agenda and business papers oberon council extraordinary … · 2019-06-21 · agenda and business...

137-139 Oberon Street PO Box 84 Oberon NSW 2787 Telephone: (02) 6329 8100 Fax: (02) 6329 8142 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

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AGENDA AND BUSINESS PAPERS Oberon Council Extraordinary Meeting Tuesday 25 June 2019 Commencing at 5.30pm at the Oberon Council Chambers

Oberon Council - Agenda and Business Papers – Extraordinary Meeting – 25 June 2019

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Agenda Items page

1. OPENING OF MEETING ..................................................................................... 4

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY .............................................................. 4

3. RECORD OF ATTENDANCE .............................................................................. 4

4. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ......................................................................... 5

5. PRESENTATIONS ............................................................................................... 6

6. REPORTS FOR DECISION ................................................................................. 6

06.01 COMMUNITY STRATEGIC PLAN .......................................................................... 6 06.02 COMMUNITY BRANDING STRATEGY FINAL ..................................................... 17 06.03 RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURE POLICY REVIEW ........................................... 62

7. CLOSED SESSION / CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS ............................................ 67

07.01 OBERON EVENT OPPORTUNITIES ................................................................... 67 07.02 PROJECT MANAGEMENT - OBERON SEWERAGE PROJECTS (WATEROZ) .. 67

8. CLOSURE OF MEETING ................................................................................... 67


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1. OPENING OF MEETING

The Mayor will welcome members and declare the meeting open.

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Council acknowledges that this meeting is being held on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri and Gundungurra People, and respects the history and culture of the elders both past and present.

3. RECORD OF ATTENDANCE

Members Mayor Kathy Sajowitz (in the Chair)

Deputy Mayor Kerry Gibbons Clr Don Capel Clr Ian Doney Clr Mark Kellam Clr Brenda Lyon Clr Clive McCarthy Clr Mick McKechnie Clr Andrew McKibbin

Staff Gary Wallace, General Manager Lynette Safranek, Corporate Services Director

Chris Schumacher, Technical Services Director Sharon Swannell, Executive Coordinator Apologies Shane Wilson, Planning and Development Director


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4. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

File No: Governance/Councillors/Declarations of Interest

A GUIDE TO ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING

(Provided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption)

Is the decision or conduct legal?

Is it consistent with Government policy, Council’s objectives and code of conduct?

What will the outcome be for you, your colleagues, the Council, anyone else?

Does it raise a conflict of interest?

Do you stand to gain personally at public expense?

Can the decision be justified in terms of public interest?

Would it withstand public scrutiny? A conflict of interest is a clash between private interest and public duty. There are two types of conflict:

Pecuniary – regulated by the Local Government Act and Department of Local Government

Non-pecuniary – regulated by codes of conduct and policy. ICAC, Ombudsman, Department of Local Government (advice only)

The test for conflict of interest:

Is it likely I could be influenced by personal interest in carrying out my public duty?

Would a fair and reasonable person believe I could be so influenced?

Conflict of interest is closely tied to the layperson’s definition of “corruption” – using public office for private gain

Important to consider public perceptions of whether you have a conflict of interest Identifying problems

1st Do I have private interests affected by a matter I am officially involved in?

2nd Is my official role one of influence or perceived influence over the matter?

3rd Do my private interests conflict with my official role? Whilst seeking advice is generally useful, the ultimate decision rests with the person concerned. When making a Declaration of Interest the reason for making the declaration should be clearly stated. Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Significant Interests should be managed by leaving the room while the matter is considered. Pecuniary -

Non-Pecuniary Significant

-

Non-Pecuniary Less than Significant

-


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5. PRESENTATIONS

A presentation will be provided by Brijid Media Company in relation to the draft Oberon Branding Strategy.

6. REPORTS FOR DECISION

06.01 COMMUNITY STRATEGIC PLAN

File No: S:/Corporate Management/CSP/2019 Author: Gary Wallace, General Manager; Lynette Safranek, Corporate Services Director;

Summary The Community Strategic Plan 2019-2040, Delivery Program 2019-2022, Operational Plan 2019/20, Long Term Financial Plan 2019-2029, Revenue Policy 2019, Workforce Management Plan 2019-2022 and Building Asset Management Plan 2019 are provided to Council for adoption after all now finalising the legislative public exhibition process. Council has received and reviewed feedback collected through submissions and also through community consultations at Oberon (x2), Black Springs, Burraga and O’Connell. This report presents the final documents, including any amendments in line with feedback received, for adoption. All amendments to the documents have been highlighted through this report.

Recommendation: That Council adopt the presented documents in report 06.01 being:

Community Strategic Plan 2019-2040

Delivery Program 2019-2022

Operational Plan 2019/20

Long Term Financial Plan 2019-2029

Revenue Policy 2019

Workforce Management Plan 2019-2022, and

Infrastructure Assets Management Plan including the Building Asset Management Plan 2019.

Comment ATTACHMENTS 1. Community Strategic Plan 2019-2040 2. Delivery Program 2019-2022 3. Operational Plan 2019/20 and Long Term Financial Plan 2019-2029 4. Revenue Policy 2019 5. Workforce Management Plan 2019-22 6. Building Asset Management Plan 2019 together with approved Infrastructure Assets

Management Plan 7. Notes taken at each of the public meetings held in Oberon (2), Black Springs, Burraga and

O’Connell 8. Submissions received from O’Connell Valley Community Group, Hardy Draheim (x3), Col

Roberts, and Maree Arrow. The Community Strategic Plan and suite of documents have been reviewed and Council finds that they meet the Legislative requirements of the LG Act and IP&R provisions.


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The amendments to the daft Community Strategic Plan (CSP) and associated documents will be addressed individually below, following receipt of feedback and submissions during public exhibition. Community Strategic Plan 2019-2040 Following feedback received during the public exhibition, the following amendments have been made to the final document presented to Council for adoption:

The Community Strategic Plan outlines five Themes, with actions to each theme included as part of the four year Delivery Program.

Page 4: Our Vision

The vision will be inserted after adoption by Council through a separate report presented to the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 25 June 2019.

Page 12: Some Big Ideas

‘yes and no’ were removed from ‘fluoridation’ tag, as this matter had been resolved at the point of community consultation. It is noted that during the consultation there was differing view points however the removal of the ‘yes/no’ also removes confusion.

Consistency in capital letters throughout page.

Correction to ‘water park’ not ‘water part’.

Helicopter was changed to ‘helipad’.

Page 13: Theme 1

Typing correction in action 1.2 ‘needs of the community’ instead of ‘needs for the community’

Page 16: Theme 4

Inclusion of action 4.5 ‘Provide secure and safe water supply, and manage waste water’ which is considered an important component of Council’s operations.

Submissions During the exhibition period Council received 4 submissions relating to the document. In summary the submissions provided the following feedback: Hardy Draheim

No Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) analysis was undertaken.

No attempt to define ‘where we are now’.

It is not transparent how and who will decide on the five options under a new vision statement.

The draft CSP has missed the mark and should be dismissed. It is not a strategic plan.

Comments made regarding the process that the submission deemed ‘a sham’.

The draft CSP does not pass the pub test, it’s woefully inadequate and it borders on incompetence. Oberon Council has failed the community.

O’Connell Valley Community Group

Provided alternatives for a vision and mission statement.

Commentary on the ‘Big Ideas’ section.

Provided commentary that related to the need for inclusion of: o Heritage trails – walking, riding etc. to connect the greater community. o Recreational facilities in the various villages, not just Oberon. o The relationship with Agriculture in multiple themes.

Col Roberts

The CSP ticked a lot of the boxes, was well presented and demonstrated good community involvement.


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The ‘Themes’ need to link better with the ‘Actions’ so as they do not represent inaction. They seem very generic.

Maree Arrow

Initially was concerned over the general nature of the CSP however was aware that the detail would be seen within the Deliver Program.

