Councilors Council officers Glen Eira
residents and community members viewing
our meeting this evening I would like to
welcome you all to the 27th of February
ordinary meeting of council there are a
few items I would like to mention before
we begin this evening the first is 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 and if a
technical problem is encountered during
the meeting which prevents Council from
live streaming the meeting will be
adjourned for 10 minutes if the meeting
cannot be resumed within 30 minutes the
meeting will be adjourned to be
reconvened on Thursday the 29th of
February at 7:30 p.m. council is not
responsible for any data usage charges
or technical issues that members of the
public may experience in accessing
council's live stream or recordings of
meetings a copy of each of the live live
stream meeting is placed on council's
website the day after the meeting thank
you councilors we will now commence with
the items on the
agenda item one is the acknowledgement
of traditional owners Glenn Ira city
council respectfully acknowledges the
boomerang people of the koland nation as
the traditional owners of the land now
known as Glen Eira we pay our respects to
their Elders past present and emerging
and acknowledge and uphold their
continuing relationship to and
responsibility for their
land do we have any apologies this
evening see
you through you mayor no we don't have
any apologies this evening we are
expecting counselor Athanasopoulos I'm sure
he'll be with us soon
thank you we will now move to item three
of the
agenda this is a reminder to all
councilors to declare any conflicts of
interest there is a requirement for
disclosure 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 2020 and Rule 60 in
Brackets 3 of the Glen Eira city council
governance
rules are there any conflicts of
interest any Council would like to
declare okay if there are no conflicts
of interests I will move on to the next
item we will now commence public
participation we have received three
questions we will have 15 minutes for
this with each submitter permitted 3
minutes at 15 seconds prior to the end
of the 3 minutes you will receive a
warning that your time is nearing the
end CEO will now commence public
participation thank you mayor we
actually have two people registered for
public participation time this evening
um Mr McGinnity would you like to come
forward
please thank you
um I'd like to uh bring to your
attention the fact that a lot of our
rotundas and things that we have in
the
parks are not being used as much as they
should be and one of the reasons for
this is the high cost it costs
$150 to rent the
rotunda I only use Harleston Park so I can't
tell you what the others are and I don't
think that we're getting enough
participation from the young people in
the council in this area and I would
like to ask that the council consider
dropping the price of hiring the
rotundas from
$150 to
$25 wherever there's a a function which
doesn't include alcohol so this may
encourage the younger people who are
suffering from cost of living high rents
increasing
tide accommodation here in the Glen Eira
council and more people coming and these
people will have children young children
that will want to go to the park and
drink their juice and eat their snacks
and most of these functions will only
take a couple of hours and I think $150
to hire a rotunda to sit under the shed
which is essentially a shed and have
access to the barbecues it's too much
and I don't know if we need the money
but I would think that if we could do
this it would reflect very well on the
council to say hey this is what we're
doing to help the young people in the
Glen Eira Council so let's be a leader
amongst all the other councils in
Victoria and to say hey we're going to
support the younger people providing
cheaper it's $25 just to hire the rotunda if
there's no alcohol if there's alcohol
okay
150 that's one more thank you very
much thank
you now mayor Mr McGinnity also asked
some of that as specific questions so
what we might do is also read his
questions out and the responses to those
in the next section of the agenda if
you're happy with that ? if you've got
sort of 10 minutes just to hang around
we'll actually get to your questions
that you've sent in which relate to your
submission and we'll answer those this
evening for you as well thank
you and our next submitter mayor is um
Sue Nolly Sue would you like to come
forward good evening everyone my first
comment relates exactly to to what
the gentleman has said because I went to
the Teddy Bears Picnic which I know is
supported by by Council and also by and
I'll just read this because it's quicker
Glen Eira Council and its community's
contributions to last Sunday's Teddy
Bears Picnic at the historic Ripley
estate on Sunday I was one of two
cyclists to attend the teddy bear's picnic I
realized that families and teddy
bears would all need bicycle helmets to
cycle so I left my teddy bear at home but there
were only two
bikes thousands I would say of people
there standing in a queue the picnic was
an outstanding success as all teddy
bears would know and adding
significantly to this was the music
supplied by the Glen Eira City Brass
Band I totally agree with the comments
made by the previous question questions
or speaker the
picnic wouldn't have been the same
without music and the only music was
supplied by the band as far as I can
remember adding significant to it lead
to this was the the
repertoire and it was a shame that the
band members didn't receive the accolade
and the the interest from the members
of the community I would like to see the
brass band next year being maybe
placed in a different position or
given far more status but they were
fantastic the they were mostly male
members perhaps women are busy beating
their chests these days instead of
pressing musical
Keys Ripponlea is such an beautiful
Australian asset I am a proud National
Trust woman who actively supports the
irrefutable Heritage and culture
associated with these historic
treasures my
questions relate to trees and
toilets not teddy
bears it costs me significant amounts of
money and outside expertise to maintain
my walnut tree it was going to be placed
on the significant tree register but
unfortunately it lost one quarter of its
canopy after a storm it was my fault I
hadn't had it pruned the year before and
all trees need pruning I stood here a
year or several years ago complaining
bitterly about a tree a huge tree bigger
than my walnut tree that was filled in a
storm I would like to know my question
will Council consider residents concerns
about the state of trees on Council
owned land my second question is Glen
Huntly shopping strip has no public
toilets what will be done about this
thank you Miss Nolly for your
question thanks Sue and through
the Mayor in terms of your first
question yes we always consider
residents feedback in relation to our
trees particularly on our parks and
land we have an urban Forest strategy
we have an active Urban Forest strategy
team who have developed you know quite
extensive Tree Management guidelines so
we adhere to them when we receive
residents concerns or comments about our
trees so if there's any Tree in
particular you do have concerns with I'm
happy to follow up post the council
meeting and all liase with the team on
that it is a shame because this tree was
filled in its entirity because the
canopy could not hold the weight after
in a storm it was a
tragedy um in relation to the second
point around public toilets in Glen
Huntly so we do have a public toilet
plan Glen Huntly is identified in that
obviously where that sits on council's
Capital Works program and budget I'll
need to take on notice and come back to
you on that and are you aware that Metro
is keeping their toilets closed after
10:30 cannot find a toilet may I
remind you your 3 minutes is up thank
you I will now move a procedural motion
welcome councelor
Athanasopoulos um I will now move a procedural
motion to bring item 10.5 which is
written public questions on tonight's
agenda forward to be heard at this stage
of the meeting
do I have a second councelor
Zmood uh I will now put that to the
vote carried
unanimously before we commence I would
like to advise that as per governance
rules there is 15 minutes allotted to
the reading of written public questions
to council tonight we have four
questions this will be responded to in
the order in which it has been received
all questions read and answered will be
published in this evening's Council
minute meeting
minutes CEO I will now hand over to you
to commence the reading of the written
public
questions thank you mayor um our first
two questions are from Laura Risk of
Caulfield East Laura's first question
is the level crossing removal project
has failed to complete the projects as
they had informed the community they did
not replace 400 m of old track on Derby
Crescent and the curvature was not
rectified to meet Australian standards
they also installed Cyclone Fence
instead of colored glass panel what is
Council going to doing to support the
community to bring lxrp to account um
and Mr McDonald will
respond thank you Laura and through the
mayor so as the responsibility for the
delivery of this project sits with the
lxrp we'll need to talk to them to to
see further
information um in order to answer your
question we'll do this in the coming
days and then provide you with some
further advice Laura's second question
is that in relation to not replacing
that 400 meters of old track on Derby
Cresent and not rectifying the curvature
to Australian standards this has caused
a screeching steel grinding noise which
is unbearable and unacceptable Council
needs to ensure the track is safe and is
upgraded to prepare for increased train
frequency and noise issues will Council
be addressing this with the lxrp and
ensuring the project is completed
properly and issues are rectified Mr
McDonna thank you Laura for your second
question and through the mayor so we
have been advised by the lxrp that they
are working with Metro trains to address
the current track noise noise issue and
they believes that the concerns will be
resolved shortly we'll also follow up
with the lxrp on this matter thank you
Madame mayor and may our second two
questions um are from our first
submitter this evening which is Peter
mcin of ston Wick um and Peter's first
question um relates to his submission
which is why does council charge the
$150 for the higher of council
facilities in parks and with cost of
living and Rising rents this has had an
impact on usage of the runder at Halston
Park um which has had no bookings since
February and Miss Vis will um provide
you with your response Mr
mcen thanks very much for your question
um so Glen Eira has the lowest amount of
open space of any Victorian municipality
so our parks and our playgrounds are
becoming increasingly popular um for a
wide variety of recreation and personal
activities and in particular as a
location to host events these events can
sometimes be over a 100 people meaning
