child care
places account for only 2% of the total
number of places in glena and the
modeling undertaken as part of that
review concluded there is likely to be
sufficient supply for child care places
to meet current and future demand
further information about current and
future demand for child care places is
set out in the child care discussion
paper which was published on the 5th of
October thank
you and um Amanda has a follow-up and
related question that hasn't previously
been answered so um she goes on to say
that the kisp um assumes kindergarten
places currently available are retained
into the future and it doesn't factor in
a reduction in kindergarten places due
to aging infrastructure or sites that
are not fit for purpose into the future
Council considers that funding to renew
or replace exist in infrastructure will
be required to maintain current supply
of kindergarten places the question's in
two parts if the kisp modeling assumes
no reduction in kindergarten places why
would a decision to close be made if
this reduces the places available by 43
funded kindergarten places secondly if
Council identified this requirement to
renew or replace infrastructure why has
infrastructure been allowed to languish
knowing full well that renewal of
infrastructure will be required to
maintain the current supply of
kindergarten places in future Mr
Saunders thank you for your question and
through you Mr Mayor the kindergarten
infrastructure service plan examines the
number of kindergarten places available
across the mun municipality which are
provided by both Standalone
kindergartens and Child Care Centers as
highlighted in the service review
there's been substantial increased in
the number of child care places
available in Glen
and that includes kindergarten places
provided through those new centers there
is Al also for growth forecast with nine
new Early Learning Centers in the
planning phase which have the capacity
to provide an additional
919 places for glenara the current
kindergarten infrastructure and services
plan does not identify a shortfall in
kindergarten places for glenara
municipality until
2028 and the shortfall in kindergarten
places is expected in the Bentley
McKinnon area not in the subur suburbs
where council's Early Learning Centers
are currently located Council Early
Learning Centers have not been allowed
to languish for the year 20122 2023 the
maintenance costs across these centers
was just over
$144,000 an increase of 7% on the
previous year the issue regarding
viability is is associated with the
Aging design and layout of the current
centers which is why consolidating the
services onto a single site at an
estimated cost of $10 million was
considered as an option as part of the
service review thank you our next
question is from Lisa Perry of carnegi
the Victorian Department of Education
has claimed to have reached out to
counil to discuss providing financial
assistance why has this not been taken
up Mr Saunders
Thank you Lisa for your question the
Department of Education is not contacted
council with an offer to provide
financial assistance to operated three
Council run Early Learning Centers thank
you next question is from Natalie Parker
of Marina has Council turned its mind to
where closing its three elc's complies
with its obligations under the charter
of Human Rights Mr
Saunders
apologies Natalie and thank you for your
question through you Mr Mr Mayor when
Council makes a decision it is required
to have regard to the rights recognized
in the charter of Human Rights and
responsibilities act 2006 or known as
the charter council is satisfied that a
final decision to cease operating The
Early Learning Centers would not limit
the rights recognized by the charter
thank
you and the final question that we have
time for this evening is from nardia
Moretti of orand council have tried to
shift all of the responsibility for Aged
care services to other levels of
government and now it is trying to do
the same with Early Learning Centers it
is expected that Council will next try
and shift all the responsibility for
Maternal Child and health maternal and
child health services to other level of
government why does council refuse to
take responsibility for any of the
services that are vital to the
vulnerable people of our community Mr s
thank you n if you're question through
you Mr Mayor Childcare Services operate
in a competitive market driven sector
which has grown significantly in recent
years there are now 58 Child Care
Centers operating across the
municipality the number of places
available across the municipality has
doubled since 2010 and increased by 44%
since
2019 an increase of
3,966 places to 5
1,731 places the service review
concluded that there is now a strong
supply of child care places in the
glenara municipality and there is a high
degree of confidence that the supply
will meet current and future demand for
child care across the city the
Commonwealth government has adopted a
market-driven system for child care
services and does not directly fund
operations and Service delivery costs
the Commonwealth government provides
subsidies that benefit families and care
is by comparison council is the only
provider of Maternal Child Health
Services in the municipality Maternal
Child Health operations and costs of
Service delivery are part funded by the
state government through a service level
agreement with Council Council has no
plans to exit Maternal Child and Health
Services thank you thank you Mr swanders
and that uh ends the 30 minutes of
public written public questions to
council councils I will move on to item
four confirmation minutes of previous
meeting or meetings confirmation of the
minutes of the meetings or meetings
councilors do I have a
motion councelor Cade has
printed second for that motion councel
mood uh councelor
Cade do you like to speak to any of
those
or I don't wish to speak to councilor
smoo nothing to add thank you anyone
speak against any of those
motions any other speakers on those
motions that being the case I put the
motion all those in favor that motion is
carried
unanimously item
five reception and reading of petitions
and Joint letters I don't believe there
are any we'll move to item
six reports by delegates appointed by