The Mission Statement is too broad.

Would like to see a profile of the community.

The Themes seem to be representative of the feedback received.

Appreciation was given to the efforts and hard work that goes into preparing documents of this nature.

The above summary of submissions provided a wide variety of views that were either included into the document or noted as commentary. It is noted that some of the ideas presented were utilised within the Delivery Program. Delivery Program 2019-2022 The Delivery Program details actions for Council to deliver on its five Community Strategic Plan themes. Following feedback received during the public exhibition, the following amendments have been made to the final document presented to Council for adoption:

Budget figures have been included in the Message from the General Manager (page 3).

The Community has been shown as a separate entity on the Organisation Structure.

The colours of each Theme and the Strategies have been amended to align with the Community Strategic Plan (page 6).

The Financial Snapshot (page 7) now includes graphs based on all five Strategic Themes contained in the Oberon Council 2019/20 Operational Plan.

Page 13 has been amended to reflect improved format changes.

The format of the Delivery Program actions have been amended to represent strategies, activities, performance measures, Council directorate responsible, and timeframes for each action (page 14 to 35)

The budget data relating to each Theme has now been included in line with the Delivery Program activities.

Creation of Strategy 1.2.22 to provide avocation for the relevant authority to continue to monitor and implement health and wellbeing programs for the community.

Creation of Action 3.4 strategies, to represent the need to adequately support and recognise the agricultural importance to the community.

Submissions During the exhibition period Council received 1 submission relating to the document. In summary the submission provided the following feedback: Hardy Draheim

The document does not comply with the Local Government Act 1993 particularly in regard to Section 404(4). Note: Section 404(4) of the LG Act 1993 states - A draft delivery program must be placed on public exhibition for a period of at least 28 days and submissions received by the council must be considered by the council before the delivery program is adopted by the council.


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All documents should be adopted together after community consultation.

The community should be at the top of the Organisational Chart mutually exclusive of Councillors.

Note – this has been included.

This plan will only be active for two years with another document required after the 2020 election.

Concern raised over the implementation of fluoride.

The documents do not comply with S402(6) of the LG Act 1993. Note: S402(6) of the LG Act 1993 states - A draft community strategic plan or amendment of a community strategic plan must be placed on public exhibition for a period of at least 28 days and submissions received by the council must be considered by the council before the plan or amendment is endorsed by the council. The above summary provided a wide variety of views that were either included into the document or noted as commentary. Operational Plan 2019/20 Following feedback received during the public exhibition, the following amendments have been made to the final document presented to Council for adoption:

Council has included assumptions on which the 2019/20 Operational Plan is based.

The Other Expenses line has been expanded to reflect the format in the annual Financial Statements.

The Transfers from Restricted reflects Note 6(c) of the 2018 Financial Statements (pages 29, 30).

The Office of Local Government has set benchmarks for Councils performance measurement which Council is meeting or exceeding. The ratios have been included to show the comparison between Council actual and the outcomes from the Fit for the Future program.


There is no reference in the annual OP to the Fluoridation Plant. Why is it not shown? Note – the Operational Plan Assumptions (page 6) outline, ‘the fluoridations system is budgeted at a cost of $260,000 to be fully funded by a grant from the NSW State Government’. These assumptions have been included as a result of the feedback from the community.

What cost increases has Oberon Council allowed for to supply and a staff and labour cost for the fluoridation process.

Note - There has been no increase to staff costs as this will be incorporated into existing duties.

Where is grant for the fluoridation project? Note - The grant is included in ‘grants & contributions for capital’.

Why does the SRV in the OP declare increase over 5 years is 34.35% where as IPART granted 39.4%.

Note – This has been noted and details are in the Revenue Policy on pages 4 and 5.

Council is hiding plans. Note – No plans are hidden. Long Term Financial Plan 2019-2029 Following feedback received during the public exhibition, the following amendments have been made to the final document presented to Council for adoption:

Council has included assumptions on which the Long Term Financial Plan is based. It is worth noting that following amendments:


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Water and Sewer grant funding has been amended from operational to capital grants.

More information has been provided as part of the Income Statement within the Operational Plan in relation to “Other Expenses”, inclusive of consultants & Street Lighting which have been moved out of "Materials and Contract" and into "Other Expenses", taking other expenses from $1.9m in the public exhibition document, to $2.1m in the final version.

Following an internal audit of the Long Term Financial Plan on public exhibition, Council has been advised to address the revenue recognition of anticipated grants which created surpluses across the 2023/24 to 2028/29 period. This is money received in excess of normal funding which was not expensed. Therefore, this created a “restricted carry over for future expenditure” beyond the Long Term Financial Plan 10 year period. Future changes to be brought in by the Accounting Standards Board [which will bring councils inline with international standards] will prohibit councils from recognising this revenue until it is expended. Council has now adjusted the Long Term Financial Plan to fall in line with these future changes, thus reducing the anticipated surplus of those years in line with actual expenditure. An example of this would be the prepayment of specific purpose grants tied to projects such as Fixing Country Roads.

During the exhibition period Council received 1 submission relating to the document. In summary the submission provided the following feedback: Hardy Draheim

Comments to be read in conjunction with Operational Plan commentary. Revenue Policy 2019 The purpose of this policy is to disclose items in one location to enable Councillors, staff and the community the ability to locate and refer easily to multiple financial guidelines. A Revenue Policy was previously presented to Council (prior to 2012) and is currently used by neighbouring Councils. Due to confusion among Councillors and the Community, Council staff reviewed the IP&R Guidelines and LG Act regarding the Revenue Policy, and it has been determined that the best place for the Section 356 Donations and Councillor Remuneration is to be included in the Operational Plan Assumptions. Therefore, these items have been moved to this area. Following public exhibition and submissions received, the following amendments have been made to the final document presented to Council for adoption:

Rates:

- Calculation of the 2019-20 Permissible Income has been included, refer to Table 1 (page 4).

- In accordance with standard procedures, we have updated the rating model to reflect current status due to land movement between categories, as well as land valuation movement as per the Valuer General, refer to Table 2 (page 5).

- An explanation has been included to clarify why the SRV revenue generated by council differs from that generated by the IPART Determination, this being a result of changes to the rate pegging across the years verses a flat 3% in the IPART Determination was well as Council resolving (February 2015) to levy the SRV on General Rates only and not on Town Improvement which was included in the IPART Determination (page 5).

- Table 4 shows the rates that would have been generated without a special rate variation (page 6).


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- Table 5 shows the actual revenue generated with special rate variation on General Rates Only (page 6).

It should also be noted that these tables are based on expected revenue generated by the rate peg verses actual revenue generated by the SRV, where as the “draft” revenue policy was based on expected movement in revenue generated by the SRV in comparison to the IPART Determination, which is why it will be noted that there are differences in the yearly calculation with the end result being the same (page 6).

Inclusion of Overdue Rates and Charges has been moved to the Rates section.

Water and Waste Charges

- The title has been changed to reflect the content.

- Overdue Rates and Charges section moved to Rates section.

Fees & Charges

- Duplicate charges within the draft Fess & Charges have been removed. However, there are duplicates that relate to individual facilities, such as photocopying charges. These remain in the document to enable staff of these facilities to print the charges for display.


Why does the SRV in the OP declare increase over 5 years is 34.35% where as IPART granted 39.4% (note previously supplied above).

The SRV funding does not add up? Note – Commentary has been provided above as there is comment about the difference in both the report and the Revenue Policy (page 5) due to in the implementation of the SRV. In February 2015 Council approved the SRV be on General Rates only which varied the percentage increase as the SRV was not implemented for the Town Improvement Levy, where IPART calculations are on both General and TI.

Why does Council hide expenses in the revenue policy? Have all nine Councillors decided to donate their fees to Council next year?

Note: commentary in the report has been provided as to why this has changed. Councillor Remuneration has been amended to reflect Council’s resolution at the Ordinary May 2019 meeting which determined to accept the 2.5% increase, included in the 2019/20 Operation Plan.