they do take up significant areas of
some of our Parks that's why the
community does have the option to
reserve um a picnic shelter or other
open space facility and reserving that
space removes the uncertainty and allows
High as peace of mind to reserve
dedicated spaces for desired times and
dates the cost of the hire of picnic
shelters and other structures reflects
the cost Associated um with the booking
processes the administration as well as
park playground and shelter maintenance
Council does understand though that not
everyone wants to hire a picnic shelter
and that is why they are free to use
when there are no bookings and many
parks have ample amounts of additional
public tables that can be utilized on a
first coming first conserved basis thank
you and um Mr McGinty had a second
question which was about um LinkedIn
with the fees and that was about to
assist young families who are trapped by
cost of living High rents in confined
accommodation can we ask um to please
consider rents for facilities of $25 for
children's parties where no alcohol is
served and um Miss V I think you you've
got some further information in relation
to the charging
structure thank you again um Mr mcin and
for your um comments earlier so the
charges are set by Council through the
annual budget process and Council has
adopted a three tier structure so that
means the alley rate is um set within
three tiers which is the full fee for a
commercial um organization a not
for-profit rate which has a 25% discount
on that full fee and a Glenn resident
rate which is a 122% discount on the
commercial rate so those funds are um
used to support that general maintenance
and also used to um assist with cleaning
utilities maintenance and general upkeep
if those fees were not collected those
costs would have to be met through
council's General rates um residents can
make submissions in relation to proposed
fees and charges for the upcoming year
as part of our annual budget process
that engagement will occur um shortly um
later this financial year and residents
do have the opportunity to provide
submissions to council so I would
encourage you to um to do that thank
you that concludes some public Question
Time Madam May thank you um CEO we will
now move on to item four of tonight's
agenda which is confirmation of
minutes uh of previous meetings U do I
have a
move councelor KAC councelor parisol
will second that um does the Mover wish
to speak does the second wish to speak
any one Speaking against that no other
speakers I will now put that to the vote
all those in
favor that's carried
unanimously item five is the reception
and reading of petitions and Joint
letters as there are no petitions or
joint letters today we uh to be made we
will proceed to item six of the agenda
which is our reports by delegates
appointed by Council to various
organizations are there any counselors
who wish to
submitted report to the meeting
councilor
klac thank you please proceed thank you
Madame May um I was fortunate enough in
my first month as a counselor to attend
two external committees um I attended
the Metropolitan transport Forum as the
substitute for councelor an
anthopoulos I need to practice that tiny
uh to teach
it um I was fortunate enough to be able
to attend the Metropolitan transport
Forum on the 7th of February a
presentation was delivered by an urban
planner David mitham whose focus on
parking challenges challenges is to re
look at how we value and consider
parking I won't attempt to summarize his
presentation but his Central message for
us all was that we need to understand
the emotional demand for parking and the
methodology of costing parking and its
impacts amongst other things on the
housing crisis um for those interested
um there in learning more about um his
thesis uh he recently published an
article of the age on January the
18th uh the second um external meeting
um that I was able to represent Council
on was the local government working
group on gambling uh I attended um the
working group convened by the Victorian
local government Association on the 21st
of February um it was a well attended
meeting of uh by officers and counselors
from Cross Victorian counselors from
counselors B pardon um as well as key
stakeholder groups including the
Victorian gam responsible gambling
foundation so um there were some
important updates and information about
recent gambling reforms and their
implementation several councilors
councils reported on progress on the
development of new Municipal gambling
policies um and reviewing existing
policies is currently quite important in
light of The Regulators new positions on
harm
minimization it was reported that the
Victorian Community lost
$2.98 billion in
2023 um in using pokis uh electronic
gaming machines a municipal breakdown of
where the highest Community losses were
due to gambling where they' occurred uh
re revealed that the number of venues in
a municipality impacted on The Late rate
of loss quite considerably decreases
were noted where venues would been
closed Etc I note that in glenira in
2022 to 23 an estimated
$163.3 million was lost on all forms of
legal gambling the Glen Ira Community
lost more than 70.5 million to
electronic gaming machines with with an
average daily loss of over1
$3,000 um our ad ongoing advocacy to
reduce harm from gaming is uh very
important um given these statistics the
current broader advocacy Focus uh of the
working group and stakeholders is the
elimination of gaming gambling
advertising recognizing the need to
urgently address the rise of online
gaming um there thank you that's it
thank you councelor kleck any other U
councilors
thank you Madame mayor um I'd just like
to briefly report on my um
representation and representing Glen Eira to
EA the Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse
action um Glen Eira is one of several
councils on that and one of the M big
things that eag does is actually
Advocate collectively getting councils
together to um make our voice stronger
and there are a couple of advocacy
proposals that were uh put to council
staff and then consequently um the
representative counselors uh with some
draft proposals and advocacy to
different Federal ministers to try and
make sure that that we're feeding
through the feedback we're getting from
our community about the changes that are
needed uh in in particular um a letter
was being sent to the federal assistant
Minister for climate change honorable
jery Malik CER about proposal to
undertake a priv uh pilot program to
upgrade vulnerable households this is
really important when we get to extreme
weather situations uh while we may not
have major major issues with floods and
Bush fires we certainly have the impacts
as we will tomorrow a very hot weather
um and that can be very difficult for
people particularly in the current cost
of living situation where some people
are not putting on air conditioning uh
or heating uh in Winter and we know that
that has Health impacts um the other
major uh advocacy that we discussed at
the last meeting was how to expand
social housing upgrades again to make
them more livable uh for people and to
make sure that that by putting in place
some of these things such as retrofits
um such as insulation such as other
active measures that were actually
trying to reduce the costs to the people
living in these homes so I've reported
on many of the other ay um undertakings
at previous Council meetings and I'll
keep everyone up to date as we go thank
you Madame mayor thank you councelor uh
we will now proceed to item seven of the
agenda which is reports from committees
and records of assembly um and there are
no reports from advisory committee
committees this meeting so we will
proceed to item
7.2 um which is records of
assembly so the recommendation is that
we note the records of assembly of 30th
January and 6th February do I have a
Moval councelor parasol and councelor
esakov councelor parasol do you wish to
speak to that no councelor isov no
speakers against um so I might put that
motion to the vote all those in favor
carried
unanimously officer reports
8.1 which is a canopy tree protection
local
law may I have a mover councilor penq as
printed and may I have a
second councelor Schmo
councelor
penq thank you mayor um I'm very pleased
to move the um item 8.1 the kipy tree
protection local law and I'll start by
thanking the officers and the staff um
for all the work they've done on putting
together this uh local law because it is
quite a um detailed um operation to put
together our local law and to to in fact
put one in place in the local Council um
this item is going to um what we're
being asked to do is to agree for the
draft local law to go out for public
consultation for us period of 6 weeks a
as the um report says up to 3,000 trees
are cut down on private land in Glenn
Ira every year and this is a crisis for
our tree canopy cover which is now at
only
12.5% and we want to get to 22% by 2040
but we're heading in the wrong direction
at the moment we can't get there just by
planting and retaining trees on Council
land two3 thirds of the land in Glen Eirar
is private land we have the classified
tree register but but more is needed
this local law is based on those that
are already in place in council's Border
in Glen Eirara for Philip Stonington bayite
and Kingston which already have very
similar local laws in place
the trigger it it it's based on a permit
to either remove or um severely prune a
a tree the trigger is based on um a
specific size measurement the height and
circumference of the tree personally I
would prefer we did this but also
considered trees that are not of a
certain size yet but will be when fully
grown so not just trees that are today's
canopy trees but also trees that are
tomorrow's canopy
trees the
report refers to a report that was
considered by Council back in August
22 that report from officers arose from
a call a call for a report on the 17th
of May
2022 moved by councilor Zinger and me
and seconded by me and that call was to
request Council to put in place measures
to prevent Moon scaping what's known as
moon scaping on new developments and
even on um land where there's
Renovations occurring that we and other
counselors and members of the community
are concerned about and are saddened and
even horrified when they see it will we
see it beautiful gardens and trees that
have been there sometimes up to a
century just leveled um new buildings
put up um and if vegetation is is U
replacement vegetation is put there it's
often what I call non- trees like um
rows of postums and olive trees and
they're not a replacement The Gardens
and and trees that have been
lost the report that um David and I
called for um asked for Council
requesting officers to repair I'm going
to just read it prepare a report for the
9th of August ordinary council meeting
in relation to reviewing measures for
encouraging the retention of trees and
vegetation and consider the most
efficacious method of making a local law
and or planning instruments and or
advocating for regulation changes and