Council to various or organizations I
councils I don't believe there are any
that being the case I'll move to item
seven item seven is reports from
committees and records of assembly
councils I note that we have the
advisory committee meetings of the
glenara business and econom E economic
advisory committee meet minutes of the
21st September 23 Community grants
Awards advisory committee meeting of 10
October and the glenara sustainability
advisory committee meetings of 23 August
councils do have a
motion councilor parasol as
printed a second for that
motion councilor pen councelor
perasol thank you Mr Mayor U the glenara
business and economic advisory minutes
of the 21st of September Al take as R um
there was a list of items that were
achieved over the period of this
committee um the results of the business
survey show that there are about 8,000
000 local businesses and this is the
first time we've had any actual
data of that 8,000 47% are homebased
businesses and
53% are communal commercial based
businesses uh we did the Business Awards
which are very successful and the
economic developing plan is being worked
on at the
moment um I think that sort of covers
thank you very much for that one thank
you councilor
PUK thank you mayor um I'd like to speak
to the community grants minister of the
community grants committee held on the
10th of October um at that committee we
approved to youth Excellence grants for
Harish for Indoor Cricket Junior World
Series in Dubai and Angus for the junior
gr PRI motorcycles in Aragon Spain we
also approved three facility hire grants
and mayor for the sustainability
advisory committee meeting on meeting on
the 23rd of the 8th that meeting focused
on waste and the circular economy we had
a presentation of the circular economy
plan and discussion with the committee
and I'd like to thank the members for
their ongoing commitment and
contributions thank you Council Ben Cook
uh anyone wish to speak against the
motion any other speakers on this motion
there being no other speakers councelor
um Sam would you like to sum up nothing
further to add thank you words Council
pen council's up with the motion all
those in
favor that motion is carried
unanimously item 7 point two records of
assembly of councilors we have the 3rd
of October assembly the 10th of October
assembly and the 17th of October pre
meeting councilors do I have a
motion Council J as printed yes a second
for that motion councelor pinook
councelor
J councelor pinook nothing nothing to
add would would anyone like to speak
against that
motion any other speakers on the motion
there being no other speakers on the
motion coun J I don't think you want to
sum up therefore I will put the motion
all those in favor that motion is
carried
unanimously item eight reports officers
reports financial management report 30
September 2023 councilor to have a
motion councelor um Cade has
printed yes Maye second for that motion
councelor smooth councelor Cade thank
you mayam AE um it's time once again to
look at the financial management report
this time for the period ending 30th
September
2023 um Council continues to use rate
payer Revenue responsibly and invest in
Services infrastructure and Facilities
to benefit the entire Community
counciling council is facing Financial
challenges and is not immune to the
impacts of inflation and Rising costs of
delivering services and projects
Community expectations are high and
pressure is mounting on Council because
of the cost shifting by state government
who continue to shift more costs to
council looking at the figures before us
for this period the forecast results
expected for the financial year is a
surplus of $1.45 million the current
month forecast shows an increase in
operating revenue of
$621,000 and an increase in operating
expenditure of
$86,000 the current open space fund sits
at 15.6 million which may be used to
purchase land in the municipality for
public parks playgrounds and reserves
thank you thank you councelor
smoo nothing further to add thank you
anyone wish to speak against the
motion any other speakers on the
motion there being no other speakers on
the motion councilor K would you like to
sum up nothing to add therefore I'll put
the motion all those in favor the motion
is carried
unanimously 8.2 planning scheme review
2023 councils do I have a
motion Council resov as
printed second for that motion councilor
K councelor
isov thank you Mr Mayor uh council's now
completed it's review of the planning
scheme the last one was done back in
2018 uh while reviews are required every
4 years glenar was given an extension
until now to complete this one over the
Last 5 Years Council has initiated 51
new amendments 41 have now been gazetted
and are in place uh five are in the
process and four have been abandoned the
Amendments include East Village
structure plan increasing the open space
contribution from 5.7 up to
8.3% the planning scheme rewrite new
design and development overlays in three
of our neighborhood centers being South
corfield corfield Park and East Bentley
and the Cary major activity center as
well as several Heritage amendments in
addition the state government has
initiated new amendments since 2018 that
will have an effect on all councils
major amendments include the updated
apartment design standards implementing
the big housing build guidance for
environmentally sustainable design and
new changes that have just been
announced to implement this government's
housing statement with a few exceptions
from council's 2018 strategic work plan
are all completed or underway uh
achievements include the adoption of the
housing strategy structure plans in five
major activity centers built form
Frameworks for three neighborhood
activity centers as well as Heritage
reviews in several suburbs council's
also completed their social and
affordable housing strategy a refresh of
the Open Space strategy and introduced a
classified tree register this report uh
before us tonight includes a new 2023
work plan that outlines the priorities
for the years ahead I support the
recommendation to endorse this review
and to provide a copy to the minister
for planning for approval thank thank
you thank you councilor esakov councelor
Cade thank you may um thank you Council