Does the $1,078,000 Town Improvement balance (March 2019) include the $220,000 commitment for the community Hub?

Note: Yes it does.

Why is there no mention of Christmas decoration improvements in the plan?

General Managers Note: This issue has been previously raised in December of last year. Council at the time gave an indication that a project for Christmas decorations would be considered as part of the 19/20 Operational Plan. Currently no provision has been provided to accommodate a funding stream for Christmas decorations however, should Council be of mind to undertake a project of this nature an allocation from TI could be resolved. This would then require a variation to those projects that have already been earmarked during the exhibition phase.

Given the state of trees in the township what is the longer term plan? Note – Council has previously resolved to undertake a Tree Policy for Oberon.

Why are drainage projects funded by Town Improvements? Note: In accordance with LG Act, Chapter 15, section 495 the residents “will benefit from the works, services, facilities or activities. See below for the nexus for Town Improvement.

”Why is the bulky Goods Collection a TI project?


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Note - In accordance with LG Act, Chapter 15, section 495 the residents “will benefit from the works, services, facilities or activities”.

There are anomalies in the HUB project. Note: This will be reported to the July Ordinary Meeting. Provided for Councillor information is the nexus for the current Town Improvement Levy: Town Improvement Levy Our Town Improvement levy is set in accordance with Local Government Act 1993, Chapter 15, 495 Making and levying of special rates: (1) A council may make a special rate for or towards meeting the cost of any works, services,

facilities or activities provided or undertaken, or proposed to be provided or undertaken, by the council within the whole or any part of the council’s area, other than domestic waste management services.

(2) The special rate is to be levied on such rateable land in the council’s area as, in the council’s opinion: (a) Benefits or will benefit from the works, services, facilities or activities, or (b) Contributes or will contribute to the need for the works, services, facilities or activities, or (c) Has or will have access to the works, services, facilities or activities.

The amount of special rate will be determined according to the council’s assessment of the relationship between the cost or estimated cost of the work, service, facility or activity and the degree of benefit afforded to the ratepayer by providing or undertaking the work, service, facility or activity. Workforce Management Plan 2019-22

The Action Plan for the next 4 years sets out how Council will address its aging workforce by strategies for attraction and retention; development of training strategies; strategies around improvement and development programs for performance systems; and ongoing robust WHS systems, ensuring safety for all employees. (page 18).

It should be noted that this plan is in line with Oberon’s aging population statistics for the Central West region. Oberon has a higher than average aged demographic.

Submissions During the exhibition period Council received 1 submission relating to the document. In summary the submission provided the following feedback:

Hardy Draheim

There is no information as to how many people work at Oberon Council in 19/20?

Note: Section 4 of WMP provides for this.

Why has the LSL/AL leave increased by over $400,000 in 3 years?

Note: The staff annual leave balance has not increased, the financial provision for annual leave has increased. This was due to the auditor at the time, Crowe Horwath, in line with requirements of the Auditor General, stating Council didn’t have enough restricted provision to cater for the current workforce – they advised we should have 70% allocated. This is considered best practice by the Audit Office and the change was made to reflect this. It is not a reflection or indication of increased leave entitlements. They continue to be managed by current policy and performance management systems.


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Building Assets Management Plan The Building Assets Management Plan is a sub plan of the currently approved Infrastructure Assets Management Plan. This plan is provided as part of the suite of documents requiring adoption however no adjustments have been made. The Building Assets Management Plan seeks to further provide additional detail as to how Council will in the future look to develop sub plans out of the approved Infrastructure Assets Management Plan. No further adjustment has been made to the Building Assets Management Plan than was exhibited. Submissions During the exhibition period Council received 1 submission relating to the document. In summary the submission provided the following feedback:

Hardy Draheim

No costings provided for ongoing Community Satisfaction Surveys in accordance with Community Engagement Strategy?

Note: Under our current Draft Plan it is proposed to undertake this during 2020/21.

Graphs show a shortfall in building assets funding? Note: As part of the OP and ongoing LTFP provision has been put in place (in line with the BAMP) to address this issue.

Ongoing issues with amenities are increasing with additional infrastructure? Note: This will be addressed as part of the ongoing approved Infrastructure Asset Management Plan. In areas of contention the decision to dispose of public assets is through a resolution of Council.

Where does the disposal of land assets sit in the plan, especially in relation to amenities? Note – as above.

Why do residents not get told what Councils plans are for the SRV? Note – this sits within the rates section of the Revenue Policy and within the OP for 2019/20.

Summary of Community Presentations ATTACHMENT 8 to this report provides a full summary of the Community presentations that were undertaken during May and June. Commentary has been included (together with staff comment) relating to items which were to be considered as part of the suite of documents on exhibition. It is noted that operational suggestions that were received during the consultation may not have been included in the documents however will be addressed as part of ongoing operations. O’Connell - 28 May 2019

Bosworth Falls Road has been contentious, some want it to remain a pleasant country road, others think it should be widened and sealed. It was the same issue with Carlwood Road.

It would be good if Bosworth Falls Road had a speed limit of 60km per hour on it. People drive along there like it’s a highway. It is more tradesmen taking a short cut than residents.

Oberon - 3 June 2019

Hardy Draheim spoke in reference to the revenue policy pg. 4 – when you look at the cumulative increase I come up with 39.4% is there a difference between the flat and the compound rate – we come up with 34.35 if we compound.

Note – this has been considered in the report and documentation.


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Hardy Draheim – There is a contradictory statement, page 5 is misleading. IPART regulation states that the cumulative increase stops in 2019/20. Cumulative figure continues forever. IPART suggests 2.27m over five years and ten years amounts to 6.67m. Doesn’t finish after five years, its ongoing into the future. The sum of future of $926,000 is different to IPART’s figure. Why is it different? Clr McKibbin pointed out at the May meeting table of figures only gives us some information. I am looking for comment to find out why is there a difference of $400,000. I am sure there is a logical reason; please explain why we all of a sudden have $400,000 less than we were granted by IPART.


Hardy Draheim - the Workforce Management Plan is the only document I found that has a past and present but is thin on the future. We are shown what the past was, what the present is what I haven’t found is how many people we are going to employ in 2019-20. In the QBRS tabled in April there is a figure called the LSL or AL provision which has gone up by $400,000. Now sits at just over $1m in three years. As far as I understand we have a wages and salary bill of around $5m if we have reserves of $1m – we ought to send 20% of our staff on leave for a year. Send one of our team at front on leave for a year and should do that across the whole 90 or so employees. This would reserve impacts on cash flow. I didn’t see anything in the WMP on how we might use this. It would impact cash flow immediately, doesn’t show as an expense. From the QBRS – 3 yrs. ago the amount was $627,000 now just under $1m restricted for leave entitlements. Anyone taking leave will get charged against the provision. If they are on leave they don’t get charged against revenue. If I send two people on leave, employ one instead, I can then upskill and that is what I was looking for in the WMP.


Keith Sullivan – Staff leave has been a major issue for this Council since my time. There was a resolution set out exactly how the staff long service leave was to be reduced. There was a significant reduction when some of the long term senior executives left. I understand the award. After a certain amount of time, there are actions that council can take. When you have long term employees, their long service leave goes up in weeks after a certain amount of time. There is a resolution in council that was done before my time as Mayor. Calculate inflation its about 4% - it gets to the point where it will get out of control.

Note – this has been considered in the report and documentation. In February 2017 the Leave Policy 2104 was reviewed, which superseded the same policy adopted in April 2008 which stated:

a) All long service leave falling due on or after 11 April 2006 is to be taken as soon as practical and within (5) years of falling due.

b) In respect of new employees transferring from other local government authorities, long service leave falling due on or after their commencement of service with Oberon Council is to be taken as soon as practical and within five (5) years of it falling due.

c) Council will review this policy with each annual estimate with a view to finding a better alternative.