conducting Community engagement to
control the pering removal or
destruction of trees and other
vegetation on private land to support
the implementation of our Urban Forest
strategy and our climate emergency
strategy um and may I was emphasizing
other vegetation so the local law that
we're looking at here for to release for
public consultation is about trees and
in fact canopy trees so canopy trees are
obviously the ones that provide a canopy
and we do need a canopy it's
disappearing across Melbourne and the
city and suburbs are becoming hotter
because of it and as I mentioned earlier
we're not going to be able to increase
our um canopy cover to to 22% if we just
rely on Council trees we have to
preserve the trees and even plant more
trees on private
land but we also um in that motion we're
looking for
um ways to protect other vegetation so
it's not just trees but we need
understory and bushes Etc to um allow
for birds and small small um native
animals Etc to be able to live uh
amongst it so this uh local law um is
one mechanism to protect and enhance our
tree cover but we also need to protect
our under story and other
vegetation the report
points to planning mechanisms and those
are proposed in the housing strategy
amendment that was approved for
Exhibition at the last council meeting
uh this law is would you like an
extension coun about to finish this this
law is a good a good start but and I I
fully support it but uh we definitely
need more um and I'll finish by staying
saying that um it's great that uh
ourselves and the loc and the councils
around us are putting in place local
laws but the state government could
actually put in place some planning um
amend planning schemes to help us
councilors to do
this thank you councilor pen
councilor uh thank you Madame mayor and
thank you councelor penu for a really um
detailed overview you've not left much
for me to say so I might just provide a
little bit of context um I recall
councilors in and I right for the moment
we were elected as councilors in 2020
listening to the community and this this
local law coming to us now is in
response to community concern about the
reduction in our tree canopy and so much
moonscape often actually on single
blocks that are where a house has been
cleared and either replaced with another
house or a subdivision um and the
concern about the fact that our tree
canopy has gone down from 25% to 12 a
half% within 10 years uh within a decade
it's definitely going the wrong
direction because we know that trees are
beautiful they cool the suburb they add
value to to um people's lives and to
their properties for those lucky enough
to own a property in Glen Eira um
so in response to community concerns
about that we look we we discuss with
officers well what can we do to protect
and there are two main ways we can
protect it with local laws or with the
planning scheme anything to do with the
planning scheme or even at the state
level is a very very long slow process
the local law is something that could be
done within this term of council but
make no mistake in doing this what we
ultimately want to do is to encourage a
culture where people actually rather
than Moon escaping want to when they
design something for a block of man want
to preserve as much of the vegetation is
there as opposed to just removing it so
it's to some degree about changing uh
probably the behaviors and
recommendations from Builders and
developers as well particularly builders
on individual blocks um to encourage
them to think about how can I retain
trees and look trees have a lifespan
trees don't live forever and so when
people are looking at the Block that the
they're looking at building on which is
typically when the these massive changes
happen um they will be looking at uh the
impact that it has on their design so
this local law will also and it put some
restrictions on people it will mean that
they have to stop and think and apply
for a permit to do some significant
pruning or remove a tree uh it might
make it a little bit harder but it
doesn't make it impossible but I think
we need to be uh conscious both of the
benefits overall for the community but
also the restrictions that places on
individuals or property owners and
that's why it's we've got a six- week
consultation period to really really
encourage people to look in detail to
think about and give us feedback because
this is about us collectively shaping
Glenn ARA not just in the in the near
term but in the medium-term and longer
term for the future so that's a bit of a
historical background about why we're
looking at local law why we haven't gone
straight to trying to make planning
changes um we've got a number of
planning changes sitting on the uh State
Minister's office waiting for extended
periods of time waiting um for them to
be approved for whatever the next stage
is so this is a way that Council can do
something in response to community
requests but it now needs uh input from
the broader Community to actually make
sure that what we put through for the
next stage because we're going to
collect the feedback and then take that
information uh to refine uh the local
law potentially and there are areas in
terms of uh Comm transparency and and
other that I have particular concerns
with but at the moment counc would you
like an extension 10 seconds may I have
a mo 10
seconds um I will just stop there thank
you Madame thank you does anyone wish to
speak against that
motion counc
isov I'm not speaking against the motion
but I do have reservations which I'll
outline um
uh I always have and still am a strong
advocate for people Landscaping their
Gardens in the way they wish wish to to
do so whether they're extending their
homes to suit their needs or otherwise
but I also understand the need for
increased tree canopy across our suburbs
much of that increase in tree canopy can
be provided by Council uh by additional
tree planting in our parks and Gardens
and on our nature strips but we also
need trees to be retained on privately
owned properties but any tree protection
laws need to be made in a fair and
reasonable way with the ever increasing
development we're seeing and I do blame
that for the reduction in our tree
canopy cover uh it is since uh the push
for more development in our suburbs that
that has happened exactly 10 years
practically to the day uh we're seeing
subdivisions where it was one home is
now several at least 2 3 four sometimes
uh we're losing more and more trees
because of development in the main one
way to stem that is to strengthen our
local law to not only include classified
trees but to protect larger canopy trees
but what is proposed is that a permit is
required for any eligible tree to be
pruned more than 10% of its canopy or
removed completely to meet that
eligibility it must be over 5 m in
height and it must be more than 140 cm
uh High measured around the
circumference and not more than 140 cm
around the circumference or sorry has to
be more than other way around uh we
propose that permits be free of charge
and able to be sought in advance of any
work that's going to be carried out but
there are a couple of things that I
believe here are missing and would like
it noted that I don't feel that this is
a complete document without a set of
guidelines to accompany it
it references in the paper in the
community impact statement the
classified tree assessment guidelines
but is silent on what any future
guidelines will be or the process of
preparing them so I failed to see how
the community can actually comment on it
meaningfully without that
knowledge uh the other thing is the fact
that at this stage we're not proposing
permit fees be applicable but on page 54
of the agenda it contains two points
number 32 2 and 33 that leave it open
for permit fees to be introduced at a
later date if seen fit by Future Council
I would feel much better if those those
two points were not
there but in saying that uh the draft
classified tree Amendment local law will
go out for Community consultation for a
period of 6 weeks if it's supported
around the table and we want to hear
from all sections of the community so
that we can make a decision on whether
this is adopted in its current form or
in a different form but always ensuring
fairness for
all um I will support it to go out for
consultation but i' certainly do have
those reservations and if those changes
aren't made uh to the satisfaction of
what we received in feedback uh I
probably won't support this further
on thank you councelor esakov um any
other speakers on that councelor
McGee Madam May thank you and from the
onet I don't like what we're proposing
in the local law but I will support it
going out the community
consultation when we first introduced
the significant tree register if you can
remember back it took several years for
that significant tree register to
actually get through Council because it
had to evolve through a few stages the
the first draft meant that Council would
decide what a what a significant tree
was and there was no rights of uh of um
for people to actually argue that point
with Council that are all changed and
now there are grounds for you know to
object about your tree being put on the
significant tree register this to me is
significant tree register Mark I this is
more about taking away the controls that
people have with the trees on their land
now we should promote canopy we should
promote more trees but we should not be
saying to residents Glen Eirara and I'll use
myself as an example here that I can't
prune touch any of my
trees more than 10% and if I prun a tree
less than 10% it's not worth doing so
it's quite clear to me I would have to
ask counsel I would have to apply for a
permit now understand the permit's free
but that's not the issue the issue is
it's my tree it's my land and it
shouldn't be council's decision quite
simply um I've lived in my current
address for for 37 years now and uh
haven't once Moon scaped the block and
most people that I know have lived in NS
for a very long time and they haven't
done the same so what we're trying to do
here is stop the developer moonscape to
build boundary to boundary and that's
where most of these trees are
disappearing now we note trees on nature
strips and council's parks that canopy
is now increasing it's increasing well
but the decrease within our city is on
private land I would much prefer this to
be driven by state government in
planning controls in the significant
trees or trees of a certain size even
what we suggested here be part of the
the sale of a property be part of the
section 32 of a property so Council
knows what was there when the property
was sold and when the developer comes in
because what we get initially is you
know people clear the block because they
know the house is going to be sub the
Block's going to be subdivided helps
with a
the developer comes in and clears it out
and builds boundary to boundary now
there's there's some things we can do
about that but not a lot because you
know res code allows that uh you just
look at you know the building codes
there's so much you can do um but I
