Capes Region Organisation of Councils 1 11/12/2014

CapeROC

Capes Region Organisation of Councils

MINUTES

11 December 2014 10:00 AM

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MINUTES OF THE CAPES REGION ORGANISATION OF COUNCILS MEETING HELD ON 11 DECEMBER 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ITEM NO. SUBJECT PAGE NO.

1. ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES ................................................................................................... 3 2. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ........................................................................................................ 3

2.1 Minutes of the meeting of CapeROC 28 July 2014 ..................................................................... 3 3. PRESENTATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 4

3.1 Joanne Burges (WALGA) – report circulated and attached ......................................................... 4 3.2 Pip Close (AMRTA) and Sharna Kearney (GBTA) ...................................................................... 4

4. BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS ...................................................................... 4 5. AGENDA ITEMS ................................................................................................................................ 4

5.1 Regional Signage Tourism Update .............................................................................................. 4 5.2 Update on Regional Waste Facility .............................................................................................. 5 5.3 CapeROC Budget: ....................................................................................................................... 5 5.4 Report on Progress of the Rails to Trails Project ......................................................................... 5 5.5 Events Calendar – verbal update ................................................................................................. 6 5.6 NBN Rollout .................................................................................................................................. 7 5.7 Economic Strategies .................................................................................................................... 8

6. GENERAL BUSINESS ...................................................................................................................... 8 5.1 Green and Organic Council Policies – discussion - Cr Felicity Haynes ....................................... 8 5.2 Higher Education Pre-feasibility study – Cr Ted Tuffin ................................................................ 8

7. NEXT MEETING ................................................................................................................................ 8 8. CLOSURE .......................................................................................................................................... 8

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MINUTES – 11 DECEMBER 2014

TO: MEMBERS OF CAPEROC

NOTICE is given that a meeting of the Capes Region Organisation of Councils was held in Mainbreak Meeting Room at the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River Civic Administration Centre, 41 Wallcliffe Road, Margaret River on Thursday 11 December 2014, commencing at 10:00am.

1. ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES

ATTENDANCE

Chairperson: Cr Mike Smart Shire President, Augusta Margaret River Members: Cr Felicity Haynes Augusta Margaret River Cr Ian Earl Augusta Margaret River Cr Tom Tuffin Busselton Cr John McCallum Busselton Mr Gary Evershed Chief Executive Officer, Augusta Margaret River Mr Mike Archer Chief Executive Officer, Busselton Cr Coralie Tarbotton Officers: Mr Iliya Hastings Director Sustainability, Augusta Margaret River Mr Oliver Darby Director, Engineering and Works Services, Busselton Mr Jon Berry Economic Development Coordinator, Busselton Ms Amanda Russell Marketing and Events Officer, Augusta Margaret River Ms Tracey King Strategic Projects Officer, Busselton Mr Peter Hill Economic Development Officer, Busselton Mr Andrew Scott Land and Infrastructure Officer, Busselton Ms Megan Smith Executive Assistant Margaret River (Minutes) Presenters: Ms Pip Close

Ms Sharna Kearney AMRTA GBTA

APOLOGIES

Mrs Naomi Searle Director, Community and Commercial Services, Busselton Cr Ian Stubbs Mayor, Busselton Mrs Joanne Burges WALGA Cr John McCallum Busselton

2. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

2.1 Minutes of the meeting of CapeROC 28 July 2014 Page | 3

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RECOMMENDATION: That the minutes of the meeting of the Capes Region Organisation of Councils held 28 July 2014 be confirmed as a true and correct record. Minutes confirmed.

3. PRESENTATIONS

3.1 Joanne Burges (WALGA) – report circulated and attached 3.2 Pip Close (AMRTA) and Sharna Kearney (GBTA)

Pip Close, Sharna Kearney and Christian Bishop gave an update on the following two items:

• Local Tourism Associations Amalgamation • Regional App

4. BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Nil

5. AGENDA ITEMS

5.1 Regional Signage Tourism Update RESPONSIBLE OFFICER Jon Berry (Economic and Business Development Co-ordinator, City

of Busselton), Peter King (Economic Development Officer, Busselton)

ATTACHMENTS: Circulated RECOMMENDATION

1. CAPEROC supports ‘in-principle’, the draft road traffic sign concepts (as tabled) along with documented guidelines

2. Seeks from the two Local Tourism Associations (GBTA and AMRTA) their: a) endorsement of the concepts including the new unified regional brand (once adopted)

b) position on managing implementation of new tourism directional signage in a

partnership arrangement with Main Roads WA, the City of Busselton and the Shire of Augusta Margaret River

2. Subject to the outcome of the above, both Councils individually adopting the concepts and

revising individual tourism directional signage policies that are complementary to one another.