esakov for covering that so uh
comprehensively um I would like to
commend the work of our planning
department for all their hard work um
and for the progress made which is
reflected in favorable reviews received
from planning panels Victoria and in the
reduced number of applications to
weekend this is important work to
enhance the effect effectiveness of the
planning scheme and achieve achieving
the planning objectives preparing for
future population growth and new
development is a challenge in the work
plan undertaken with Ensure a livable
and well planned city I support the
recommendation thank you thank you
anyone wish to speak against this motion
against the motion councelor um
smoo uh thank you Mr Mayor look first of
all I do want to acknowledge and thank
you to my two previous councils the huge
body of work that's been done in terms
of strategic planning um I will speak
briefly um with the resident emailing us
and pointing out um different reviews
that have been done I do want to
acknowledge the time frame we had an
extension that was shortened somewhat um
but I think what's been put before us is
not so much a review as an overview of
the large body of work that's been done
and the plans going forward um and I
would have liked to have seen some more
analysis so I won't be supporting it and
that doesn't detract from the work
that's been done in terms of the changes
that have been made but just in terms of
what I think I would have liked to see
in a review in terms of analyzing how
effective our planning scheme is thank
you Mr Mayor thank you any other
speakers on the
motion councilor
Peno thank you mayor um and um thank you
for the comments from the previous
councilors um which outlined what the uh
agenda item is for um I just want to
draw attention to page 55 of the agenda
which talks about
um the uh planning scheme
amendments um that need in the face of
po population grows to balance that
growth with amenity and livability and I
just raise that because I think that's
the greatest challenge that faces us um
and Council esakov referred to some of
the changes in the planning scheme at
the state level um and many of those
have been improvements but the I would
have to say that the state planning
scheme is still quite um not fit for
purpose in what it needs to achieve and
in Victoria in particular we don't
necessarily balance that well am manity
and livability with um with development
so we often particularly in major act
activity centers um governed by the
requirements of the state planning
scheme um councils are required to put
forward um structure plans which don't
necessarily in my view balance the
amenity and liability with the develop
so often the ongoing amenity and
livability in the years to come is not
considered in my view enough in terms of
what the state government requires of us
in the planning scheme and in our in our
structure plan and other amendments that
are listed in this uh review so I just
wanted to draw that to the attention of
um councilors and the community that um
it is meant to be a balancing act but
I'm not quite so sure that we've got the
balance right particularly in the major
activities sers thank you any other
speakers if there are no other speakers
Council rof nothing to add thank you I
therefore put the motion all those in
favor those
against those in favor councilor McGee
councilor K councilor esakov councelor
parasol councelor Jang those against
councelor Penacook and councelor schmood
that is
carried item
8.3 councils do I have a motion councel
is
mooded yes Mr May I'd like to propose an
alternate motion the alternate motion is
to compliance
with uh so the AL motion and I'll get
the wording that I was proposing was um
that so it's 8.3 compliance with
condition 38 of the planning permit for
10 to6 SN Street
people sorry I can't no that's all right
um my motion was that Council delay
consideration of a item 8.3 until the
next ordinary council meeting on the
28th of November 2023 so that the
counselor who requested the report can
be
present is there a second for that
motion Council pen
cook
would you like to speak to that motion
councilor s um look I do note that uh
Council Zing um requested this report
and he's unfortunately not able to be
here tonight and just out of courtesy um
I think it would be um considerate for
us to delay the motion so that he can
speak to it uh or say the item until so
you can speak to at the next council
meeting thank you councilor pinook would
you like to
add yes uh thank you mayor I'm seconding
the motion because uh for the reasons
outlined by council's mood but also it's
not an urgent motion so just delaying it
for one cycle is not going to have a
material effect anyone like to speak
against the
motion no any other speakers on the
motion I'll just say a few words that uh
normally I would continue on but in the
past we have actually when a council has
requested a call for report and the
council isn't here and if it isn't time
sensitive then we have deferred it to
another meeting so in that under that
circumstances I will support your
alterate um Council move would you like
to sum
up thank you nothing further Council I
put the motion all those in
favor the motion is carried unanimously
brings us to
8.4 Glenn Huntley major activity center
uh request for authorization of uh
proposed planning controls councilors
ver as
printed no Mr Mayor slightly different
can iar recommendation uh we read uh as
is except that it will have a new number
four that reads as follows endorses the
removal of
h112 Glenn Huntley railway station and
ho 11131 122 gra Road and the rest will
be renumbered appr so we're not removing
anything we're just adding we're adding
one number understand CC d
second for that
motion cancor SM councelor
ROV thanks Mr Mayor uh as the report
States amendment c221 Glenn implements
the objectives and built form
recommendations of the adopted Glenn
Huntley structure
plan um into the glenara planning scheme
it also proposes new planning controls
in the form of a new schedule 14 uh to
Clause
4203 the and Design and development
overlay known as the
dd14 uh this will introduce permanent
built form controls into the scheme for
land within the Glen Huntley major
activity center which stretches
predominantly from Glen Huntley Road or