think there's opportunities for us to uh
actually Advocate more to government now
I don't accept for a fact that it takes
the government a long time the
government bring in laws within 48 Hours
when it suits them
you know they say it takes years and
years or months and months if they've
got a will to do it three minutes please
come councilor SM councilor esakov all
those in favor that's carried
unanimously so what we end up with is
significant tree register which is
working really really well got well over
200 trees on the significant tree
register now what we will have we at
60,000 rable properties in Glen Eirara so
what you're saying to 60 ,000 Property
Owners is if you have a tree in your
house in your block that's of a certain
height width girth um and 140 cm is not
very big it's probably
me maybe a little bit
less um so it's it's it's a big impulse
on Council to be actually adjudicating
and and looking at those trees and how
are we going to find them all I'm not
going to go out tomorrow and make a list
of what trees are on my block and tell
Council why would I do that and why
would I think for one moment if I plant
a new tree I can't touch that tree cuz
one day that tree will be you know tall
and meet the criteria so what you'll do
is you'll get people that this tree is
130 CM round better get rid of it today
because in a year's time it'll be 140
and I can't touch it without a permit I
don't think this is something that is
really going to resonate within our
community everyone you talk to will want
to increase the canopy everyone will
want to protect trees I must insist Miss
noi that you refrain from calling out
during the
meeting I must insist that you refrain
from interrupting councelor McGee
councelor McGee you may continue Madame
mayor in in in finishing I will be very
interested to see what the community has
to say about this but it's going to be
very important and it's a challenge for
Council to really get out widely within
the community for the community to
understand this quite often when we do
something like this the community only
know about it when they need to use the
service or apply for the permit and the
thing you hear and you've heard it we've
all heard it no one told me no one asked
me I didn't know about that when did you
do that so it's really important and I
our comm's team are very good at getting
information out but this one's going to
be really important I'll Reserve what I
do in the at the end to whether I
support it in the future but from what I
see at the moment it sounds like this
should something that should be through
planning controls not local
B thank you councelor mck any other
speakers councelor
parisol thank you madam mayor um I too
have some
reservations uh but I will support us
going to the community and what I do
want to say to the community is there's
going to be plenty of opportunities to
have you all say the officer have agreed
to extend our consultation period for 6
weeks starting on Thursday the 1st of
March through to the 12th of April
there's opportunities through have your
say surveys there's a public information
section uh session on the 16th of March
at the Duncan McKinnon Community Center
and also the 20th of March at the Town
Hall then there will be plenty of
promotion and engagements sent through
variety of correspondents to Community
groups property developers arborist
emergency service providers Etc so
please Community take your opportunity
to have your say because this will
affect the you and the community for a
long long time thank
you any other
speakers councelor
atopos thanks Madam mayor uh look I
think the concerns that have been raised
are valid concerns and it'll be
interesting to hear from the community
on on their views on on those those
concerns at the end of the day um there
is uh always a need for us to ensure
that we do protect individual rights
especially when they have property
rights uh we also have to be concerned
about how it could impact
infrastructure uh but equally it is
important that we take steps to try to
protect what we know is a
diminishing um very important asset for
our community which is our trees and
it's
canopy uh and I think whilst I don't
disagree with councilor McGee's uh quest
for some planning uh controls to occur
the
unfortunate um situation and whilst in a
perfect world we would have a uh 24th of
December 115 9 p.m. decision from the
minister to change the planning laws and
and make sure shrubs and trees are
protected the reality is that I don't
see that coming very soon so in the
interim while we know we have an issue I
think this is exactly the type of space
that Council can step in and and put in
a local law that can help us stem that
flow we do have as uh Mr Madonna Madonna
said earlier you know our Urban Forest
strategy uh we we are taking other steps
to make sure that we do ensure that we
keep what we have and try to grow to
that goal that we're aiming for and I
think this is just going to be another
tool for Council to help us achieve that
uh I don't Envision that this is going
to be a I really hope it's not going to
be a heavy-handed sort of local law
where we go around um um primarily
focused on on trees I think it's more to
ensure that those that are going to be
uh quite brutal um yielding an ax and
trying to get rid of their trees that we
actually do prevent a little bit of that
and like what other councilors said
already those that do want to go down
that path of moon escaping there will be
now that little bit more protection to
ensure that that doesn't happen and cast
an eye to saving some of those trees
while they go ahead and do the
development that they're looking at
doing so um we're going to listen to the
community uh at this point really this
is the most important part consider that
con consultation and make a decision
from
there thank you councelor any other
speakers if there are no more speakers I
might just add a few words um so as
we've heard the declining tree canopy
cover um is a cause for concern in our
community and uh is raised by many so um
as set out in the report I think it's
important that we take steps to stop the
indiscriminate destruction of trees and
as councelor smooth said instead
encourage a culture of protecting trees
so um we are losing a significant number
of trees in our municipality each year
um this is a sensitive issue and um I
think it's really important that uh the
community does engage and gives us
feedback on what they would like to see
included so we can further refine this
law uh taking into account that uh
Community feedback
councelor peniku would you like to sum
up thank you mayor I would like to
briefly sum up and thank um all the
councilors who've made comments and I
think collectively we've sort of covered
the ground of um the benefits the
challenges between benefits for the
whole community and uh preserving and
and increasing our tree cover because
not only do we have to preserve it we
have to increase it um we have to double
it um from where it is now
um and probably when we get to 2040 um
who knows where we'll be then but we
might to want to even incre have it
increase more uh given the um the
climate that we may be living in at that
stage um but I think everybody's raised
really good points um I'd just say I
agree with councelor smoo uh that large
part of this is is getting is changing
the culture because the culture at the
moment is to just level everything
everything and just and just uh you know
remove all the vegetation and then move
the uh the construction team in with
their materials Etc it's it's about
changing that culture so that uh you
know significant trees that are on the
property could be protected and that
construction um goes around them and
instead of seeing them as a nuisance to
be removed they're seen as an asset and
when the new property is developed
whether it's you know uh another house
or two houses or whatever there's the
there's the ready made I know 50y old
tree there um councelor McGee talked
about he being in his house for 37 years
and he hasn't mood scaped it yet and I
don't think it's actually uh the liks of
council McGee who are really in in the
spotlight here it's more the more when
our land is sold and redeveloped and and
the whole um whole thing is cleared but
um he also said
they're the tree owner the property
owner is the tree owner and of course
they are but they could also change the
culture of thinking of themselves as the
tree custodian because in fact if it's a
tree that's going to live for 200 years
uh well they're not going to be there
for the whole life of that tree even
their children and grandchildren might
not be um the tree will be still
providing you know those those benefits
for the people in the property but also
um others in the community so I think uh
collectively a lot of very good points
have been made and uh um we look forward
to see uh I'll just just uh also re
repeat two points one is that this is
based on local laws already existence in
councils around us so we didn't just
make it up and the second is uh I agree
with Council and thee that and I think I
said earlier that state government needs
to be doing something about this instead
of leading it to councils to deal with
these issues one by one there should be
something in the plan plan scheme um
about um protecting trees um when when
properties are redeveloped thanks very
much thank you councelor penq I will now
put that to the vote all those in
favor that's carried
unanimously 8.2 kindergarten Central
registration
fee do I have a move counselor esakov do
I have a second
counselor um as printed counselor yeah
yes that's thank you um this is an
interesting one this one U because
Council as everyone knows provides a
central registration scheme for
participating not for-profit
kindergartens throughout Glenn Ira uh
and in December two options for funding
were offered to us by the state
government uh we could choose from the
two one option option one is providing
$80,000 for Council not to charge a
registration fee and and option two was
offering us
26,6 for allowing the option of charging
a registration fee uh we've done some
Financial modeling or we haven't but the
experts have done some Financial
modeling and showed that option one is a
far better outcome for Glen Eirara which
lowers the cost to provide the the
scheme itself so under delegation option
one has been accepted by officers and
the recommendation here is just to
acknowledge this funding offer noting
that registration fees will no longer be
charged uh they were charged from the
9th of February so anyone who'd already
paid them will be refunded and uh I
believe this is a positive step really
for the families in Glen Eirara uh to not
have to pay up front for a kindergarten
registration uh for all three-year-old
and four-year-old kindergarten children
so we hope that that enables more
children to participate in those years
of early years of Kinder thank you thank
you you councel mod nothing further to
add thank you does anyone wish to speak
against that motion any other speakers