OUTCOME Moved: Cr Ian Earl, Seconded: Cr Tom Tuffin Carried: 6/0

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5.2 Update on Regional Waste Facility RESPONSIBLE OFFICER Iliya Hastings, Director Sustainable Development, Shire of Augusta

Margaret River ATTACHMENTS: Nil Iliya Hastings gave a verbal update on the status of the Regional Waste facility. Points to note:

• AMRS and CoB were unsuccessful in Regional Waste Funding application. Feedback from the Waste Authority was that divversion targets were not high enough, and more competitive projects were presented to them. Will be better placed to take the opportunity up if arises again

• Works approval has been granted for the for four to five more years at the Shires Davis Rd site. Vidler Rd has also got works approval. This is good news for the short term but both LGA’s still have to look to the future

• Site investigations are ongoing – both by CapeROC and the Wellington Regional Waste Group (Harvey, Bunbury, Dardanup, Collie, Capel and Donnybrook-Balingup). Conscious of not duplicating effort position the LGA’s so they have the option to go either way. Will have input into Wellington project, and provide them with options. Possibility of looking again at Slee Rd, Ridge Rd also an option. Hydrology is the most critical issue to resolve when looking at site options, which requires a certain level of investment.

• Looking at range of recycling and reuse initiatives. AMR have facilities ie cardboard baler, glass crusher, facilities at Vidler Rd which can be shared ie AMR take CoB cardboard in exchange for mattresses. This would reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. AMR have started process for dealing with green waste on site - AMR mulches, and CoB convert to compost. Have to consider haulage costs to value add to mulch to convert to compost.

• Outcomes of the SW study will be known at the end Jan or early Feb – IH report back then.

5.3 CapeROC Budget:

5.3.1 2014-2015 Allocations

2014-2015 Allocations Initiative Approved

Allocation $100,000

Expenditure (AMR)

Expenditure (BSN)

Total Expenditure

Savings/Funds Available

Higher Education pre -feasibility study*

20,000 0

0 0 30,000

Regional Land Fill Investigations

30,000 0 0 0 30,000

Calendar of Events

17,500 0 0 0 17,500

Sub-total 67,500 Funds available

for further projects

32,500

Totals $100,000 0 0 0 17,500

*Higher Education prefeasibility study - draft report has been received and will be finalised next week

5.4 Report on Progress of the Rails to Trails Project

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RESPONSIBLE OFFICER Andrew Scott, (Land and Infrastructure Officer, Busselton)

ATTACHMENTS: Nil Andrew Scott gave an overview on the current status of the Rails to Trails Project for the CoB. Points to note

• Working on the old WA Government railway line which closed in 1958. The objective is to put a rail track together on this route. A steering committee has been formed with the charter of getting a trail along the entire length of the rail line. There will be two planning stages: • Master plannning. Applying for grant funding from Lottery West to fund planning –

cultural, environmental etc. • Advertised for public commission last year • Waiting on waterways report – likely to be considerably costly – finalise early in new

year • Business case has been done. Recreational, heritage and environmental benefits, as

will as economic – 50-150 visitor days per annum could generate between $6.7 and $30m per year from visitors to rail trail.

• Present to respective councils for adoption • Stage Planning. This includes the Railway bridge near the Broadwater Estate which

is nearly complete and has been a good collaborative project. Have a new timber bridge and are waiting on fencing to be complete – scheduled to open in late January.

• Interpretation planning – need to get into detailed design of elements – looking at a stage through the Vasse townsite.

• Also looking at a section from Margaret River to Witchcliffe – picking up from the Vasse deviation

• Railway House will be at the head of the trail. In addition to Andrew Scott’s verbal update, the AMR Shire gave the following input

• AMR Shire has been attempting to get the Margaret River Station building back into the

Shire for the purpose of the Rails to Trails project. Cr Tarbotton will see if she can assist to progress this.

• The Gnarawary Roads section is progressing – AMR Shire has negotiated with local farmers and the result has been the installation of a cattle grid, as well as the width of the trail being reduced from the original by the farmer leasing back some area and only fencing off 10m.

• 20km from Cowaramup to Witchcliffe and could then extend to Sebbes Road. Boodjidup Creek will be done using culverts which can bear vehicle weight.

5.5 Events Calendar – verbal update RESPONSIBLE OFFICER Amanda Russell, Marketing and Events Officer, Shire of Augusta

Margaret River ATTACHMENTS: Nil Amanda Russell gave an update as follows:

• 22,000 copies of the calendar were distributed in the AMR and BD Times on 21 November. Mail out is currently being completed by the Shire’s disability worker.