The current Leave Policy 2104 is in accordance with Clause 21E of the LG (State) Award 2017 which grants all employees leave in accordance with the Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW).

Council’s current leave entitlement restricted provision (Note 6(c) 2018 financial statements, page 30) is in accordance with accounting best practice. These Local Government provisions are currently under review by the Auditor General.

Hardy Draheim – is it possible in our accounts we show in painstaking in our revenue statements what a copy costs. In the other side of the ledger we have other - $3m of materials, no explanation, the next level below the $2 or $3 mill is missing. There is nothing in the document that says what grants are expected. $1.973 mill of other – this is like writing a blank cheque. It’s an open


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statement, put the documents in here. Don’t run us blind and expect that we should trust you with a $1.9m expense. It’s to do with transparency; this document is anything but transparent. Black Springs - 3 June 2019

Kathy Beesley asked is there going to be any recycling facilities at the Black Springs Tip. At the moment lots of people collect it and have to take it to town.

Note: there will be a full review of the recycle in across the full facilities undertaken. Number of issues – China sword - stopped taking our recycling which has forced the market price so high it’s cheaper to put into landfill. This is going to be looking at that in the first part of the new CSP. Also something to roll out into the village plans. That has its own issues given the locality and transferring the waste.

Eddie Gibbons asked about the Water Bore progress. Note: the project is due for completion by 30 June. We are looking at options in the Forestry Park due to ease of putting the infrastructure in place. We will also be looking at how to benefit other areas within Black Springs when we are not in drought. Maybe the Recreation Ground toilets, that doesn’t need to be potable but needs to be permanent. This building may get water to run the toilets and alike, it won’t be potable water for human consumption. We will be looking at those type options as the next phase. It will have a standpipe, a tank attached so people can use it for non-potable purposes. Burraga - 4 June 2019

Neil Francis what are you doing on roads, you mention Arkstone Road what work are you doing? It was supposed to be 1km done per year being that it was so narrow and there are so many trucks on it. There were two sections done and then there have been a couple of years it has missed out.

Note: upgrades to Arkstone Road will continue as ongoing maintenance works allow. As part of the maintenance and upgrade Arkstone Road is part of that. Arkstone Road had significant upgrades to the unsealed section done under the LIRS money. That funding has been fully expended, we need to be aware of the comment and look at how we address those opportunities moving forward.

Anthony Francis asked about the Campbells River Road project included in your plans. Where are you talking about?

Note: Plans are developed and are currently awaiting appropriate funding.

Anthony Francis asked if there had been any discussion about the area near the gold mine, the road moves under the trucks, from the Mt David Road turnoff back towards Black Springs.

Note: This is a major Forestry road and Council is seeking funding in that area.

Anthony Francis asked about the 4.3% SRV after five years. I was led to believe after the five years that would be dropped off. Originally when it was put across to the public it was stated it would be for five years and then it would drop back to whatever the original peg was. That’s how it was explained at the time.

Note: as part of the 10 year Long Term Financial Plan Council has not included any further increase, however it will not return to the pre SRV level, it will stay at the varied level.

Anthony Francis asked has the council looked at dropping the rate somehow due to the drought as well.

Note: this is a separate issue to the adoption however will continue to be advocated for from Council to State and Federal bodies.

Oberon - 6 June 2019

Maree Arrow comment on the workforce. It seems you have an ageing workforce, I don’t know if hiring apprentices is going to solve the problem, it seems it is going to be a serious


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problem. I see you have some succession planning, training will be needed to ensure you don’t loose the skills of some of the older people.

Hardy Draheim – I refer to figures on graph which shows Council has had a significant profit and the statement this is primarily due to grant increases, I heard this on Monday and went over the last three sets of data. Rates have increase by $275k, fees and charges went up by $3.1m, grants went up by $3.3m. You wouldn’t have these figures, please check afterwards. The point I am making, the report on this table shows a $4 something million surplus, the real surplus is $6.6m – can’t see that because the expenses dilute the real figures. The total amount is misleading, and the statement that it’s all due to grants needs to be checked. The other 50% is rates and fees and charges, grants I can understand, the rates go up that’s on purpose, why have we got such an extraordinary out of kilter increase in the fees and charges. Please I am seeking information about why is this so? The statement made doesn’t seem to be correct.

Note – it was stated that the surplus for the past 5 years was as a result of grant projects which funds have been restricted until the completion of the project the following year. It should be noted that this performance measure is based on the income statement before capital works.

When comparing 2017 to 2018 Financial Statements, water user charges increased by approx. $550,000; sewerage increased by $110,000; increased capitalisation of employee benefits; industrial waste management increase by $50,000; materials and contracts decreased by $400,000, Service NSW in 2018; recognised sale of Hathaway in 2018; and grants relating to capital works recognised in the income statement, such as the O’Connell RFS Shed Grant (carried over 3 years), Stronger Communities funding (carried over), and prepayment of financial assistant grant (the FAG payment is not always prepaid, depending on the economic climate).

Hardy Draheim – I have a philosophical question. I have followed CSP and followed the four year plan, there are a few things missing in my view. As it is relevant to the annual operation plan and Long Term Financial Plan, what I haven’t seen is any comment about the fluoride plant. It’s a very emotional topic, how come that in none of the operating plan anything is stated about this, there is no grant, no money, no cost, no extra labour, nothing, just a vacuum. Under the guidelines which we should comply with when we put these plans together, I haven’t found the guidelines being fulfilled. Seems we were sold the fluoride necessity as the banana republic we had to have, sold on the health benefit of our poor kids, we needed fluoride as a dental fix. I can read that and comprehend the logic behind that, why has Council changed tack, all of a sudden it’s not a health initiative anymore, it’s simply a matter of installing the plant, no reference about the future health of our children. No one cares about it, nothing shown in any of the plans so in 10 – 15 years onwards. Why is this not declared in the current plan?

Note – this has been considered through out the report.

Hardy Draheim added there is nothing in the current Operation Plan this leads me to believe there is nothing happening in the next 12 months.

Note - The capital cost of the fluoride plant is paid by the state government and there were ongoing costs indicated in the figures. These figures haven’t been highlighted as its cost neutral by the state government. Initial training and initial operating is covered by the State Government. Operational costs will show in the accounts from when it is operational. It is included in the Delivery Plan.


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06.02 COMMUNITY BRANDING STRATEGY FINAL

File No: Economic Development/Projects/Branding Author: Tourism and Economic Development Manager, Mathew Webb

Summary This report seeks council endorsement for the final version of the community branding strategy presented by Brijid Media. The strategy summarises the findings from the community consultation process and presents final tagline and logos for Council consideration. This is a key activity in conjunction with the development of the Mission and Vision in the CSP together with a Community Brand with the aim to have a more integrated and professional visual representation for the Oberon Region. The following report outlines the consultation process, feedback and proposal from Brijid Media.

Recommendation: That

1. Council endorse the second and final phase of the Community Branding Strategy.

2. Council indicate a preference for two of the presented logo options.

3. Council place on public exhibition the two logos identified for community feedback.

4. Council endorse the tag line ‘Oberon – more than you imagine’ to both the proposed logos and as a Vision Statement within the 2040 Community Strategic Plan.