would the mve like to sum
up nothing to add so I will now put that
to the vote all those in favor that's
carried
unanimously 8.3 is the tender for the
provision of pavement marking Services
um do I have a
mover councilor esakov do I have a
second
councilor McGee as printed councilor
esakov it is as printed thank you Madame
May um pavement marking Services it
sounds really interesting doesn't it but
it's one of the things Council does that
sits a little bit under the radar for
most people it provides markings on
Council roads and in off street car
parks that ensure the visibility and
safety standards are met and also
provides new line marking or remarking
on new or rehabilitated Pavements it
also applies reflective
uh reflective or non-reflective actually
pavement markers on Council roads car
parks on shared use paths and Pathways
generally and laneways now this contract
uh in front of us is for three years it
has options for Council to extend two
further terms of a year each and I
certainly endorse the uh recommendation
as
printed councelor
McGee I look I got nothing to add
does anyone wish to speak against that
motion any other
speakers would the mve like to sum no
thank you I would like now to put that
to the vote all those in favor that's
carried unanimously 8.4 is the financial
management report to 31st January 2024
do I have a move for that motion
councilor peniku as
printon and do I have a second
Council
P thank you mayor um I'm happy to move
the financial report for up to the 31st
of January and thank officers and staff
for preparing it the report provides
Council as in community with the
financial position of council up to the
31st of January
2023 um we are expecting a higher
Surplus for the financial year than
previously thought and that will be used
for Capital works and debt
Redemption um page two
talks about our open space Levy which um
councilors and Community might remember
was increased to 88.3% of the site value
from March uh 2023 so almost a year but
interestingly except for the corfield
village of which it is 5% in the mixed
use area and 4% in the residential area
which is an historical um historical
from
2011 um but did make me feel a bit conc
concerned when I read it however can't
be changed um Council has invested $21
million since 20121 and committed to an
additional $4 million this financial
year on open space uh mayor the report
also details current um position
regarding loans superannuation Capital
Works income sources cash and
Investments and financial
strategy um Council still has to
carefully consider our expend future in
the context of rising costs that the
whole Community is facing and cost
shifting from other levels of government
which we've spoken about many times in
this chamber thank
you thank you counil
SM uh thank you Madame May and thank you
Council penu for the great overview I'm
just going to focus in on open space one
of my great passions in this term of
council just to acknowledge that at the
beginning of this term of counselors
counselors decided to uh spend the money
that was in the open space Levy that is
money collected as Council penu uh
mentioned when a property is subdivided
into three or more dwellings uh so uh
the the rate is increased um but rather
than having the money sitting there not
doing any good um for The Wider
Community our our community um we
committed to actually spending some $26
million um and we've almost finished
spending it buying land to create new
open space and that recognizes really
that when we increase the density of
dwelling we're typically finding that
private open space is removed and so
it's incumbent on Council to provide
more public open space uh because we
know that's good and healthy for people
so if you look at the summary table that
we have um the opening balance was
almost $19 million um there's been some
additional contributions received uh in
the year to date nothing spent uh in in
uh the last term but we have hopefully
uh another $4 million some of which um
is already committed uh and some some of
which we're hoping to have something in
Camden Ward coming before the elections
in October this year um really important
to note that the open space reserves
funds are not held in a separate bank
account um but they are recorded and
monitored very carefully so that we will
spend and hopefully the full amount that
we'd committed and then the next Council
group will have you know $17 million or
more by the time we get to the next
Council term to continue that process of
providing public open space for our
community
thank you thank you councelor SM uh does
anyone wish to speak against that motion
any other speakers on that motion with
the m like to
summer thank you mat just briefly um I
just wanted to make a comment on the um
comments that councilor smoo U made
which was uh I think opposite to the
item 8.1 which is when uh properties are
redeveloped we lose trees but when
properties are redeveloped we lose our
open space too uh and um I noticed on
the where I was talking about the
differential in the open space levies
from the general um general area of
Glenn IRA and corfield Village um that
East Village is going to provide some
open space in its development so uh when
we're losing it we actually get the levy
but then we've got to find somewhere
else to put it and that's not always
easy so um these These are the some of
the challenges that face us in providing
um open space as well as trees etc for
the community thank you thank you
councilor peniku um I now put that to
the vote all those in
favor carried unanimously 8.5 is the
quarterly service performance report um
do I have a mover councelor isakov as
printed and do I have a second councelor
Jang Council
isov thanks Madame mayor uh Council has
completed eight of the 13 actions that
were not completed in the 2223 year uh
action plan and aim to complete the
remaining five by the end of June this
year one of the most significant
Community engagement processes was
completed which was called our future
our priorities our future where we asked
the community what was important to them
and how we can pay for what we value
most uh which will assist us in our
decision making during this year and
Beyond
1755 Community survey responses were
received as well as 35 member Community
panel that uh worked on this and
provided us with uh their
recommendations we also saw more than
4,000 participants throughout the
seniors Festival which provided 54
activities offering a range of healthy
aging social well-being and lifelong
learning opportunities throughout the
week the nature strip planting
guidelines were updated in this quarter
we celebrated corfield library's 30th
Anniversary we opened a public toilet at
Boyd Park we we didn't I don't think any
of us went or were invited but it opened
um amongst many other things throughout
the quarter this report's always a good
read and it provides a good overview of
the many things that Council does do
outside of Roads rates and rubbish thank
you thank you Council esakov councilor
Jen thanks Madame mayor uh just want to
um add that uh we'd like to express our
appreciation U to our Council teams uh
which made the all these achievements
possible and and I encourage our
residents to read this report thank you
thank you does anyone wish to speak
against this motion any other speakers
to the
motion would the move like to sum up
nothing to add thank you I will now put
that to the vote all those in favor okay
carried
unanimously 8.6 which is the submission
to the local government reforms 2024
consultation paper do I have a mover
councilor McGee as printed as printed
and do I have a second Council CAC coun
McGee Madame mayor thank you um Madame
mayor I will Begin by saying that and
I'll actually go as far as saying I
speak on behalf of all councils in
Victoria where we welcome
every opportunity to refine get better
put in good processes update processes
and evolve as councils uh to do better
things for our
communities
um what's being asked of us at the
moment
um I can't help but but smile when I
when I when I read the um the the
reforms that local government Victoria
and the minister are asking us to
consider and there there's nothing
particularly wrong with any of them um
but we haven't needed them for the last
17 years that I've been on Council um
we're seeing lots of things change in
local government and it it just worries
me a little bit that uh we have a a
local government Victoria that has no
real expertise in local government um
actually
uh Consulting to the minister who wants
us to do this and the ministers had no
experience in local government and yet
we as the council who have been
operating
very well for a very very long time as
of most councils um that we're now
having to review as as requested now one
example of how we hold ourselves to very
high standards is that um good
governance is a commitment to genuine
engagement now it's it's very surprising
to see that local government Victoria
give councils across the state just four
weeks four weeks to
respond now four weeks is certainly not
enough time and I would have thought
that you know up upwards of 8 weeks
would have been about the the right
amount of time now there's 79 councilors
across the street and hundreds of
elected counselors and you can't you
just can't on one hand say that good
governance is important while on the
other hand only providing that four-week
time frame to engage with such such
critical reforms now this is really
counter to the spirit of good governance
there should have been like I said a
time frame of at least 8 weeks and that
would have allowed meaningful feedback
from our sector including our Pig bodies
across Victoria local government
Victoria would be absolutely they should
be aware that many councils meet once
every 3 weeks formal council meetings to
endorse submissions now as as we're here
tonight and have had the this prepared
our submission and which lies Less in
less than four weeks this makes it
incredibly challenging and and
meaningful and to meaningfully consider
all the the consultation papers to seek
advice to develop a response and come
together as a council group to discuss
the final submission it makes it very
very very difficult now we would love
the opportunity to strengthen good
government in in our sector as I said
right at the beginning but this starts
with local government Victoria they need
to not just walk to walk but they need
to talk to talk um there's a lot in this
that is you know we do this we can come
across we can um find good ideas lots of
councils actually find good ideas from
other councils now I'm not saying that
every Council in Victoria is uh you know
conducts business the way we do um I'd
say we're probably oh no it's quite
clear we are the leading Council in
Victoria so and what we do is clearly um
the best um but there are councils out
there that clearly don't follow at the
same level as the city of Glen Eirara does
um but another thing that concerns me
about this is the cost at the same time
we're also we also don't want these