along Glen Huntley Road between Buran
Road and just east of GRA Road this
amendment process proposes to rezone a
small amount of land to correct zoning
boundaries where land is in two zones or
to align the land with historic present
use of the site it will remove two
Heritage overlays as they are no longer
necessary hence the alternate
recommendation uh they are currently
well they are the Glen Hunley railway
station which has just been rebuilt so
that's an
obvious uh and unfortunately um I
believe uh 122 gra road because it's
been declared Unworthy of Heritage
protection by our heritage experts due
to alterations made to it over a number
of years um and it will also apply
several New Heritage overlays to
properties in the activity center or the
residential surrounds those that were
identified in the glena Heritage review
of East corfield and Glen
Huntley it will also apply an
environmental audit overlay over a small
section of land that is identified as
being potentially contaminated based on
its previous
use uh this is a lengthy process and
we're currently only at stage one when
the minister for planning authoriz Rises
this step step one it will next go to
exhibition stage where the community and
stakeholders are notified and are
welcomed to make a submission following
the exhibition stage Council would then
consider those submissions and will be
in a position to either abandon change
or refer the amendment to an independent
planning panel and those further steps
are all outlined in the report itself
thank you thank you councilor
smoo uh I'd like i' to thank councelor
isov um for her comments and I have
nothing further to add anyone wish to
speak against this
motion any other speakers on the motion
councilor
pinook uh thank you mayor um and I thank
the officers for their work um on this
um item and the previous item I should
say too even though I didn't support it
um uh in terms of the recommendation um
I'm prepared to support it and I'll say
support it because it's so long there's
so many things in it and the main ones
that I'm I are not in favor of is the
removal of the post office at 122 Grange
Road as um having its individual
Heritage overlay and um I know um as
Council esakov outlined that our
heritage um experts have declared it
unworthy um but um as I said in the
previous motion we we often don't get
the balance right this is not always
necessarily a council issue but it's
across the the whole of the state in
that our our protection of Heritage um
is fairly weak and particularly if you
compare it with other parts of the world
um where if you know if you're in the UK
for example um you have certain listings
of Heritage and you can't you know when
you buy a property you're it's a grade
one or it's a grade two and what the
requirements are we don't have anything
like that and that's why we've lost so
much Heritage already in our in our
municipalities in our even Regional
areas and and in the CBD in particular
we've lost so many of our heritage
buildings because they're not well
protected and even the ones that are are
declared Heritage are not well
maintained and you wouldn't get away
with that in most other um jurisdictions
either where um being the owner of a
Heritage building would mean you'd have
to look after it but I wanted to make
another comment about um this um item
which refers to the Glenn Huntly
structure plan which I wasn't around
when that was I wasn't a member of the
council when that went through but it
does um propose along the north side of
Glenn Huntley Road particularly um in
the center around the railway station
six five six and eight stories on the
North side um and I just make the
comment that those those Heights are not
conducive to um to they're not conducive
to preserving heritage but they're also
going to create a shadow across to the
other side of the street in the winter
solers now this is this is a problem
that um exists in any structure plan in
any municipality where there's an East
West Road in that the taller buildings
on the highest on the Northern side will
overshadow the south side of the street
um and that's that's not as I said in my
other in the previous item it's not
conducive to amenity and livability in
the long term it's a mistake that the
state government has not done anything
about and really should do something
about should be looking at the effect
where there's a nor uh an East West Road
as opposed to a North South Road where
the sun going across the north does
provide a lot more light and sunlight
during the winter hours uh the winter
months so um I know on a previous item
that uh it was decided that um the state
the count the council pointed the state
government towards this particular
problem and I think we should be
stronger in pointing the government
towards this particular problem so it
doesn't continue to occur throughout um
our
municipalities thank you anyone else
wish to speak on this
motion there are no other speakers on
this motion Council
ROV
yeah thank you Mr Mayor look I agree
with many of the comments that um
councilor petuk has has made uh we we
don't always have full control of our
municipalities sadly uh we need approval
from the state government and if we
don't approve something and I don't like
to be put into a position of of Threes
but sometimes it's how we feel uh if we
don't approve something we will get
something worse so um look we can only
hope that there'll be uh allowance in
our design and development overlays to
prevent um unnecessary overshadowing by
setting back different various flaws as
they get higher and uh we will C from
what we've seen that that ought to work
and uh in the future we will find that
out no doubt if we're still around thank
you thank you council's up with the
motion all those in
favor that motion is carried
unanimously item 8.5 NRI planting gu
guidelines 2023 review councilor do I
have a motion councilor smood as
printed as printed second for that
motion councelor pnook councelor
smoo uh thank you Mr Mayor um look our
nature strips actually comprise a
substantial proportion uh of the open
space uh public open space in our
municipality along our 800 some kilm of
Roads um and there's the opportunity
there to do something more than just
have grass or turk to actually