Comment FOLLOWING is the final Project Report submitted by Brijid in outlining the journey to create the Oberon Community Brand. Further FOLLOWING is the Branding Strategy that will be present by Brijid as part of their final presentation to Council. Additionally, FOLLOWING are a copy of the submissions directly presented to Council as part of the public exhibition period. It is noted that all submissions received by Council were provided to Brijid in the preparation of their final report. Previously Council endorsed for exhibition the first stage of the Community Branding Strategy presented by Brijid Media. The first draft utilised an array of existing data from the CSP engagement process to develop some interim logos and concepts that could be tested with the community to kick-start the feedback and brand development process. Brijid Media took the concepts to the community during the exhibition period via avenues such as digital surveys, school visits, street walking and workshops. Brijid subsequently compiled and evaluated the feedback and has developed the final branding strategy. A Project Report and Branding Strategy FOLLOWs this report and a summary of the findings and concepts are highlighted below. Tagline: “More than you Imagine” Takes inspiration from Oberon’s naming link with Shakespeare and sets the scene for the community to aspire, create, innovate and move forward for years to come. Logos: 2 logos are presented by Brijid in the report. Both have been developed and refined based on the feedback gained from the community consultation process. Others have been supplied through the community feedback process. They are outlined below:


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1. Eucalyptus 4 Panels: Logo iteration 1 depicts a eucalyptus branch growing upwards and to the right through the coloured panels symbolising progress and natural growth.

2. Beautiful Oberon: Intends to boldly and sleekly summarise a number of tokenistic natural attractions of the Oberon area into a beautiful modern design.

3. Community Logos: Several community designed logos were also received during the feedback process and they have all been considered and presented in the report.

In coming to the finalisation of a tag line and Logo (logos) Brijid has provided under a separate Project Report an outline of the journey that was taken to develop the end result together with a time line and process around how submissions were received. They include:

• In person by Oberon Council individual submissions were received by: o Hardy Draheim (submission and new logo design) o Fran and Tim Charge (submission) o Bob Wilson (submission) o Mark Boffa (submission) o Helen Hayden (Logo design) o Joyce Thurgood (submission and song) o Graeme and Lyndall Precians (submission) o Donna Russo (submission) o Len Mawkes (submission) o Keith Sullivan (verbal submission)

A copy of the submissions to Council FOLLOW this report.

• Online through the official BMA survey – pushed through the Oberon Council Facebook page and website

• Anecdotally through news outlets such as the Oberon Review, Prime News and Western Advocate

• Anecdotally through community-oriented groups sharing their feedback through online forums

• Street Survey undertaken 3 June • Visiting both Primary and High Schools 3 June • Via email submission

Throughout the exhibition period, a total of 461 pieces of engagement, feedback and commentary were received by BMA. Additionally, an estimated reach of 2,000+ people were made aware of the rebrand exercise and therefore the opportunity to contribute. All submissions received by Council were provided to Brijid for their consideration in the preparation of the final report. Feedback was also provided from community members attending the Community Meetings held in conjunction with presentation of the Operational Plan and Delivery Program. Some examples are: O’Connell Community Meeting– 28 May 2019

Edward and Margaret Collins we heard about it on the 6pm news tonight. Trish Forsyth the pine trees in two of them is very much Oberon and the mill if there was a

gum tree I may be more inclined to think it represented our community. The pine trees I think they appear dated, if ever there wasn’t a pine tree in Oberon I don’t know what would happen. When we sent through some comments and sent some tag lines, were they discussed as well and are they still up there? We brainstormed quite extensively, we had a few that as a community group we thought they were quite generic, it would be good to have them again.


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Trevor Seaman I don’t see anything wrong with the sign you have, I think these are awful. I would rather see you give the money to the farmers. The black background is horrible; the existing corporate brand is good.

Phil Le Breton I would loose the pine trees. I like the second one. If you are trying to invite tourism into the area the second one is more appropriate.

Oberon Community Meeting – 3 June 2019

Alan Alquist people could come up with something good themselves if they have an idea. It should have gold included in it.

Keith Sullivan it needs to be simple, and relatable. There is nothing wrong with our brand, there is no reason the corporate brand can’t be the community brand. We do agree we need better signage. If we try to capture everything good about Oberon in one logo, it will look like a jigsaw puzzle.

Black Springs Community Meeting – 3 June 2019

Christine Healey I suggest a swirl of colour that shows the four seasons. The pictures make it controversial. Make it a colour that incorporates the seasons. A continuous colour because your seasons flow. Make it simple, a vibrant colour, not dark colours. Our seasons are a circle.

Eddie Gibbons I like experience every season in one day. Burraga Community Meeting – 4 June 2019

Anthony Francis it’s not rebranding because you never had one. I think you are on the right track looking at caves, forestry etc. The pictures are pretty ordinary.

Oberon – 6 June 2019

Fran Charge a lot of people at the community meetings voted for Oberon Simply Spectacular. You could just keep the corporate logo and add a tag line. The first option is based on Mayfield which is not a natural environment. The third option with the pines is not welcoming or attractive at all. When they go small as logos’ on any literature if we are all using them for branding your tag line needs to be straight not angled and it needs to be big enough to read it.

Tim Charge is there any reason why the Council is not adopting the same logo? Developing a number of logos perhaps could lead to confusion.

Robin Wiseman I like things that are fresh and simple. It is considered that finalising a new Brand, and tag line for Oberon will provide a new look and direction for the Oberon LGA. It is considered that the final Branding Strategy presented by Brijid Media should be supported by Council in line with the recommendations tabled.

Notes:

Oberon Rebrand Final Report 19th June 2019

www.brijid.com 1

Pre-text: Brijid Media Agency prides itself on being a forward thinking, challenger Agency. Based out of the Central West of NSW every piece of work that leaves the office needs to be something the entire team stands behind and the process to developing a brand is an intricate and complicated one. As such, BMA laid out and followed the below framework in order to ensure a well-researched and structured yet creatively led process was undertaken to deliver the Oberon Rebrand.

The Plan:

BMA also consistently evaluated our development process against the below brand pyramid, looking to successfully develop a logo and tagline that achieved their respective requirements of this pyramid.

Brand Hierarchy:

Rquest for Service Briefing Process Rd 1 Insights & Understanding

Concept Development

Public Exhibition of Concepts

2nd Rd of Feedback and

Insight

Final Development

Process

Evaluation of End Product Against

Original Brief

Refinements Submission of Final Logo and

Tagline

Development of Brand Guidelines

Complete

Essence

Personality

Values

Rewards

Benefits

Features


www.brijid.com 2

Oberon Rebrand Journey

Request for Service: 26th February 2019 Brijid Media Agency (BMA) received the RFS from Oberon Council to submit a proposal for undertaking the Oberon Community Branding Strategy, to which BMA responded within deadline. BMA was also supplied at this time with the Community Strategic Plan (CSP) draft and Annex A Community Feedback to the CSP as additional material to be considered in the response.

Briefing: 2nd April 2019 Upon being notified of BMA’s successful submission for the Oberon RFS, Oberon Council and BMA promptly met to discuss the finer details of the brief and what was required/expected, along with a timeline of deliverables. BMA was also supplied at this point with In the coming week, BMA provided an outline of the process we would undertake in order to achieve the aforementioned brand development framework. A core element underpinning the entire process was the requirement of engaging the Oberon Community from beginning to end, to ensure they were as involved and had as much opportunity as possible to contribute.

BMA Planning: 8th April 2019 This process initially began by researching Oberon, it’s history, the brands and brand presence of that of the rest of the Central West NSW and also of the broader regional Australian councils. This piece of research was done in order to understand case studies for what has and hasn’t worked in the past and appropriate that to BMA’s development for Oberon.

BMA OBTA Presentation: 10th April 2019 BMA came to the OBTA meeting to introduce ourselves and outline the process of redeveloping the brand and field any questions OBTA might have had.

BMA Community Workshops: 30th April 2019 The next step was to run a number of workshops with individuals from the Oberon community. The intent of this was to gather insight into how citizens of Oberon felt about the region and more important why. This was done by running 5 separate workshops. These workshops included people from Oberon Council, Community Leaders and Councillors themselves. The ability to effectively communicate how one feels about something, especially where they live, is a difficult task for many. In order to effectively extract this insight from participants, BMA ran the workshops in a manner that used association techniques to uncover deeper beliefs and insights in this regard. At this stage BMA also reached out at an individually level to the community leaders in an attempt to get their buy in.