reforms to be another way of the
Victorian government to shift costs onto
local government and I'll tell you why
I'll say that we already know that $19
million of our budget goes straight to
the cost shifting from other levels of
government now this is
shrinking sorry shrinking this is
risking the sustainability the financial
sustainability within our sector and
I've had many conversations with many
many people about this including the
minister um as I was part of the
ministerial advisory committee and out
of a three-hour meeting was given all of
10 minutes to discuss it so you can see
just how important it is to the minister
now we argued in our submission that any
proposal to introduce mandatory training
for councils must be funded solely by
the Victorian
government we are concerned these
training costs may be shifted to
councils because the consultation paper
but does not say who is going to pay for
the training we also don't know whether
the sector's peak bodies have the
capacity to deliver this training
especially within the time frame set out
in the consultation paper now there is
also a risk that a model councilor code
of conduct may add administrative
burdens to council and again with no
funding to actually cover those
costs now local government Victoria
needs to outline who will pay coun m
would you like an extension no just one
sentence to go Madam mayor uh local
government Victoria needs to outline who
will pay for these reforms so council's
already battling cost shifting don't
have to foot the bill and I'll at the
end of it am my soning up I'll tell you
what I really think thank you councelor
MC councelor
kle uh thank you Madame mayor um I think
it's important to note that these uh
proposal with regard to local government
reform arise out of concerns about
improper conduct that undermines good
governance and we have seen examples of
that across the state whilst that's not
our reality and that's not fortunately
happening in Glenn Ira it is a real
issue um I Endor councilor McGee's um
comments regarding inadequate
consultation
time my concerns um regarding these
reforms and as a new Council I'll say
that uh training counselors is
incredibly important there is a
significant responsibility and statutory
duties to adhere to um that as new
councilors and as Community
Representatives we do need to be
inducted and trained properly um and I
do think that a systematic approach to
that is a good thing but I'm concerned
that some of these
reforms um may impact on people's
willingness and to undertake the role as
a counselor and we we don't know what
those impacts may be particularly in
conjunction with the move to single
Wards we're concerned that the move to
single Wards May undermine the diversity
of council representation and Community
representation on
Council more honorous training or the
risk of of having to fund your own
defense uh if F as's complaints R May
risk people from running for
office essentially all of those things
could compact compound um and reduce
diversity on our councils so I think
that um there needs to be an eye to
those things to our for our legislators
to consider those things carefully um
and for there to be um improved
consultation around any reforms and
recommendations that come back out of
this initial part of the process
thank you thank you councilor kazac um
does anyone wish to speak against this
motion any other speakers on the motion
Council uh thank you Madame mayor and
thank you uh councelor McGee and Council
cast slate for your comments I endorse
those I'm particularly looking forward
to hearing the summing up um because I
suspect that I will heartly endorse what
council m is about to say I think I
really just have one sentence of caution
here um and I really as as Council car
said is hope that all of this import is
taken very very seriously by um the
state government we have to be careful
uh not to use a sledgehammer to solve a
problem that needs more nuance and the
care of perhaps a scalpel uh and and
that is a concern when I look at these
types of things that there are very
broad brush solutions that may not
really they'll be course more
impediments than possibly the problem
they're trying to solve so some really
good input from our Council hopefully
from the other councils and and
certainly ask something for the state
government to think about before they
actually introduce these changes thank
you any other
speakers I might just add a few words um
oh sorry councelor
peniku thank you mayor uh yes I'd like
to make a few um comments too uh first
thanks to staff for putting together
this the submission um on our feedback
to the proposals um in such a short time
time as councelor McGee mentioned um and
as councelor klac said it's come about
because of the poor Behavior by some
councils councilors um in certain
councils um and in particular there are
three reports by the local government in
spectate one by the monitors one by ibac
um and so there has been some poor
Behavior by some counselors some very
poor behavior um and some bordering on
criminal Behavior but but then again
most counselors um work really hard for
their Community um and it's worth
reminding the community in that in
Victoria it's it's a part-time role it's
not very well remunerated this is the
model in Victoria it's not the model
everywhere else in Australia perhaps um
local government Victoria and the
minister could have a look around
Australia as out how it's done in other
states and pick out um the best practice
model uh rather than just um putting in
place things which don't seem to me to
have had an awful lot of thought put
into them um also note too that those
local government T has decided not to
consult or or ask for feedback on
certain aspects of its proposed reform
so we don't even know what they are
which again as councilor McGee said
that's not good
governance um the uh councel KAC talked
about training certainly we do need
training for um and and um information
provided to new counselors I just wonder
why um returning counselors have to do
the initial training all over again
you know what's it like to be a
counselor when you've already been a
counselor for um sometimes many years um
it just seems a waste of people's time I
go back to that part-time you know
people have to run around doing all this
stuff when they've already done it
before and also when they're talking
about mandatory training some people
come into council with with highly
skilled highly qualified so I think it
needs to be a bit more Nuance to what's
needed by uh the particular counselors
as councelor McGee said are not paid for
by the council but also how are the peak
bodies going to do it one of the
concerns I have is um with regard to the
um non non-identifying not ID
indemnifying counselors some counselors
may find themselves caught up in
counselor conduct um procedures through
no fault of their own uh and there's
also the issue of taking a jurisdiction
out of vcat which is meant to be your
lowc cost jurisdiction and and flicking
it up to the Supreme Court which is not
your low cost jurisdiction and I think
there needs to be anything that leaves
councils exposed to financial stress or
even Financial ruin through no fault of
their own is a very serious concern and
I think local government Victoria needs
to turn its mind to the fact councelor P
would you like an extension yes how many
minutes uh a minute or two
two minutes councilor SM and Council
atopis thank you put that to the all
those in favor carried unanimously thank
you thank you councilors um our local
government CH should put its turn its
mind to some of the incidents that have
happened in local councils that I
certainly know about where some
counselors who have been indulging in
poor Behavior have actually been um
targeting other counselors and
intimidating them on social media
there's nothing in any of this about
social media and that's a really really
big issue what the answers are to it I'm
not sure but there's nothing in here
about that um and I think when you take
away the the provisions to indemnify
counselors who who will find themselves
in the position of being targeted been
dragged into a process um and they they
they don't have the vcap they have the
indemnity and they're off to the Supreme
Court if if local government Victoria
can't see that one it already is being
weaponized by some councilors against
others that that the way they're
proposing it here will make that more
likely rather than less likely uh and
will really as councilor klac said well
make it coun um pres prospective
counselors um think about again about uh
wanting to join Council and and um other
councils are already on Council and
maybe witnessed this happening in their
Council or have been the subject of it
not wanting to continue so I'm painting
a sort of a bad picture and it's not
happening everywhere but it does happen
and certain counselors do behave badly
um towards other counselors and it can
be political and it can be personal um
and so while we're trying to as um
councelor smooth said we're trying to um
deal with a problem we don't need to
deal with the problem with the
sledgehammer that um may make the
problem U The Cure might be worse than
the problem we do need there are some
good measures in there with regarding to
sanctions Etc of poorly behaving
councilors so I think there's actually a
lot more work to be done here than on
this this particular very fast feedback
from Council count councils and from the
peak
bodies um yeah that's my comments lot
more to be done done I think a lot more
thinking thank you councilor peniku uh
Council
atopis thanks May and I do agree with
everything that's been said around in
the chamber so far I just uh would like
to be uh always up front with our
community and and I'll raise this again
because I think it's important and I
know I have a little bit of a be my
Bonnet when it comes to the whole cost
shifting argument but the the the honest
truth is that whether the cost is
shifted to council and we have to carry
that burden and then potentially find a
way of funding it or we actually extract
the money from federal or state
government Community pays for it you
will be paid for uh there's a bit of a
list here will be paid for through
personal taxes payroll taxes an increase
in GST land
tax uh land transaction taxes which
anyone that's gone through a property
we'll understand what that is company
taxes that's one way for raising funds
at those other levels of government to
be able to pass that money on to council
the other way of doing is obviously cuts
and that means a removal of some
subsidies and I could think of a few
subsidies that I'd like to get rid of
but I won't get sucked into that one um
a reduction in services and a potential
reduction in infrastructure spend but
finally and most importantly because we
had a a a uh external
a provider come and provide a report to
council uh there's a little thing called
grants and one thing that they mentioned
to us last Tuesday night when they
presented to us was that Glen Eirara did an
exceptionally good job in getting grants
