14 December 2010

December 2010 meeting

The 13th December was the final voting for committees for the first 2 years of the Council term.
The Dept Mayor was not filled as the Mayor expressed his wish to do not have a deputy, this is subject to a bullying claim on my behalf. (Messenger 8/12/10)
Chair City Strategy; Bob Schnell
Development Assessment Panel; Rufus Salaman, Rob Sangster and Don Palmer.
Centenial Park; Anthony Lapidge and Michael Hudson
Audit Committee; Peter Hughes and Michael Hewitson.

12 December 2010

HIgh Cost to Unley's footpath repairs


Council7 Dec 10 @ 08:15am by Lisa Bachmayer
BACKLOG: Unley councillor Jennie Boisvert says footpath repairs rate highly among Unley residents. Picture: Noelle Bobrige
UNLEY’S footpaths will either take 20 years to pave or a hefty cost of at least $13 million to speed up the work.

Elected members will consider moving the backlog forward for completion in two to four years by taking out a loan, after councillor Jennie Boisvert raised the suggestion at last week’s council meeting.

“During the election campaign ... I found it was the single most important thing people wanted to talk about,” Cr Boisvert told the meeting.

“When they said their footpath was in an appalling state, I had to say it was not even in the next four-year budget.”

The majority of councillors agreed the maintenance of footpaths was the number one concern for ratepayers in the lead up to the November election.

“I get phone calls on this more than anything else,” Cr Rob Sangster said.

“The whole City of Unley would be in rhapsody if we could get it done in four years.”

Acting city services manager Debbie Richardson said only half of Unley’s bitumen footpaths would be paved in 10 years under existing budget provisions.

“We would be certainly looking at over $13 million (to speed up the process), and would also need a contract manager to take on all 74km of footpaths in that timeframe,” Ms Richardson said.

While councillors admitted the cost could be “horrendous”, they said the option of moving the work forward should be considered.

“It is very unlikely I would support something that would increase our debt by 150 per cent but let’s see what the report says,” Cr Rufus Salaman said.

Unley reported a net surplus of $3.17 million at June 30, 2010. Council staff will investigate and report back to the elected members in February.

Would you like to see footpath repairs in Unley fast tracked? Leave your thoughts below.

28 November 2010

November's meeting 2010

This month we are to discuss the nomination for positions on committees of Council. After much encouragement I was able to get the names of the positions, a brief explanation of each and the order of selection. Unfortunately, some will be done on the 29th November and others will wait until 13th December, this process is not as transparent as it should be.


I have also put a Motion on Notice that, if passed, will start the investigation into the cost of paving all footpaths over the next 2 years as to continuing at the current rate which may see some still not completed in 15 years time. I did not see a footpath that was still bitumen that was not in need of repair.

Please remember in the meantime if there are trip hazards in your footpath, and there are many in both the old bitumen and the paved footpaths, to let me know where they are so they can be repaired.

I have given the list of concerns that you indicated during the campaign process to staff and we will be working on them as soon as possible.

14 November 2010

Election results

Thank you so much for the time and effort that so many of you took to vote and in doing that to vote for me as well. I received 613 first preference votes. Don Palmer received 342 votes and Joe Young 326 votes. After redistribution of my over quota votes Don was declared the other winner, just 16 votes ahead of Joe. Other wards saw some new faces as well;
Mayor; Lachlan Clyne
Goodwood; Bob Schnell and Denise Tipper
Unley; Michael Hewitson and Rufus Salaman
Unley Park; Rob Sangster and Michael Saies
Parkside; Michael Hudson and John Koumi
Fullarton; Anthony Lapidge and Peter Hughes

I would like to thank Joe for his time and energy and his courage to give it a go.

26 October 2010

What are the issues?

At this time I have knocked on nearly every door and it has been a pleasure to chat with each and every one of you that I met. Most people are generally really happy with the service that they have received and the way in which their streets and neighbourhoods have been maintained and enhanced.

