Full Council Meeting 23rd April 2012

The items on this Agenda include;

• Acquisition of Land; Maud St; This matter is confidential.
• Unley Business and Economic Development Committee Membership; It is recommended that Craig Phillips, a local businessman, fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term (December 2012).Passed
• Draft Annual Business Plan 2012-13; The budget is almost ready to go to public consultation with some things still being debated as to if they should be included or not. I am particularly disappointed in the potential share of the budget that seems likely to be spent in Goodwood South. We have a further workshop to finalise this on May10th, at this time I will  do the best that I can to get closer to ward equity and publish what will most likely be funded. Passed but with debate only on process.
• Local Government Meeting Procedures; Many changes are recommended, most will not change the substance of how Council debates matters although one of the proposals would allow for each member to speak for 9 minutes on each item; that equates to  one and a half hours debate on any one item and could make for intolerably long meetings if introduced. As this is at the draft stage in State regulations Council has an opportunity to comment and, hopefully, influence the final outcome. This was adjourned to the next meeting for further input from elected members and staff.
• Improving Governance-Discussion Paper;This is another state initiative to formalise the way in which Councillors can or cannot behave; much of this would appear to reinforce current practice although I will debate he necessity for all  a person's interests needing to be declared when they run for office rather than when elected. Passed
• Third Quarter Budget Review;  At this point in time the Council has spent just over a half a million dollars less that it had in the budget. However, this also means that some projects are behind schedule and will need to be rolled into the next budget for completion. Passed
• NRM Funding Levee; The NRM Board has requested that Council collect $1,073,540 on it's behalf  when collecting rates or 2012/13. This is a 13.9% increase from this year and an imposition on Council. Very little of the revenue has ever been spent in Unley. Council rates increase is only likely to be 5.1% in comparison. their was considerable debate on this especially on the share of revenue that Unley is required to collect. This does not seem to relate to population, effect of water ways or even rate revenue. I have asked for further detail on how this is calculated.

• Update of Federal Stormwater projects;  The stormwater collection and aquifer recharge at Heywood Park is yet to be consulted, however, it is my understanding that this is an ideal site for mechanical filtration before pumping the collected water into the aquifer. The mechanism can be housed with in the existing toilet block and should not deter from the beauty of the park. Passed