so again that could be something on the
chopping block so I just I just think
it's important when
considering the item of cost shifting is
that there
is you we do have to understand it has
to be a way of raising that money one
way or another that either people will
pay whether it's through an increase in
their rates or an in increase through
the taxes that I just mentioned or a
reduction in the services that they
receive it's going to be one or the
other thank you Council atopos any other
speakers so I might just add some points
to this um this paper sets out proposed
reforms to support improved governance
and integrity ac across the local
government sector uh ahead of the 2024
Council
uh
elections it is a draft and I think
that's important to remember it's a good
starting point and provides councils
with the opportunity to provide feedback
on what has been proposed there are gaps
in what has been proposed and that's the
whole idea in a draft that we have the
opportunity to plug those holes and
ensure that we get
to uh uh some sort of legislation that
works for everyone um I have been
sitting in on um meetings with the MAV
and the VGA and there has been really
great feedback being provided um by
councelors and Mayors and Deputy Mayors
across the sector so I'm very hopeful
that we're going to get a lot of really
good uh feedback uh through to the
minister uh we Glenn irank welcome the
opportunity to provide a response to
this consultation paper although there
are time constraints I think the fact
that the initiative has been taken to
put this paper out to consultation is in
itself encouraging as and is a step in
the right direction putting strategies
in place to manage the issues as set out
in this paper will hopefully lead to
good governance and transparency as well
as help counselors build trust with our
communities there have been a number of
inst instances that have come to light
over the last few years where elected
representative IES do not behave in a
way the community expects of them across
the sector of course not in Glenn AA and
credit to us
all but it has all come at a cost to
their councils this type of
inappropriate behavior should be
addressed as it is an issue which is
raised Time and Time Again by councilors
Across the sector it has an Associated
Financial cost to councils as well this
this paper addresses the issues that are
relevant and important like
strengthening leadership capabilities of
councilors addressing inappropriate
conduct early intervention processes
when it comes to dispute re resolution
all of which will help strengthen
capability and good governance across
the sector we need these reforms and
they are long overdue as is my view
there will be some Financial outlay on
the part of councils to ensure these
standards are are met and maintained and
considering the resource constraints
that councils are currently experiencing
it would be prudent that consideration
is given to providing
councils the adequate funding to meet
the requirements in respect to the
training component in particular this
paper is timely considering the local
government elections will be held later
this year and it will set new councilors
up for Success if it is done right it is
my fervent hope that due consideration
is given to all the feedback provided
and I look forward to seeing what the
new reforms will look like thank you
again to our staff for putting together
this paper and for all the work and the
input that has been provided by my
fellow councilors councelor McGee would
you like to sum up yes Madam
May m we've got our response it'll go in
the consultation you know it will just
happen um but there is an awful lot
going on with councils and local
government at the moment we're not only
seeing seeing the reforms put forward
and asking for feedback we've also in
October this year we'll see the
introduction of nine individual Awards
now as councelor Thanos was talking
about finances and that before but I
think it is important and someone has to
pay um just for for one aspect of the
the new zones that are coming in the new
Wards it's going to add nearly
$370,000 onto the cost that'll mean this
election in October this year could cost
the Rays of Glen Eirara $1
million when nobody wanted nine
individual Wards there's been nothing
wrong with the the traditional three
councils three Ward thing um and it just
it it can only be a political um
decision and it could be as is as you
know um the government wanted to control
who the counselors are and now others
can say that's rubbish but then you look
at you know some of the ridiculous um
findings of ibc's um operations sandon
you know some absolute rubbish that came
from that like councils may not even be
able to pick their new CEO if they want
one there'll be a you know people
independent um people put on that panel
it won't be the councilors who decide
it'll be others so here you'll have a
government that is really making sure
the greens don't get elected at councils
you'll make sure that CEOs will only get
um put in place that are friendly to
government um so there's you know
there's a lot to see here and I'm not a
conspiracy theorist for at all and quite
often I look at this stuff and just
laugh
but $19 million I can't get over $19
million of our rate payers money
disappears straight away in cost
shifting three just over three 3% of all
the taxes that are raised in Australia
3% are raised through
councils yet we maintain just over
onethird of our nation's infrastructure
councelor MC I might ask you to focus on
the submission that and the report that
we have at hand absolutely my submission
has all of that in it so I'm speaking
about my submission as well as councils
Madame May
um when I wrote to the minister last
year and talked about financial
sustainability in local government and
it it relates exactly to the reforms um
one of the responses from local
government Victoria was quite simple if
councils don't have enough money all
they have to do is put up costs and
charges now what was surprising in that
is a lot of the costs and charges the
council actually charges are set by the
minister and local government Victoria
so they don't even know what what
they're actually asking us to do it's
just silly it's silly and to finish on
that we're collecting 3% of taxes on top
of that
$330 million from the city of Glen Eirara
each year goes to the state government
in stamp Duty and land tax $330 million
that is a hell of a lot of money so do
we need these reforms it makes us better
one not there's nothing wrong with what
we've got now there's certainly some
councils that could do with it your time
is up councelor
M I will now put that to the vote all
those in favor carried unanimously
8.7 is the um recommendation um in
respect to the motion for submission to
the municipal Association of Victoria
for the state Council um Mo and that's
the state Council motion so um do I have
a m and is that as printed uh no I have
an amended motion um could you please
read your amended um so I want to take
it with the officer's recommendation as
but as printed but with the following
addition so a second motion that the
municipal Association of Victoria calls
on the Victorian government to actively
work with the local government sector
and other relevant stakeholders to one
acknowledge the significant detrimental
impact that the recent escalating
disruptions Council meetings is having
on The Good Conduct of local Council
meetings and on the health well-being
and safety of counselors Council staff
and community members two recognize that
this may deter quality and diverse
candidates from seeking office at the
upcoming local government elections and
existing councilors to continue in their
roles or seek
re-election three identify initiatives
with strengthen understanding inclusion
collaboration and respectful dialogue
between the community and their elected
represent resentatives and four direct
relevant committees or working groups to
explore and recommend strategies aimed
at reducing the instance of Civic
inability and assist and resource
councils to implement safety measures to
ensure the safety and well-being of
elected
representatives do I have a second
there councilor
p
coun uh thank you Madame mayor um I
might just start uh to provide a bit of
background so the municipal Association
of Victoria the MAV was actually formed
in 1879 it's a memb membership
Association and it is the legisla pick
body for Victoria's local councils one
of its roles is to represent and
Advocate local government interests uh
and so as part of that uh each Council
the 79 councils in Victoria have a
representative I am currently the
elected representative for Glen Eira uh and
I will attend two State Council meetings
where councils have the opportunity to
put forward a motion um to uh get the
support of other councils and uh then in
uh the mab will Advocate to the state
government or the federal government but
M of the state government to uh make
changes that we think are important so
there are two motions that we would like
to be considered the first which is
printed in the agenda was about
strengthening the planning system so
anyone that watches Council uh knows
that we have to operate by statutory
clock when uh things like planning
applications come into us um and we have
to turn them around and move them
forward through the official process
we'd like to int uh calling on a
statutary clock to be introduced for the
State uh government for the minister to
consider amendments for authorization or
approval um having uh all the Strategic
urban planning work that we're doing uh
sitting there it took a long long time
for the uh approval for instance of the
increase in our open space Levy we've
got uh the structure plans for major
activity centers we have Heritage um
lots and lots of things sitting with the
state government and not really being
turned around in what we would consider
a timely manner uh and to keep that
connected so the community can see uh
the outcome of some of our processes we
uh call on the state government we want
the m to call statement to prioritize
environmentally sustainable design in
the planning scheme to take action on
the climate emergency uh and we really
think it's important that there's an
auditing of the planning scheme reforms
to ensure that they've actually aligned
with the recommendation of the Victoria
auditor general uh report which was
about managing Victor's planning system
uh the second uh motion which is what I
read out loud as the amendment is to
talk about the conduct within Council
meetings and the safety and look being a
counselor and obviously uh counsel it's
it's not meant to be a full body contact
sport uh we come in here we have
different positions um we debate the
point uh we try really hard not to
attack the people uh and we expect that
both Council offices and Community will
be all every all every party will be
treating each other respectfully um that
hasn't happened uh in some councils and
we think that there's work that the
state government can do to actually make