However there is always room for improvement and the concerns are;


  • Still having an asphalt footpath that is in poor condition even though it is a well walked street.

  • Street trees needing pruning or replacing

  • Safety issues near corners due to parking and excessive speed of some cars.

  • The electrification of the train line in Clarence Park and the lack of consultation so far, as well as the replacement and upkeep of the vegetation screen

  • The rerouting of the freight trains

  • Illegal development

  • Shrubbery encroaching on the foot path

  • Illegal dumping of rubbish

  • Graffiti and tagging

  • Cleanliness of the public toilets

  • Further speed restriction near schools

  • The street calming devices in Byron Road


20 October 2010

The truth about footpaths


The Truth About Footpaths

Each footpath that is yet to be paved has been rated and ranked by Council Works management on its present condition. The worse they are, the sooner they will be replaced. Council has been experimenting with different footpath treatments, especially where there are trees. As you will be aware, trees near paved footpaths tend to lift individual pavers, causing trip hazards. You can see these alternative treatments on Cambridge Tce in Unley.

Each year, when Unley sets its Budget, Council makes a collective decision on the amount to be spent on foot paths, including footpath replacements. The amount that is allocated to each Ward is dependent upon the percentage of footpaths already-re-paved by Ward and the condition of the footpaths listed next to be paved.

Citywide, the allocation for footpath replacement in 2010/11 has dropped from $572000 in 2009/10 to $526000 in 2010/11 for a very good reason – meeting Council’s legal requirement to install pedestrian ramps to serve people with disabilities had to come first.
Goodwood South Ward is allocated 19% of the footpath replacement budget, slightly more than 16.7% if each of the 6 Wards gained an equal share. Aroha Terrace is separately funded in excess of $1M for the footpath and road re-construction.

This year we will see 5 streets – Aroha, David, Henry, Ormonde and Spiers Streets re-paved.

In 2011/12, Chelmsford, Lincoln, Oakley and School Avenues are to be re-paved.

In 2012/13, Churchill Avenue and Meredyth Avenue are to be re-paved.

In 2013/14, Fairfax and Birkdale Avenues are to be re-paved.

I will seek a report on the prospect of re-paving all the remaining 30% of Unley’s footpaths over the next 4 years, asking the staff to project escalating construction costs against estimated interest costs to borrow funds to accelerate this improvement to infrastructure to assess what is a prudent financial decision.

Let me assure you, if re-elected I will continue to strongly advocate for GSW to ensure we continue to get our fair share of moneys budgeted in each years budget and that works are completed to schedule.

29 September 2010

Water saving initiatives

Gone are the days when Council can use, or afford to use mains water for all of its water needs. With a forced reduction in allocation by the State Government, this Council has had to think differently from those in the past if we wanted to retain our street trees, keep our parks green, and work towards a 'greener' city. This Council has adopted many initiatives, some of which have been Federally funded -

  • The right to purchase recycled water from the Glenelg-Adelaide Pipeline (GAP)
  • Improved water sensitive design for redeveloped streets
  • Developing Pocket Parks (i.e.: Fielding St, Kelvin Ave, Spiers St in Goodwood South)
  • Encouraging installation of rainwater tanks on Council and residential properties
  • Reducing garden and parks water demand with a mulching programme
  • Test drilling for suitable aquifer recharge sites for stormwater collection (i.e.: Ridge Park and Orphanage Park)
  • Installing water wells near street trees when footpaths are re-paved
  • Reducing risk of flood, e.g.: Glen Osmond Creek Redevelopment
  • Reducing demand for water, i.e.: Clarence Park Community Centre Garden
  • The Unley Adopt a Tree Programme
Below is the new rainwater tank associated with the Dora Guild toilet block, the water is used to flush the toilets.












This is the Clarence Park Community Centre biodiversity garden, an example of water sensitive urban design