• Web content has been entered into the CMS using a temporary URL (so people can’t find the site until it’s finalised). Currently crossing checking categories and tags as this will influence ability to search and filter the items accurately.

• ALL items tags include a ‘City of Busselton’ and/or ‘Shire of Augusta Margaret River’ descriptor so items can be filtered for each LG. ALL items also include town of event,

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eg. ‘Busselton’, ‘Dunsborough’, ‘Augusta’, so users can find items by specific location. Additional search tags are assigned as appropriate eg, ‘surfing’, ‘concert’, ‘cycling’, ‘film’.

• All items are listed at created venues with Google maps. • LGs and tourism can choose from 5 different layout options. A sample page using the

poster board option is below:

• AMR Shire and AMRTA staff will provide the CMS training to GBTA and CoB officers in the coming weeks to ensure consistency of data entry and tagging.

• All item tags include a ‘City of Busselton’ and/or ‘Shire of Augusta Margaret River • Has been integrated with app • Trying to tag venues with Google • The four organisations have access to the CMS and others can also submit. Any of the

four can vet outside items and publish. • Integration with Tourism WA would be possible, but would have to ensure events are

doubled up. • Publishing deadline before merger – was a stop gap for this year, hopefully next year it

will take on the branding of the new organisations and the region. • Maintaining domain name to feed to the content – using tags to filter content.

5.6 NBN Rollout RESPONSIBLE OFFICER Jon Berry (Economic and Business Development Co-ordinator, City

of Busselton) ATTACHMENTS: Nil

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Aware that NBN Co did a media release. Want to engage with us – wanted to see if there was any value in the NBN Co coming to CapeROC to make a presentation CapeROC decided to continue to work with the NBN Co as individual councils.

5.7 Economic Strategies RESPONSIBLE OFFICER Jon Berry (Economic and Business Development Co-ordinator, City

of Busselton) ATTACHMENTS: Nil Jon Berry gave an update to the meeting – points to note:

• CapeROC put money into the AEC group some years ago to develop economic strategy.

• CoB is progressing with own Economic Development Strategy which will benefit region. There is an opportunity for CapeROC to work together, or continue to work alone.

• The framework in the SW Blueprint includes both, so goes beyond boundaries. • Margaret River economic development progressing well ie Boat Harbour, Surfers

Point, Perimeter Road. • The CLGF regional strategy worked well with working on common themes.

CapeROC decided to engage at officer level to start with and then have them report back to the meeting.

6. GENERAL BUSINESS

5.1 Green and Organic Council Policies – discussion - Cr Felicity Haynes Discussion was held about the various initiatives which both Councils have established to set examples for the community regarding possible ways to go about organic business.

5.2 Higher Education Pre-feasibility study – Cr Ted Tuffin Cr Tuffin advised that the study had gone out as a draft for comment, then to the Higher Education Committee meeting on Monday 8th of December. The final draft will be available at the end of week – Cr Tuffin urged the members to read it. He felt that it was money spent well and wisely, and commented that Nola Marino was doing an excellent job.

7. NEXT MEETING The schedule for the 2015 meetings of CapeROC is to be established and circulated. An agenda item will be the presentation of the City of Busselton Cultural Redevelopment concept plans.

8. CLOSURE The meeting closed at 1.00 pm.

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WALGA UPDATE CapeROC Thursday 11 December 2014 The following provides an outline of some key issues the Association is working on that may be of interest to CapeROC members: Metropolitan Local Government Reform The Premier and the Minister for Local Government announced the State Governments response to the Local Government Advisory Board’s (LGAB) recommendations relating to Metropolitan Local Government Reform on Wednesday 22 October 2014. The Department of Local Government and Communities are currently drafting the Governor’s Orders, which are expected to be completed and signed off by early December. This represents a shift from planning for reform, to implementing reform. Given the Supreme Court case has also found the process to be lawful, the sector's focus must now shift to ensuring a smooth and effective transition as possible, particularly given the restricted timeframe. Accordingly, the Association will focus its efforts on supporting Metropolitan Local Governments in the transition to their new entities. Transition funding remains a concern and we have taken our advocacy for an expanded funding pool forward into the State Budget Submission. The Association's assistance in the Metropolitan Reform includes the following;

• Participation in the State Governments Metropolitan Reform Implementation Committee (MetRIC)

• Support to Local Implementation Committees when requested • Ongoing management of the Local Government Reform Toolkit (currently over 1,000

registered users) • Facilitation of a Project Director/Officer group • Coordination of Human Resource (HR) Forums • Hosting of breakfast forums