sure that being a counselor being a
council staff person is a safe place to
operate uh and we think as has been in
some of our previous conversations this
is really important to make sure that we
get good quality diverse representation
in our elected representatives um so
that current counselors some of them may
consider randing and that it's not
turning away community members who might
want to stand at the upcoming towards
the end of this year elections uh so I
hope that there is support for that
whatever the council decides tonight I
will uh put forward and argue strongly
for at the next state Council thank
you counil penu
thank you mayor I'm happy to second the
motion I'd just briefly like to make
some comments on the the first part uh
the first uh motion which is about the
planning scheme um and just uh councilor
smoo made quite a lot of comments about
it so I don't want to go over those but
just to um emphasize in the report on
page
239
240 um it states it takes an average
between 9 and 12 months for the minister
for planning to authorize some larger
and more complex planning scheme
amendments as Council mentioned the open
space Levy um when I was in Parliament I
repres I I would visit all the councils
in southern Metropolitan region and I
would often go into Parliament calling
on the ministers for planning to do
something about planning scheme
amendments that have been sitting on
their desk for two years or even longer
and the reason I say this and I think
it's a really important motion to go to
the municipal Association of Victoria is
that we've had the state government
running around for the last year blaming
councils for um not not approving
planning developments um and uh in
particular Stonington council did all
did a lot of work and pointing out that
actually they
had approved some 97% of their um
planning applications um but a lot of
them were sitting on The Minister's desk
and or the developers had were sitting
on the land and not doing anything so in
fact it wasn't councils that were
holding up the process at all uh so I
couldn't let the opportunity go by
without pointing that out I think it's
um deceitful and wrong for the coun for
the state government to be running
around saying that when the actual um
evidence that is is on paper is is is is
not that anyway enough of that the other
uh motion um which um was the amendment
read out by Council smoo um with
regarding the um
escalating disruptions at Council
meetings and it's not just at this
council meeting it's vening Council
meetings across Victoria and some
Council meetings have had very very
serious
disruptions um and even um some of us
would have experienced and a lot of my
councelor colleagues have told me about
um being intimidated way they spoken to
uh Etc is really um difficult to deal
with and um one of my friends in
particular is having trouble um with
constant intimidation and um abuse by um
members of the public not only to her
but also to her children and her family
finding it very difficult to um deal
with and that's why um I suggested in
the motion that it's not only that this
sort of um disruption that's occurring
in um Council meetings across uh
particularly in the last 12 months
across the um sector is is um May
deterring people from applying to be
become counselors but deterring sitting
counselors from continuing um in their
in their roles and and seeking to rise
stand Council penu would you like an
extension oh just a minute one minute uh
councilor smoth councelor Jan put that
to the vot all those in favor Carri Den
uh thank you um thank you counselors so
the MV already has a policy on on um
working with counselor um to manage
disruptive behavior and it talks about
involving the E safety commissioner um
regarding online abuse of counselors Etc
but it's just a policy about working
with the sector what our other the
motion is that we're we're directing
these um committees and working groups
um to recommend strategies um aimed at
reducing the in instance of this these
disruptions and assistant resource
councils to implement safety measures to
ensure the safety and well-being of
counselors but not only counselors at
council meeting Council staff are also
put on a lot of pressure and also other
members of the community who may be
attending the council meetings um and
while this doesn't happen all the time
and it has been uh an escalating problem
at many councils and it is you know in
light of the previous um item where
we're talking about how we need to
sanction councilors for this that and
the other thing this is about supporting
councilors too thank
you thank you councelor
penq and uh is there anyone who wishes
to speak against that
motion any other councilors would like
to speak on that
motion would the mor like to sum
up uh thank you I think between Council
p and myself we've summed it up nicely
thank you I will now put that to the
board all those in
favor carried
unanimously so 8.8 is the Australian
local government Association 2024
National General Assembly motion do I
have a mover for that
motion Council pinq as
printed do I have a second councelor
McGee thank you councelor
penq
thank you mayor um this this motion is
for the Australian local government
Association um which is a national body
of which Glen Eirara is a member and
participates and um council is to attend
many of their um conferences and other
activities and the motion is um that the
National Assembly calls on the
government the Australian government
that is to um re revise the
administrative arrangement for tide
grants to allow council's Financial
autonomy to achieve the objectives of
the grants rather than um being as
prescriptive as they are at the moment
to establish Partnerships with other
coun with councils to deliver local
infrastructure and services which need
meet the needs of the community and um
support environmental social and
economic outcomes uh Implement an
ongoing funding stream and
prioritization framework for the
delivery and maintenance of essential
infrastructure
such as libraries cultural community
centers Aquatic and Leisure recreation
centers CYCC and cycling of pedestrian
infrastructure and open space facilities
and also provide and a full and
sustainable Revenue stream to support
any additional responsibilities that are
put on local government um and mayor I
think we've got a bit of a theme
happening we've got several themes
happening but uh this is a theme from a
previous discussion about cost shifting
uh so cost shifting doesn't just occur
from the state government it also occurs
from the federal government and if you
look back in history um Federal
governments are a lot more um involved
in providing local infrastructure um
particularly particularly for regional
councils where Regional councils have a
low rate based but a very large um area
of Roads Bridges and things to maintain
um But as time has gone on we've seen
um responsibilities on councils either
stay the same or increase and um the
revenue streams um be less or less reli
and or less reliable so this motion is
about some sort of um
reliable um sustainable funding streams
for councils to um be able to provide
the infrastructure that's needed not
only roads but as I mentioned libraries
um cycling tracks um Recreation and
Leisure Etc that the community also
needs and values so that's the purpose
of this motion that we want to put to
the Australian local government
Association thank you councelor penu
councelor
Mii forgot I seconded that got nothing
to
add does anyone wish to speak against
that motion any other speakers on the
motion I might ask the speak uh the M
whether she'd like to sum up no so I'll
put that to the vote all those in favor
that's carried you unanimously 8.9 is
proposed communication Ana leas Town
Hall rooftop and Princess Park um do I
have a move councelor Shang as printed
and do I have a
second councelor Paris councilor Jan
thanks Madam mayor um Council previously
resoled to enter into two Lees with vone
and due to the transfer of ownership
from vone to wavec con and the name
change from vone to T tpg Telecom it is
not necessary to execute the town hall L
with wcon and the princess Park L with
tpg Telecom so I have nothing to comment
just to support officers recommendation
thank you um councelor parasol nothing
to add any speakers against that motion
any other speakers on the motion would
the move like to summer I will put that
to the vote all those in favor carried
unanimously
appointment of acting chief executive
officer um do I have a m for that motion
councelor klac as
printed councelor parasol as second
councelor
kleck I don't have much to say I think
it's a standard order of business but I
wish our CEO hardworking CEO a lovely
holiday and uh I'm very pleased to see
um one of our excellent directors step
up to act in the role thank you
councilor par I can just reor that marks
those remarks CI works really hard and
deserves a good holiday thank
you does anyone wish to speak against
that
motion are there any other speakers to
the
motion would the mve like to sum up no I
will not put that to the vote all those
in favor that's carried unanimously and
8.11 is council meeting dates do I have
a move councelor ES as printed yes
madame May and do I have a second
Council um Council es yeah thank you uh
we adopted the meeting dates for this
year back in November last year but we
now know that the election period
commences on the 24th of September so
the meeting scheduled for that evening
needs to be rescheduled the week before
to the 17th of September to resolve any
matters uh needed to be resolved prior
to the election period also the VC has
advised that the Declaration date will
be the 15th of November uh so the
council meeting scheduled for the 12th
of November will be cancelled and a new
meeting date will be scheduled at an
appropriate time by the CEO if she's
back from holidays um finally a council
meeting to consider the budget and any
other time sensitive matters prior to
the end of this financial year is to be
scheduled for the 25th of June uh 2024
and that will enable ample time to
prepare the budget and meet any other
end of financial year obligations thank
you thank you and Council the second
doesn't have anything to add anyone wish
to speak against that motion any other
speakers does the Mover wish to sum up
no I'll now put that to the vote all
those in favor and that's carried
unanimously item nine is urgent business
and there's no urgent business on
tonight
item 10 is ordinary business uh which is
requests for reports from a member uh of
council staff I don't believe we have
requests so we'll move on to item 10.2
which is rights of reply is are there
rights of reply I don't think so notice
of motion is 10.3 I don't believe we
have any notices of motion tonight
either 10.4 is counselor questions no
questions written public questions we've
already dealt with and there are no
confidential items tonight so uh that
brings us to item 11 which is the
closure of the meeting and I now declare
the ordinary meeting of council closed
at 21:15 p.m. thank
you