29 January 2014

Full Council; 28th January 2014

Seems like a long time since the meeting in December. The break has left us with a long Agenda that took until midnight to debate.
Items of interest include;
Code of Practice-Procedures at meetings; Most of the changes reflect legislative change. However, the proposed changes do include changes to selection for Council Committees that are well overdue and fairer in the way people will be elected. PASSED
Property Management Policy; This is an attempt to be more equitable in calculating the fees charged to lease Council facilities. While this may marginally increase some lease fees others would see a minor reduction. It should, however, be much easier  to apply. PASSED
Cooperative Research for water Sensitive Cities; One of the benefits of this could lead to better Water Sensitive Urban Design than currently exists.PASSED
671 South Rd ; After some difficulties in getting an agreement with the owner Council eventually bollarded the access to the property that had been illegally created through Council land. However, the new lessees, Optus, are prepared to pay the suggested lease fee for a long term lease.PASSED
Unley Oval Redevelopment Investigations; I was pretty surprised when reading the papers that went with this as I feel they do not address the intent of the motion that Cr Palmer put last year. The report asked that it simply be received as there is no money in the budget or future budget estimates. The report spends little time discussing what has been described as sub-standard facilities other than  to say that "while not fully compliant with the SANFL Guidelines they are not generally too far away from preferred standards..." The cost is then described as $1.6 million with the benefit being almost entirely for the Sturt Football Club. Other proposed changes include increasing open space, fencing, moving the oval 10m north and resurfacing the playing area. The  Council agreed to receive the report and to workshop a way forward, this is most likely to include an upgrade of the Sturt Football Club facilities. Funding would still need to be external for works to proceed.
Financial  Reports; I was shocked to read that the ash trees in Parker Tce and Canterbury Tce cost $50,000 to remove!PASSED
Low Impact Telecommunications Facilities Locations in Unley; This from Cr Tipper, it will be good to see her back at Council after her period of leave.PASSED. It seems if we don't remember where they are then we don't know how many we have. This record may enable better lobbying in the future which could lead to better regulation.
Rates Increase; Cr Hewitson is trying to tie in and increase between 3.3-4% before we begin budget deliberations. To me this is too pre-emptive.LOST
Ridge Park River Red Gum; This is an attempt by Cr Hudson to add the significant tree, near the proposed dam site, added to Councils Heritage Register. While I will be happy to support this I think it is an attempt to add greater weight to the argument not to build the dam. This matter is now before the ERD Court. PASSED
DPTI Rail Electrification; CONFIDENTIAL
DPTI Land;  CONFIDENTIAL
The information debated should be made available soon to the public.

1 comment:

  1. 27 January, 2014 14:50
    $50,000 to remove a tree.
    That is outrageous.
    That money could have been used to pave a street (or two).

    ReplyDelete

    Jennie27 January, 2014 20:43
    Sorry I did not have trees, but still an outrageous some for the amount of trees removed.

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    ReplyDelete