make it easier for people to put in more
vegetation whether that's flowers um low
um shrubs those types of things um but
the current guidelines that we have have
actually worked against that being done
and we have a substantial backlog of
permit applications that would not
actually um be approved according to the
current guidelines so this amendment
here the revision um proposes to uh
breathe things up a bit and also allow a
wider range of things to be planted
um so it allows a bit more of the nature
strip to be planted on still allowing um
guidelines in terms of distance from the
foot path distance from the curb
distance from driveways and Crossovers
and distance from trees to make sure
that we're not damaging trees um and
also um additional changes allow the
planting of low grasses ground covers
and mulch in clearance areas rather than
just restricting to Turf um and allowing
plants of up to 1 meter in height to be
planted with some restrictions uh and
the requirements for the provision of
appropriate waste collection space as
well so what we're trying to do is
encourage those people who may want to
uh to actually uh make our nature strips
more interesting to look at rather than
just grass with a tree plunked in the
middle of of the front of most property
some properties might have no trees some
might have two or three um but I'm not
expecting necessarily that every
property is going to have this and I'm
very cognizant that for a lot of people
the nature strip is actually where
people get out of vehicles to have
access to the proper as well so if more
and more people take this up um in a few
years may may need to look back and see
how do we also ensure accessibility at
the moment I don't think there's going
to be a huge rush um but it I think it's
worthwhile having these revised
guidelines so that hopefully more people
take it up uh and we get more vegetation
more biodiversity and just more
interesting um things so people pick the
flowers from our nature strip rather
from my front garden would be a really
nice start thank you thank you cancel
pinook
thank you m g um I I agree with
everything that councilor SM has said so
I won't repeat that um except to say um
it'd be nice to see more um nature
strips um not just grass turf or as I
would more say more commonly weeds um uh
including a lot of Ry grass at the
moment which is not only a weed um but
is causing a lot of problem for people
who have asthma and hay fever so it' be
good to see a lot of that Ry grass grow
uh G gone from people's nature strips
but um in in many other municipalities
um they already have nature strip
guidelines and nature strip plantings
and it's been very successful as
councilor smooth said it doesn't suit
everybody but to see more of it would be
good inside these guidelines are um
recommended plants which are indigenous
to the area of glena um indigenous to
the what's known ecologically as a sand
belt which we're a part of um and so
they would be that would attract the the
right sort of insects and birds that we
want to attract to increase biodiversity
in our um urban area so I think they're
a great
um um Improvement and uh I think a lot
of people will take them up and look
forward to seeing it thank you anyone
wish to speak against the motion Council
risskov yes thank you Mr Mayor uh the
original Nat strip guidelines were
endorsed back in 201 2019 and took into
consideration many things including any
impact on the Underground infrastructure
Street tree
implications and safety and risk
concerns for pedestrians and Road users
alike while I understand the need for
urban Greening where possible and the
importance of
biodiversity and I do support that
intent I believe these guidelines need
to consider more seriously and carefully
the safety of our community members and
visitors to our city I don't believe the
revisions made do this sufficiently
reducing the distance of planting from
the curb from 90 CM down to 60 cm does
not enable a person who may be older
with a disability or any issue that
precludes them from easily exiting a
parked car and needing to fully open the
passenger door with sufficient room to
do so certainly not with a safe flat and
even passage out of that car and onto
the foot path nor does it does it allow
the required space for a person
requiring the assistance of another
person to help them out of their car as
I had done have done for my mother for
many
years imagine trying to assist someone
out of a parked car and onto a frame or
into a wheelchair with 60 cm of flat
space to do
it it's not possible I understand not
every nature strip will be planted out
but people with less ability do need to
Park as close to where they are going as
possible so to make the rules fairer for
people of all abilities 90 CM sounds
more like a reasonable space to enable
safe passage to a flat even surface such
as a
footpath similarly the reduction from 50
cm to 30 on the foot path side of nature
strips will have potentially dangerous
consequences too when you have both
pedestrians and perhaps cyclists Andor
scooters using using the same narrow
foot path but nowhere or very little
space to move across and out of their
way um there's going to be collisions
and this is especially dangerous with
the higher speeds now seen with electric
vehicles using our foot
paths while I do note that the revised
guidelines offer an increase to 1.5 M
offset from the curbside where there's a
disabled parking Bay we all know that
this will not address the safety issue
I'm talking about as disa parking spaces
are not available outside private homes
and are usually only found in shopping
centers at Community facilities such as
libraries and of course are always in
hot demand so for the safety of the most
vulnerable in our community I cannot
support this revised policy for these
reasons thank you thank you councelor
councils any other
speakers Council Kate thank you may mgee
um the results of the community
engagement survey was encouraging and I
think it's a good idea to encourage
planting on nature strips uh however it
is important for Council as the
responsible authority to tread
cautiously and ensure the safety and
accessibility for pedestrians and
vehicles when we set out the guidelines
for planting of nature strips so I share