Relative to Breakfast forums, WALGA and LGMA WA combined to present a Metropolitan Reform Breakfast and Workshop on Thursday 4 December 2014. The breakfast and workshop featuring John Worsfold as key note speaker and Linda Folan as workshop facilitator focussed on cultural change to support metropolitan Local Governments during the Local Government transition process. Country Reform Policy Forum The Country Reform Policy Forum meeting due to be held on Wednesday 22 October 2014, was postponed due to the announcement of the State Government's response to the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB) recommendations regarding metropolitan Local Government reform. Association staff has been completing additional work to inform our future deliberations of the Policy Forum. Further work has been undertaken researching the various Governance

and Service Delivery models. The Governance Models and Service Delivery Models that have been research are listed below:

Governance Models Service Delivery Models Regional Model (SSS) Council Controlled Organisations (CCO’s) Rural Councils (NSW) Place Based Approach Regional Joint Organisations (NSW) Regional Subsidiaries Amalgamation Model

The next meeting of the Policy Forum has been scheduled for Monday 16 February 2015 and we will keep you informed of its deliberations. WALGA Governance Manuals Move Online

WALGA's Complete Guide to the Local Government Act and Local Laws has moved online, and log-in details have been emailed to subscribers.

This suite of online information will provide Elected Members and officers with access to the most up-to-date Local Government information, guidance on practice and procedure, legislation and pro forma templates. The service provides subscribers with access to:

• Practice Notes • Local Laws • Forms and Pro Formas

If you would like to subscribe to access WALGAGovernance.com.au, please contact Governance Advisor, Elizabeth Kania.

For more information or guidance on website use, email Manager Governance, James McGovern or Governance Advisor, Elizabeth Kania. Road Funding Acting Prime Minister the Hon. Warren Truss, addressing the National Local Roads & Transport Congress in Tamworth, advised delegates that the R2R funding program is now permanent. The most recent renewal of the program did not include an end date, meaning the program was now established as an ongoing feature of the roads agenda, which is a good outcome. However, whilst the program is ongoing, the funding is dependent on the budget cycle and Local Government will still need to be vigilant to ensure that the money continues to flow. The President, Mayor troy Pickard will continue to advocate strongly on this issue in his role as ALGA President. Freight Policy Forum The President, Mayor Troy Pickard recently announced the formation of a Freight Policy Forum. The overarching objectives of the Freight Policy Forum are to better define the heavy vehicle network on local roads and secure sustainable funding for the required network. Elected Members interested in guiding the development of the Association's policy relating to freight transport in the agricultural regions are invited to nominate for membership of the

newly established Freight Policy Forum. Nominations can be forwarded to WALGA’s Executive Manager, Infrastructure by Monday 15 December 2014. Emergency Services The President had a productive meeting with Minister Francis on October 21st in which they discussed a range of matters relating to Emergency Services, including a review of the Emergency Services Levy and its Administration Fee. As a result it was agreed that WALGA will prepare a business case setting out the need for the ESL to be expanded to cover risk mitigation and the costs incurred by Local Governments in administering the Levy for the Minister’s consideration. WALGA will discuss the establishment of a joint DFES, WALGA, SES working group to review eligible items under LG Grants Scheme with the Fire Commissioner. Additionally, we advocated for an increase to the administration fee Local Government charges for processing the Levy as part of their rates notice as well as a request for the use of the Levy funds to be reviewed to ensure the strategic and contemporary expenditure of funds raised. This will provide the sector with an avenue to advocate for the expenditure of the funds to be broadened to include the cost of bushfire mitigation and management practices. Local Government and Coastal Land Use Planning Discussion Paper - Released for Comment

On Friday, 27 November, the Association released a discussion paper on climate change, coastal land use planning decisions and the potential for liability.

This discussion paper collates all existing legal advice and the Association's research on the topic, identifies existing information gaps, and investigates whether a liability shield planning instrument is a suitable and viable option for WA Local Governments. The paper also proposes recommended next steps for the Association to undertake to support the sector. WALGA is interested in receiving feedback from the Local Government sector, and will be accepting submissions until Monday 12 January 2015. To access the discussion paper and the associated feedback template, please visit WALGA’s Climate Change Management Toolkit.

For more information on the discussion paper, email Climate Change Coordinator, Caroline Perks or call 9213 2049. Tourism Case Studies

WALGA recently conducted research into Local Government strategic plans.

In response, WALGA is developing a briefing paper and State Council Agenda item for the March 2015 meeting to inform recommendations for progress. We are seeking case studies that showcase Local Government activities that promote tourism to include in our briefing and invite interested Councils to participate.

For more information, email Community Policy Officer, Nina Hewson or call 9213 2082. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish CapeROC members a safe and joy filled festive period, surrounded by family and friends and look forward to working with you in 2015. Warm regards Jo Burges Regional Cooperation Manager WALGA