24 February 2012

Full Council 27th February 2012

There were not many items on the Agenda, however, and yet the debate lasted nearly 4 hours. It seems the time we as Councillors spend on debating a matter bears little relationship to the complexity of the issue or the amount of money it costs. I remember many years ago the night we decided to sell the Unley Shopping Centre. We debated the $10 million dollar sale for less than 5 minutes.



  • Nomination Australia Day Council of SA;Council has been asked to nominate someone to this board, if more nominations than positions vacant then an election will be held. Council nominated the CEO Peter Tsokas.

  • Local Government Association General Meeting; this is the item reported on in the press. Cr Hudson wanted us to discuss the matter of the validity of "Proclamation Day" and request that this be renamed "Mainland Settlement Day" via a motion to the LGA. Regardless of my view on the matter I don't believe that the LGA is the appropriate forum for this debate. This motion was supported without my vote. You might find this link interesting;http://eastern-courier-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/comments/unley-push-to-alter-history/

  • Nominations for Cat and Dog Management Board; this board was also calling for nominations. Council decided nominate Cr koumi

  • Financial Results 2010-11; the results show that Council's total income was $36,610,000 and expenses $35,768,000 achieving an operating surplus of $842,000. Of this expenditure $12,988,00 was spent on employee costs,$15,874,000 on materials and contracts, $6,293,000 on depreciation and 4613,00 on finance costs.

  • Restructure; the new CEO put to Council a preferred new structure that would see 4 General Managers rather than the current 3. This should give a better fit for each person's portfolio. Rather than increasing costs some savings will be achieved when newly recruited personnel are started at lower rates of pay that the incumbents had been receiving. There is currently only one incumbent and the 3 other positions will be advertised in the near future. Charles Mountain, the traffic engineer, is to take up a position with the RAA, his expertise will be missed.


The full agenda can be found at; http://www.unley.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Council%20Agenda%20February%202012.pdf


We also listened to a deputation from Ron Belchambers regarding the potential damming of Brownhill Creek. His view was well put and with questions he had the floor for nearly an hour. However, Council is yet to see the final report and costings on alternate solutions to building the dam. The decision will need to be made next month when Council has this information.

1 comment:

  1. An interesting comment from John;

    Surely Council has better things to do than discuss such a matter totally outside its control and sphere of influence?

    Such an issue is NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with local government. It is an established public holiday based solely on historical FACT – that the colony of South Australia was proclaimed by the then Governor on that day and the holiday is named accordingly and is historically and factually correct. It has nothing to do with mainland settlement – which actually occurred on 26 January 1788 in SYDNEY – which happens also to be on the mainland of Australia. Mainland Settlement Day is actually already celebrated on Australia Day – I suppose he will want to change the name of that Holiday too!

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