similar concerns to councelor esakov um
reducing the clearance requirements in
my view particularly for curb sides to
60 cm May compromise the safety of some
users when Al lighting from or getting
into park Vehicles there is an increased
to 1.5 M when there is a disabled
parking Bay but the Restriction of 60 cm
in other areas does not address
situations where someone maybe a
lighting from a vehicle or getting into
a vehicle particularly with a walking
walk or or other Aid when there is no
disabled parking Bay and may cause an
issue for some hence I'm reluctant to
agree to these particular changes as
suggested in the report I however glad
to see that the permit process for
planting has been simplified thank you
thank you any other
speakers if there are no other speakers
Council
Smoot uh thank you Mr Maron and thank
you to council Kate actually for raising
the community feedback I think um this
particular report is an excellent
example of how Community feedback
changes um what the officers final
recommendation is so some of the things
um that were recommended are now further
adjustments are incl include um
retaining the recommendation against but
removing the prohibition on edible crops
obviously it really is incumbent on
people to stay healthy that they need to
look at um soil testing to make sure um
that that it's going to be safe uh and
the pollution won't cause a problem
raised beds unfortunately still not
permitted I know they are in other
councils um I think also very
importantly removing the requirement for
the reinstatement of turf when a
property is sold or vacated so if
someone's gone to the effort of creating
a beautiful nature strip and and the new
people residing in the property want to
keep it it shouldn't have to be put back
to Turf and then planted out again um
and then also um increasing the
recommended plant list with an addition
of a state to clarify that the list is
not exhausted and that other species may
meet the height requirements um I want
to encourage anyone that is interested
to have a look um at our website in
coming weeks and months there will be
some examples of potential nature strip
designs there'll be information
regarding plant care and establishment
uh and a list of local indigenous
nurseries and further plant
recommendations so um we're hoping to
inspire people to put in place something
that's more interesting more beautiful
uh more biodiversity but very much
keeping in mind um the safety and
accessibility for other community
members that might need it thank you Mr
M thank you councilors I put the motion
all those in favor
in favors councelor Cade councelor
Penacook councelor J councelor smoo
councelor McGee against councelor
parisel councelor
isov councelor Kate I'm sorry m m i was
against sorry I didn't understand I said
I was going to vote against it you're
voting yes Council those uh for
councelor McGee councelor Penacook
councelor jeang councelor smoo against
councelor okay councelor escot Council
parisel that motion is
carried Council we move on to item 8.6
Community grants policy review
councilors do I have a
motion a motion councelor oov has
printed do I have a second to for that
motion councilor parisol councelor
esof okay thank you Mr Mayor um last
year the Victorian auditor General's
office released an audit called fraud
control over local government
grants um referred to as the Vago report
Council completed a self assessment in
response to the report findings and that
resulted in a review of the community
grants policy to be brought forward and
done earlier than was planned the
revised policy strengthens the
governance Arrangements by outlining
eligibility and assessment uh criteria
for the community grants program in
Grant guidelines for each of its streams
uh by conducting Reg auditing of Grant
recipients to ensure grants are being
used for the intended purpose and
documenting all funding decisions in a
consistent way within a centralized
system to ensure decision making is
transparent uh in addition a few changes
have been made to the community grants
policy with the addition of a
purpose paragraph uh for the program
changes to the objectives of the policy
to provide Clarity expansion of the PO
policy itself to provide provide
explicit direction as to how the grants
are assessed and how the recommendations
are assessed and made and including the
two new sections of the policy
identifying the scope and how conflicts
of interest will be managed uh if
endorsed tonight the datea amended on
the policy will show November rather
than December 2023 as as is at the
moment thank you thank you Council
parasol um Council esops covered it very
well but I just want the community to
know that we follow the guidelines of
Veo and all other bodies where necessary
thank you thank you anyone wish to speak
against this
motion any other speakers on this
motion there being no other speakers can
ROV nothing to add council's up with the
motion all those in
favor that motion is carried unanimously
we move on to item 8.7 youth engagement
councilors councilors young as printed
second for that motion councilor smooth
councel J thank you Mr Mayor um this
Council has committed to engaging with
young people and listening to young
people that's why our very first youth
adversary committee was formed in
2021 uh I was honored to be a member of
that committee we had a few very
productive and meaningful meetings both
in person and online now after review of
this user diversity committee our
officers recommend recommend to replace
the committee with a youth engagement
team to enhance to achieve the highest
level of Youth participation um we can
find the detailed analysis and the the
comparison between the previous
adversary committee and the prop
proposed
um useth engagement team in the report
uh I fully support the recommendation
thank you thank you counc
mood uh thank you Mr May and thank you
to councelor Jang I think um our youth
are really important uh and we want to
hear from them and the proposal that's
before us tonight and the recommendation
for the Youth engagement team will
actually allow even more engagement uh
meeting more regularly having uh the
youth in our community um connecting
with more of the staff that's specialize
