Council Workshops

When is a workshop against the law? It is against the law for Councillors to meet outside of  formal council meetings to make decisions on behalf of Council. However, a briefing where information is shared between staff and councillors where no decisions are made is OK. As a Council we meet nearly every Monday evening and yet only one of these gatherings is a meeting: the others are briefings.  While the sharing of information is valuable I often wonder where the line in the sand is and if the quality of the debate at meetings has diminished since briefings were first introduced.  It seems to me that it has and yet a feel I am better able to make an informed decision.

Full Council Meeting: November 25th 2019

This meeting was very operational: even though the agenda was long the number of items to be debated was fewer than usual. These items included:

• General Purpose Financial Statements: These statements have already been to the auditors and the Audit Committee. They found no fault with Council accounting practices or financial position
• Adoption of the Annual Report: This makes for interesting reading and gives a good snap shot of Council for 2018-19
• Community Grants Program_Allocation of Funding: Funding of nearly $38,000 was allocated. Those of interest might be  The Unley Gardeners Plant Rescue $2,315, UBUG $3,750 to further develop walking and cycling tours, Millswood  Bowling Club $2,010 for equipment, Goodwood Cricket Club $1,375 for pitch covers, Goodwood Saints Football $1375 for a coaching development program, Forestville Hockey Club $2,400 for new hockey nets and to CATS $1500 for a sterilisation program.
• Community Activation; Cr Russo has asked Council to consider activating the Village Gereen when the AFLW match is played at Unley Oval
• Climate Change: The question from Cr Hughes is answered in a thorough manner. Take the time to read this if you want to know just how concerned the council is and what they are doing about it.

https://www.unley.sa.gov.au/CityOfUnley/media/CoU-Media-Library/Council%20and%20Administration/Full%20Council/25-11-19-AA-council-agenda-PUBLIC.pdf?ext=.pdf

Goodwood Oval Grandstand Redevelopment: Update

The building of this facility is now almost ready to begin. Council is finalising the tender applications. Once a builder has been selected work will be able to commence almost immediately: by the end of December. It is my understanding that the football and cricket clubs have removed their property from within the building and that  new temporary change rooms are being set up near the hockey area. We need to thank the former state government and Jayne Stinson for their generous grant of $2.5 million to get this project started. 

Councillor's salaries

Councillors salaries, after a lengthy review process, were set by a tribunal several years ago. That same tribunal decides each year what the appropriate increase should be for remuneration for Councillors. This is the type of review process that The Advertiser said, just last week, would keep CEO salaries in check. And yet the complaint in this week's story was about the rise being above inflation and too much money for too little work. The amount equates to about $10 hour for the work done and much of this is eaten up with expenses.  I have no reason to believe that if CEO salaries are administered by a tribunal that they'll also increase beyond community expectations. We need only to look sat the same process as it has been applied to politicians pay.

King William Road Nov 2019

 As the bulk of the work is being completed it's easy to see the vision of Council, traders and the community coming together in one beautiful place. Shops are starting to fill with Xmas wares  and new shops are filling the empty spaces. The orange posts will soon be removed so parking is available on the street.  Well done!

2040 film on your doorstep.

SPECIAL SCREENING OF 2040 AT “CLARENCE PARK COMMUNITY CENTRE”

8 year old Francis is passionate about climate change! Yes… you saw correctly… 8 years old!

Please join him this Sunday in his mission to bring awareness to the community about this very important issue.

Come along to this special screening of 2040.

A film directed by filmmaker Damon Gameau in search of new approaches and solutions to global warming.

Let’s support our Re-Generation!

 

Goodwood Oval and dog poo!

Are you a regular user of Goodwood Oval? We would like to know your thoughts on the topic of dog owners’ picking up after their pet/s on this oval and its surrounding grounds. Council staff will be at Goodwood Oval on Monday 25 November between 7.30am and 9am, and Tuesday 26 November between 4.30pm and 6pm – come along and complete a survey to receive a free dog leash bag (limited stocks).

Cats and Dogs

After much discussion in that last Council term the matter of cats being required to be registered and kept within the bounds of a property is once again on the agenda. This time through legislation. Its taken a long time but cats might soon be equal to dogs.

Just one tree!!

I attended an update session put on by DPTI last week. I was a little reassured about the process and the way in which they are working with Councils. I was particularly pleased when they were discussing the width of driveways and trees in the new code. As it happen,s townhouse style developments that face the street can be designed to have a double garage and door facing the street for each dwelling. Unley has largely negated this with a development standard that doesn't allow the garage to take up more that half the frontage (although you will find plenty of examples where this is not the case). These developments then leave no room for on street parking or landscaping.  The new code will reduce the width of driveways so that a single crossover can service two car parks; it will also expect that there is room to plant a tree. It will still need Council to check that these have been planted and maintained. I read in yesterday's paper that the Property Council are unhappy with this as it will increases the cost of development as footings will need to be strengthened. The Code talks about planting a tree not a tree with the potential to become significant! The tree could be a crepe myrtle or even a fruit tree.  They were also quoted as saying that trees should be placed on Council land. All well and good but when Council owns less than 20% of the land (streets, footpaths and parks) getting  the 30+% tree  canopy that government expects of us is simply mathematically impossible.
To my reckoning  its not the cost of adding a tree but the price we'll all pay if they don't.

Do you sew? Here's a good cause.

DO YOU SEW? YOU CAN HELP THESE POOR DARLINGS.... Our hearts are broken by the devastating fires that have torn across our beautiful country and we know all too well, having been personally affected by the Sampson Flat fire in SA a few years ago, how horrific this is for both the people and the poor animals. Hundreds of koalas have died already as a result of these fires - many, many more koalas, joeys and other animals are badly burned and the wonderful organisations caring for them have asked for assistance. How can you help? If you have sewing skills, you can put them to good use by sewing koala mittens, joey pouches, bat wraps and other pouches.  CLICK HERE FOR PATTERNS, INSTRUCTIONS AND WHERE TO SEND THEM x This email was sent to jennie.boisvert@gmail.com why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences Impulse Boutique / Lumière Collective · 127 Melbourne Street · North Adelaide, SA 5006 · Australia ReplyForward