BMA Online Survey: 13th May 2019 For individuals that could not make the community workshops and to ensure BMA provided opportunity for the anyone within the community to give their insight before undertaking Concept


www.brijid.com 3

Development, we released a public survey that was aimed at achieving this. Over 30 responses were received from this.

BMA Concept Development: 6th May – 20th May 2019 With the workshop insights plus the online survey responses, the next step was for BMA to distil this information, identify trends, themes, beliefs and any other relevant nuggets of insight that may help shape the brand. This is done whilst always ensuring the goals, objectives and research already done for the CSP are included and appropriately weighted. This quite literally translates to an internal workshop where an internal member of BMA who has not been part of the process and therefore is able to sit outside of any prejudice, works members the team through the information received from the various sources. It is laid out on the table, categorised using post-it notes into themes, recategorized based on brand values and potential contribution to the brand development and again based on the CSP. Critical evaluation of how this applies through a colour, assets, icons, logo, tagline and sentiment is then applied to the core themes. The outcomes of this process were:

Lifestyle

Seasonality

The natural beauty of Oberon

Community

Future thinking/next gen

Diversity Applying this to the Logo design we draw out core colours, iconography, desired emotion and other design fundamentals referenced in the presentation and let the creative concepts flow. Always drawing back to the core themes as reference to the insights we received. Similarly, the tagline is a round table discussion where a facilitator explores these core themes. Listing and discussing the words, synonyms, connotations and relationships words and sentences related to the themes in a continual process of refinement. When a specific train of thought is ideated, this thread is pursued to its nth degree by the creative team while the facilitator either prompts and stokes the idea or draws the team back to the core theme. BMA ran 3 of these sessions on separate occasions so as to allow for fresh minds and new thinking to be applied each time. Ideas are then listed and ranked in order of preference. The top 5 were then selected for the public exhibition period.

Oberon Council Public Exhibition of the draft Concepts: 22nd May 2019 Upon presentation of the initial draft logo and tagline concepts to the Oberon Councillors, the full report for the initial draft designs went on public exhibition. For both the Logos and Tagline drafts, BMA put forward what we considered 3 very different logos and 5 very different taglines. The purpose of this, as was communicated at the council meeting and in later communications where appropriate, was to gain constructive criticism as to what elements of each design they liked and what elements they didn’t like. What they thought worked well and what they thought might have been missing.

BMA Community Feedback Collection: 22nd May – 12th June 2019 Submissions were received through multiple channels, including:

In person by Oberon Council

Online through the official BMA survey – pushed through the Oberon Council Facebook page


www.brijid.com 4

Anecdotally through news outlets such as the Oberon Review and Western Advocate

Anecdotally through community-oriented groups sharing their feedback through online forums

Walking the St (3rd June)

Visiting both Primary and High Schools (3rd June)

Via email submission Throughout the exhibition period, a total of 461 pieces of engagement, feedback and commentary were received by BMA. Additionally, an estimated reach of 2,000+ people were made aware of the rebrand exercise and therefore the opportunity to contribute. The feedback was then received, and the same process was undertaken for the concept re-development as was completed in the initial concept development stage. Running multiple internal team workshops, again facilitated by an independent member of the team that was unbiased to the journey so far. The feedback and direction for the logo was well received and critiqued online and provided good direction and guidance for the further development of the final 2 designs. The core pieces of feedback are detailed in the final design presentation.

The tagline feedback however received less constructive criticism and therefore required an even greater level of creative investment in its development and evaluation. All up, BMA ended running an additional 4 tagline workshops. Using various techniques for Creative Thinking such as changing stimulus, subject matter, old fashioned research, comparison exercises and more to again, list potential taglines, evaluate these against the original CSP criteria and goals, evaluate them against the feedback and workshop insights gained throughout the process, what people voted for etc. Finally, this then also needed to be evaluated one last time against the Brand Development hierarchy.

In the end, the tagline More than you Imagine was the most valuable against all of these criteria. Not only does it immediately accentuate the features of the logo which are in both cases distinct, natural elements that are easily recognisable, it adds to Oberon’s existing reputation whilst also making the reader consider “what is more than I imagine?”. The name Oberon stems from one of the most imaginative minds in history, Shakespeare, but Oberon’s community believe in the Caves, the seasons, the snow, the lake, the people, the community, the prosperity and opportunity always exceed expectations. These are the threads that weave the community together and ultimately are more than you can possibly imagine. A much easier evaluation in hindsight.

OBERON COUNCIL REBRANDRebrand Submission

June 2019

1

The process of further engaging and conversing with the Oberon community in this regard was tendered to market and locally based Media Agency, Brijid, were successful in winning the work.

The following document outlines the brief that was presented to Brijid Media Agency (BMA) by Oberon Council to develop a new logo and tagline for the Oberon Community. Furthermore it also goes on to detail how the community engagement piece crafted an initial 3 draft logos and 5 draft taglines. These assets were produced as a base from which to further extract how the community felt about themselves, what best represented them in this sense and ideas on how this might translate into the final logo and tagline.

Throughout this process, BMA ran workshops, walked the streets, visited schools, had online surveys and reviewed all submissions made in the public exhibition period. Ultimately, this led to distinct elements that were both liked and disliked from a community perspective, this feedback then helped to shape the creative thinking and design applied to these elements. The final logo variations and tagline are submitted at the end with the above justification leading this outcome.

Brijid Media Agency would like to take this opportunity to thank the Oberon community for the feedback, engagement and overall enthusiasm.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Oberon Council has for some time been undertaking an extensive process for their Community Strategic Plan (CSP). It is

the “people’s plan” that lays out the roadmap for Oberon until 2040. It has been produced through conversation with all areas of the community, from the young through to the more senior. As part of this CSP, the requirement to provide Oberon with a revised brand to carry the community through to 2040 was raised.

2

3

THE BRIEF• Oberon’s representation across a range of areas ultimately has led to 3 different brands emerging.

• Tourism and Economic Development• Council’s Community Arm• Council’s Business Arm

This led to the following brief (in short)

Oberon Council is seeking the services of a suitably qualified branding consultant to develop a branding strategy for the Oberon region which incorporates our community and economic initiatives. This strategy should translate into a brand position, brand design and style guide that can be adapted by council, community organisations and tourism / economic development associations for usage across town welcome signs, websites, events, heritage buildings etc. As the brand is the ideas and values that sum up the essence of Oberon, the community must continually be engaged to garner feedback and support for the initiative.

As the Council looks to develop and implement the Community Strategic plan, it has been highlighted that there is a need for a more integrated and professional visual representation of what Oberon stands for as a community. Various tourism, business and community stakeholders have indicated that Oberon’s brand and the way it is represented in the media and public realm is unclear.

Ultimately the outcome

MUST INTEGRATE WITH AND WORK TOWARDS THE GOALS OF THE CSP

CSP Review

Group Workshops

Community Surveys

Drafts Produced

Public Exhibition

Street Walking

School Visits

Community Surveys

THE PROCESS

4

GETTING THE WORD OUT AND TALKING TO THE

COMMUNITY

16 17 32 60 62 70 71 133

1,300

1,850

-

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

Street Walking

Council Facebook

Engagement

OBTA Meeting

Workshops

Western Advocate Facebook

Engagement

School Visits

Oberon Review

Facebook Engagement

Survey Monkey

Responses

Total Facebook

Est. Reach/ Awareness

Est. TV Reach/

Awareness (News)The approach for trying to get as much community

input into the drafts of the logo + taglines took Brijid Media Agency to schools, workshops, in person street walking, online surveys and news outlets

picking up the story of their own accord. Ultimately, leading to as much opportunity and awareness as possible for the community to provide their input.

5

THE DRAFTS

1. 2. 3.