and working with youth so I think it's
building more engagement getting them to
understand councel and provide the sort
of information and feedback that we need
to make sure that we're providing um you
know the range and quality of of Youth
Services that uh will meet that
committee's needs going forward so like
councilor Jang I'm happy to support this
recommendation thank you anyone wish to
speak against the
motion any other speakers on the
motion if there are no other speakers on
the motion Council Jang would you like
to sum up uh yeah just I'm looking
forward to come
further engagement with our young
residents thank you councils I put the
motion all those in
favor that motion is carried
unanimously item 8.8 inclusion of four
trees into the classified tree register
don't even have to look up councelor
smoo as printed as printed second for
that motion Council parasol councelor
smoo uh thank you Mr Mayor um really
really pleased that we have 235 trees on
our significant tree Reg
and hopefully tonight we'll add another
four um three of the trees are on
private property a willow Myrtle and two
lemon centered gums and one's in
Virginia reserves a public open space in
Bentley East and it's a brittle gum they
range in height from 15 M to 20 m in an
age from 40 years to 70 plus years so
quite a young group but still
nevertheless deemed significant uh and
uh worthy of a visit because they're
very visible from the street and
obviously in Virginia reserve and get a
big closer hope everyone supports the
motion thank you Council smooth counc
parasol nothing further to add thank you
anyone wish to speak against the
motion councelor P cook would you like
to speak on the
motion thank you mayor I just wanted to
note the two um Coria citri ad that the
um lemon scented gums that are growing
closely together and they're very
special thank you any other
speakers no other speakers I'll just say
a few words on the on the weekend I was
out for a walk with the dog and I found
a tree looks like a red gum I'd say it's
probably the oldest tree in Australia
and it's in chuda Street East Bentley so
I'm going to nominate that tree I hope
the neighbors don't mind but it is the
biggest red gum I've ever seen in my
life um no the
speakers that being the case councelor
smooth would you like to sum up uh thank
you Mr Mayor and I forgot to note that
all four of these trees are native so
that's pretty exciting very good
councelors up with the motion all those
in
favor that motion is carried unanimously
item 8.9 Porter Road Park updated
concept and Community engagement summary
councils do I have a motion Council J
has
printed second for that
motion Council smooth Council
Jean thank you Mr Mayor um Council three
properties at Porter Road bentle in 2021
for the purpose of creating a new local
open space this was a significant
achievement for this Council especially
for T World in improving gara's open
space status now we have done the
community consultation and updated the
concept plan uh based on our residents
feedback the revised the revised concept
plan carefully finds a balance of usage
that respond to community feedback um so
it's really exciting I'd like to thank
all the residents who have put their
feedback and comments to us and I'm
looking forward to the detailed design
thank you thank you for that council's
mood uh thank you Mr Mayor um I think
one of the things that this Council will
be very proud of after four years is the
commitment we've made uh to uh
increasing open space and um making sure
that we have it in the different Gap
areas that we identified in the open
space refresh strategy um which was
completed before our term started so
Porter Street the three properties
actually does fill a gap area um since
we um have purchased the properties the
land has been cleared of buildings it's
been grassed and when I've been passed
I've seen um children playing and really
enjoying that open space that they
didn't have right next to their homes um
what uh we have here in detail is the
community engagement reports some 336
people filled out surveys there was some
emails some phone calls um and that has
helped us refine what that final concept
plan is so what we're being asked to
support is taking this to the next stage
um to endorse it um and to note the
community feedback and the next stage
then would be to go to a detailed design
and then hopefully apply to state and
federal government some funding to
actually Implement that but in the
meanwhile it's already uh a wonderful
piece of open space for the community
thank you anyone wish to speak against
this motion any other speakers on this
motion there being no other speakers on
this motion councelor Jang would you
like to sum up nothing think have thank
you I'll put the motion all those in
favor motion is carried
unanimously item 8.10 is the Macky
Reserve Place base update concept and
Community engagement summary Council St
have a motion councilor Cade has printed
yes ma'am second to council J Council
Cade
here again we have a recommendation to
note the feedback and authorize the
commencement of detailed design so this
U is also another addition to open space
and as councelor smooth said another
feather in our cap when it comes I mean
at the end of the council term um thank
you to all uh in the community who have
provided feedback uh there was over 71%
of support for the junior play area and
the canopy climb uh the creation of the
macki road Reserve play Space is an
action from the macki road uh Reserve
master plan um there was also feedback
provided regarding the need for more
shade in this space and this has been
taken into account and the revised
concept plan provides for more shading
um and trees some survey responses noted
that a dog off leash area would be a
welcome addition uh within this master
plan there's provision for this in the
future as well as a hardcourt Active
Space also solar Bard lights will be
incorporated into the design along the
foot path so I support the
recommendation thank you councelor Jang
thank you Mr Mayor uh and thank you um
councilor Kate um again it's another
exciting project in Tako World um I'm
really looking forward to the detail
design um and can't wait to see all
those dreams come come to true thank you
anyone want to speak against this
motion any other speakers on this
motion there's no other speakers I'll
just say a couple of words um this Macky
Road Reserve is uh actually I should
start with almost an apology for the
last four counselor groups because I
badged and harassed them for years and
years about this and it's finally come
to fruition so uh it it does pay to
winge and complain because eventually
someone will listen um and I'm very
pleased to see the mcad reserve actually
getting noted and up graded um councilor
Cade to sum up nothing to add thanks
nothing to add council as I put the
motion all those in favor motion is
carried
unanimously item 8.11 is the sale of
council land AB butting 204 Center Road
Bentley councilor's still have a motion
councelor Cade has printed yes M second
for that motion councelor councelor C
thank you so this is a recommendation
for the sale of council land batting 20
or4 Center Road Bentley um Council
carried out Community engagement about
the proposed sale of the land and no
submissions were received the
recommendation is to sell the land and
authorize our CEO to execute the
documentation on behalf of Council in
line with Council policy on road and
reserve discontinuance and sale the land
will be sold at 50% of the market value
due to long-term occupation the sale
price of $122,000 has been set and the
owner will also pay council's cost
associated with sale and I'm happy to
support the recommendation thank you
councel Jean nothing to add nothing to
add anyone wish to speak against the
motion any other speakers on this
motion there are no other speakers
councelor Cade look some up nothing to
it I'll put the motion all those in
favor motion is carried unanimously item
8.2 appointment of members to the
Strategic transport advisory committee
Council have a motion
councilor smoo as
printed as printed uh second for that
motion councilor Pinacle cancer
smood uh thank you Mr Mayor um so this
is the appointment for the next two
years for members of the Strategic
transport advisory committee who provide
really important feedback for us on how
to make sure that that people can get
around and through to other areas
outside our municipality um so we had
the completion of of the previous 2-year
term um earlier in this year um and one
of the things the council's decided was
we actually wanted a slightly larger
group so that we could try and make sure
that we had a good range of people to
provide different perspectives so um I
won't read out the full recommendation
but after much discussion we're we're
really excited with uh this group of
people and hope that um they will all
accept um the application I also want to
note that we actually had a wide range
of applicants and it was actually very
challenging ing to to narrow it down um
to the number that we had and we thank
both the successful and the unsuccessful
applicants uh for taking the time to
submit an application um because their
input is is really really valued thank
you thank you Council
pinook thank you may just briefly to um
thank those people who applied um and
congratulate those people the eight
people who are named in the report um as
new members of the stack
thank you thank you anyone wish to speak
against the
motion any other speakers on the
motion my only comment on the motion is
uh I hope one of the members is a tram
driver who can help me get my tram up
North Road thank you uh Council Mo would
you like to sum up uh thank you Mr Mayor
I guess we'll add that criteria to the
next term of ref terms of reference if
it isn't already um look I I think it
they're just so important it's it's
about walking around the area it's about
being able to ride a bike or a scooter
it's also um about how that integrates
with public transport um and
acknowledging that that many people get
around by car and how we make sure that
all those other users are safe um and
that everyone's interacting
appropriately and safely so um we'll
make sure about the tram conductors and
uh thank you trackless tram will be fine
councils I put the motion all those in
favor that motion is carried unanimously
councils we up to 8 13 vcat watch
councilors do I have a motion councelor
Kate as printed yes
mayy second for that motion councelor
smoo as printed councelor Kate nothing
to add nothing to
add didn't wasn't expecting that
councelor
smood I'd like to add nothing to what
councelor C said Thank you Mr May thank
you council is not all at once um anyone
wish to speak against the
motion any other speakers hopefully one
at least on the
motion no I'm wishing to speak on the
motion councilors councelor Kate I
assume you don't want to say anything
else no May thank you thank you for your
contribution uh councils I put the
motion all those in favor the motion is
carried unanimously item
8.14 is the appointment of an acting
chief executive officer council is do I
have a motion Council smooth as
printed as printed do I have a second
for that motion Council parisol
councilor snood uh thank you Mr Mayor so
it's obviously really important that
Council runs smoothly uh when our chief
conductor the CEO is on leave so
um Miss McKenzie will be on leave from
Thursday the 30th of November at 5:00
p.m. to Tuesday the 12th of December and
the recommendation is to appoint our
director of sustainability assets and
Leisure for that period Mr
McDonna thank thank you councilor
parol I think it's a very good
appointment and I support the motion
anyone wish to speak against the motion
any other speakers on the
motion my any comments will be uh we'll
meet
early I've got a few things I'd like to
talk to you about that see won't let me
do uh councelor Smo would you like to
sum
up nothing to add nothing to add
therefore I'll put the motion all those
in favor the motion is carried
unanimously
item nine is urgent business I don't
believe there's any urgent business um
uh ordinary business reports from
members of from members of council staff
any call for reports I believe there are
none rights reply there are none notices
of motion none counselor questions none
written public questions we have already
dealt
with um item 11 is confidential items
there are none and I formally declare
the meeting closed at
9:32 thank you all for coming can we
please disable the live
stream