1. More than you Imagined

2. The Good Life

3. Naturally Oberon

4. A Fresh Breath

5. Experience Every Season

Core themes such as nature and the distinct seasons + colour, community and the future prosperity and the standard of living stood

out when putting together the above drafts for exhibition.6

WHAT OBERON SAID ABOUT THE

LOGOS

8%

48%

31%

13%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Logo 1 Logo 2 Logo 3 None

Logo PreferenceWith an overwhelming response from the Oberon Community, it was an excellent piece of feedback and research that helped build on top of the initial round of

Overall, liked elements included:• Logo 2 the clear favourite with

48% preference, followed by 3 with 31%

• Seasonality of 2 a standout element

• The pine tree in 3 carried a lot of meaning and value

• The idea of strong colours valued by most

Overall, disliked elements included:• Logos 1 and 3 looked cartoonish• The pine tree, although favoured,

created debate as to whether it should be a native tree or not

• 13% of people surveyed said they did not like any of the options

• Logo 2 seen as too simple• Colours considered too strong and

overwhelming by some

community engagement, providing direction and community sentiment.

7

WHAT OBERON SAID ABOUT THE

TAGLINES

27%

3%

20%

7%

41%

2%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

More thanyou Imagined

The Good Life NaturallyOberon

A FreshBreath

ExperienceEvery Season

None

Tagline Preference

Overall, liked elements included:• Experience Every Season the clear

favourite, as it called upon one of the strongest elements of Oberon’s Tourism

• More than you Imagined voted second and it was noted that the fantasy theme played into the Oberon/Shakespearean history

• Broad range of distinct taglines led to a lower number of individuals not liking any of them

Overall, disliked elements included:• The Good Life and A Fresh Breath

not popular at all• Some more descriptive taglines

thrown out as alternatives• Overall sentiment landed voters

with one of the options, while only 2% didn’t like any of them

• Noted that Experience Every Season was more Tourism focused than it was community (the rebrand brief was community focused)

In the survey responses, both the logos and taglines received the same amount of votes. However, the amount of constructive criticism or, qualitative feedback

for the taglines was not as in-depth as what was received for the logos. This is because the taglines had more options and therefore range for a respondent to vote on as a favourite.

8

WHAT OBERON SUBMITTED AS

THEIR OWN Throughout the exhibition period for the rebrand drafts, the community came up with some interesting and valuable logo alternatives. All of the logos have value and have been included in Brijid Media Agency’s evaluation and progression of the development process, however either due to key design requirements or community feedback and insight, BMA were only able to take into consideration elements of the logos and combine it with the rest of the feedback.

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THE MELTING POT 1.

2.

3.

Reduce elements within the logo design to make it less cartoonish.

The tagline and logo both need to be more inclusive of the entire community and not just tourism.

Have a more definitive story to tell.

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The coloured panels symbolise the four distinct and constantly changing seasons in Oberon, the most frequently mentioned favourite part of Oberon by residents and councillors alike.

Some feedback from the earlier prototypes was that the colours and imagery within the four panels were too simple and or 'cartoony'. Brijid discussed and agreed with this feedback.

Borrowing the more publicly preferred muted colour tones of the 3rd prototype image, we have given the panels a less vibrant and more natural palette of pastel colours that look more earthen and subtle.

The branch itself was initially a more abstract branch design, intended mainly to symbolise the growth and change of a plant. Following assessment of community feedback, Brijid have redesigned the branch to be a quintessentially Australian gum tree.

The new eucalyptus branch still subtly depicts the growth and natural lifecycle of a plant but is now more recognisably aligned with the natural beauty of local flora and fauna found in Oberon shire, something that was consistently deemed to be celebrated in our research data and in our own professional opinion something that is a great visual symbol for the Oberon shire.

LOGO ITERATION 1:

EUCALYPTUS 4 PANELS

This design draws heavily on the 3 draft iterations and community feedback on the best elements of those designs and combining them. Based on prototype logo number 2, which emerged as a clear favourite overall in the community feedback and survey exercises, Logo iteration 1 depicts a eucalyptus branch growing upwards and to the right through the coloured panels symbolising progress and natural growth.

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LOGO ITERATION 1:

EUCALYPTUS 4 PANELS

12

We asked Oberon what are the best things about your part of the world and the answers were overwhelmingly about the natural beauty and pristine environments.

From the 'crystal clear skies' to the 'autumn' colours, from the 'beautiful sunsets' to the heritage listed Jenolan caves, from flame trees to gum leaves, from the natural landscapes to the lovely lakes - this design forgoes outright simplicity and combines so many of the Oberon shire's draw cards and combines them into a stunning circular illustration of a landscape that any community would be proud of.

Drawing back on the design requirements, although there is a lot “happening” in this design, each element on its own is simple by its own right and therefore helps to tell a deeper, longer narrative as to Oberon’s natural beauty as a more wholistic approach.

LOGO ITERATION 2:

BEAUTIFUL OBERON

This design is a new design but combines elements from the three prototypes and from the further community and council consultation that followed.

Logo iteration number 2 intends to boldly and sleekly summarise a number of tokenistic natural attractions of the Oberon shire into a beautiful modern design.

13

LOGO ITERATION 2:

BEAUTIFUL OBERON

14

TAGLINE:While Oberon is a community steeped in history, new beginnings and progression, the tagline feedback was varied and contrast. Whilst the logo feedback drew inspiration upon the natural beauty of the region, the tagline needs to pull back to original intent of the exercise. To provide the entire community with something they would stand behind, regardless of your interest, business or otherwise.

As luck would have it, Shakespeare continues to provide inspiration not just for Oberon’s name but also it’s tagline. It’s vision. Something that the community can reflect upon through their own experiences but also something that inspires them into the future for the next 20+ years.

As such, by dropping the “d” from the original “More than you Imagined” it brings the tagline from past tense into future tense. More than you imagine not only pays homage to Shakespeare himself through the imagination penned many years ago, but also carries the community forward for next many years.

“MORE THAN YOU IMAGINE”

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www.brijid.com

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06.03 RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURE POLICY REVIEW

File No: Governance/Policies Author: Lynette Safranek, Corporate Services Director

Summary In accordance with the Australian Accounting Standard 124, the Related Party Disclosures Policy is required to be reviewed annually.

Recommendation: That Council approve the Related Parties Disclosures Policy 2220.

Comment A copy of Related Parties Disclosures Policy 2220 FOLLOWS. The objective of this policy is to establish guidelines for an effective internal reporting system which encourages and facilitates the reporting of disclosures in regards to corruption, maladministration and serious and substantial waste. This policy is designed to complement normal communication channels between supervisors and staff. Staff are encouraged to continue to raise appropriate matters at any time with their supervisors, but as an alternative have the option of making a protected disclosure in accordance with this policy. The are no changes to the current policy. Councillors, General Managers, Director and Supervisors are required to complete the Related Party Disclosures form annually. Council’s Finance Department maintain a register of all declared and identified related parties for Councillors, General Manager, Directors and Supervisors. Council’s Chief Financial Officer is responsible for identifying Council subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures.

Notes:

Policy 2220 – Related Parties Disclosures

Page 1 of 4

POLICY 2220

RELATED PARTIES DISCLOSURES

1. Intent of Policy The objective of this policy is to establish guidelines for an effective internal reporting system which encourages and facilitates the reporting of disclosures in regards to corruption, maladministration and serious and substantial waste. This policy is designed to complement normal communication channels between supervisors and staff. Staff are encouraged to continue to raise appropriate matters at any time with their supervisors, but as an alternative have the option of making a protected disclosure in accordance with this policy.

2. Scope of Policy This policy applies to the General Manager, Mayor, Councillors, Directors and Supervisors of Oberon Council. 3. Definitions

Related Parties A person or entity that is related to the entity that is preparing its financial statements i.e. a related party is party that exhibits control or joint control, or significant influence over the reporting entity or key management personnel of the reporting entity. Related Party Transactions A related party transaction is a transfer of resources, services or obligations between a reporting entity and a related party, regardless of whether a price is charged. Key Management Personnel (KMP) Key management personnel are those persons having authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the entity, directly or indirectly. Council’s KMP would include the Mayor, Councillors, General Manager, Directors and Supervisors. Close Family Members Close family members are people who can be expected to influence or be influenced by key management personnel and include that persons children and spouse or domestic partner; children of that persons spouse or domestic partner; and dependants of that person or that persons spouse or domestic partner. KMP Compensation Compensation includes all employee benefits (as defined in AASB 119 Employee Benefits) and include all forms of consideration paid, payable or provided by the entity, or on behalf of


Page 2 of 4

the entity, in exchange for services rendered to the entity. They include short term employment benefits e.g. wages etc.; post employment benefits e.g. pensions; other long term benefits e.g. long service leave; and termination benefits. Arm’s length transaction A transaction between two related parties that is conducted as if they were unrelated, so that there is no question of conflict if interest. Control Is the power to govern the financial and operating policies of an entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities. Joint Control Is the contractually agreed sharing of control over an economic activity. Significant influence Is the power to participate in the financial and operating policy decisions of an entity, but is not control over those policies. Significant influence may be gained by share ownership, statue or agreement. Responsible Accounting Officer A position of Council that has legislative responsibilities under the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005. Material transaction Transactions assessed as material based on some or all of the following criteria

Significance in terms of size

Carried out on non-marker terms

Outside normal day to day business operations

Disclosed to regulatory or supervisory authorities

Reported to senior management.

4. Guidelines The Public Interest Disclosures Act aims to encourage and facilitate disclosure in the public interest by enhancing and augmenting established procedures for making disclosures, protecting persons from reprisals that might otherwise be inflicted on them because of these disclosures, and providing for those disclosures to be properly investigated and dealt with. Oberon Council is committed to the objectives of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 1994 and encourages the disclosure of instances of corrupt conduct, maladministration or serious and substantial waste. This Policy establishes guidelines for the reporting and management of protected disclosures in accordance with the Public Interest Disclosures Act 1994. 4.1 Obligation to Report

All Councillors, General Manager, Directors and Supervisors have an obligation under Council’s Code of Conduct to:

Fulfil their statutory duty, to act honestly and exercise a reasonable degree of care

and diligence


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Identify and resolve situations which involve a conflict of interest or improper use

of their position

Act in a way which enhances public confidence in the system of local Government

Report instances of corruption, maladministration and serious and substantial

waste.

4.2 What disclosures are protected under the Act?

To be protected under the Act, a disclosure must show or tend to show corrupt conduct, maladministration or serious and substantial waste of public money. It must be more than a mere allegation without substantiation and must include evidence that if substantiated would amount to eh alleged conduct. To be protected the disclosure must be made voluntarily to a person or authority nominated in this policy.

4.3 What disclosures are not protected? A disclosure is not protected under the Act if it is made by a public official in the exercise of a duty imposed by or under an Act. Protection is also not available for disclosures which:

Are made frivolously or vexatiously,

Primarily question the merits of government policy, or

Are made solely or substantially with the motive of avoiding dismissal or other disciplinary action.

It is an offence to wilfully make a false or misleading statement when making a disclosure.

4.4 Disclosures to journalist or Member of Parliament In very limited circumstances disclosures made to journalists or a Member of Parliament will be protected if:

The person making the disclosure to a journalist or member of Parliament must have already made substantially the same disclosure through the internal reporting system or to the General Manager or an investigating authority in accordance with the Act,

The investigating authority, council, staff or public official to whom the matter was originally referred has: i. Decided not to investigate the matter, or ii. Decided to investigate the matter but not completed the investigation within

six months of the original disclosure, or iii. Investigated the matter but not recommended any action in respect of the

matter, or iv. Failed to notify the person making the disclosure, within six months of the

disclosure, of whether the matter is to be investigated.

The responsible officer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the disclosure is substantially true.

5 Examples of Transactions The following are examples of transactions that are required to be disclosed if they are transacted with a related party:

Purchase or sale of goods

Purchase or sale or property and other assets

Rendering or receiving services


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Leases

Quotations and/or tenders

Commitments

Settlements of liabilities on behalf of Council or by Council on behalf of the related party

Grants and subsidy payments made to associated entities of Council

Non-monetary transactions

Compensation made to key management personnel and their close family members. 6 Review of Related Party Declarations A review of KMP and their related parties will be completed prior to 5 July each year. Whereby the identified KMP will be required to complete the Related Party Declaration and return this to Council’s Finance Coordinator by 31 July. The method of identifying the close family members and associated entities of KMP will be by KMP self-assessment. KMP are responsible for keeping the Finance Coordinator updated when any changes to those related parties occur outside of those times. Particular events, such as a change in Councillors, General Manager, Directors, or Supervisors will trigger a review of Council’s related partied immediately following such an event. Council’s Finance Coordinator will be responsible for identifying Council subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures. Council’s Finance staff will maintain a register of all declared and identified related parties. 7 Policy Review This Policy shall be reviewed annually to ensure that it meets the object of the legislation, and facilitates the making of disclosures under the Act. 8 Related Legislative and Regulatory Requirements NSW Local Government Act Accounting Standard AASB 124 Related Party Disclosures Accounting Standard AASB 10 Consolidated Financial Statements Accounting Standard AASB 11 Joint Arrangements Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIPA) Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act)

Approving Authority Oberon Council

Contact Corporate Services Director

Approval Ordinary Meeting 19 June 2018 Report Item 13.06 Minute 16 190618 Extraordinary Meeting 25 June 2019 Report Item 07.03, Minute xx 250619

Revision Date June 2020

Issue Date to Staff June 2018 Reissued June 2019


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7. CLOSED SESSION / CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS

Summary In accordance with the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005, in the opinion of the General Manager, the following business is of a kind as referred to in Section 10A(2) of the Act, and should be dealt with in a part of the meeting closed to the media and public. Set out below is Section 10A(2) of the Local Government Act 1993 in relation to matters which can be dealt with in the closed part of a meeting. The matters and information are the following:

(a) Personnel matters concerning particular individuals (other than Councillors)

(b) The personal hardship of any resident or ratepayer

(c) Information that would, if disclosed, confer a commercial advantage on a person with whom the Council is conducting (or proposes to conduct) business

(d) Commercial information of a confidential nature that would, if disclosed:

(i) Prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied it, or

(ii) Confer a commercial advantage on a competitor of the Council, or

(iii) Reveal a trade secret

(e) Information that would, if disclosed, prejudice the maintenance of law

(f) Matters affecting the security of the Council, Councillors, Council staff or Council property

(g) Advice concerning litigation, or advice that would otherwise be privileged from production in legal proceedings on the grounds of legal professional privilege

(h) Information concerning the nature and location of a place or an item of Aboriginal significance on community land.

07.01 OBERON EVENT OPPORTUNITIES

File No: Economic Development/Tourism/Events Author: Tourism and Economic Development Manager, Mathew Webb

This item is classified CONFIDENTIAL under section 10A(2)(c, d, i) of the Local Government Act 1993, which permits the meeting to be closed to the public for business relating to the following:

(c) information that would, if disclosed, confer a commercial advantage on a person with whom the council is conducting (or proposes to conduct) business,

(d) commercial information of a confidential nature that would, if disclosed. And (i) prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied it.

07.02 PROJECT MANAGEMENT - OBERON SEWERAGE PROJECTS (WATEROZ)

File No: Sewerage and Drainage/ Sewerage - General Author: Chris Schumacher, Director Technical Services

This report item contains matters and information which relate to Section 10A (1) – (3) of the Local Government Act 1993. This report item contains matters and information listed in Section 10A (2) of the Act: (c) Information that would if disclosed, confer a commercial advantage on a person with whom the Council is conducting (or proposes to conduct) business.

8. CLOSURE OF MEETING

The Mayor will declare the meeting closed.

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