In a new episode of the Local Government News Roundup,
Greater Geelong councillors front up to library campaigners, but hold firm on proposed budget cuts, while a call comes for the Bellarine to breakaway from the council;
Campaigners claim victory as Warrnambool changes course on the location for a new art gallery;
More goats put to work on weed control;
Major changes to the NSW rate pegging system proposed;
Pressure mounting on a Qld councillor to resign;
A council under fire for not paying for Welcome to Country ceremonies;
And a marathon Council meeting of more than 14 hours results in a controversial decision in the US.
The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
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Transcript (with story links where available):
Hi, this is Chris Eddy, coming to you from the land of the Wadawurrung People with the latest from the Local Government News Roundup.
On the podcast today:
Greater Geelong councillors front up to library campaigners, but hold firm on proposed budget cuts, while a call comes for the Bellarine to breakaway from the council;
Campaigners claim victory as Warrnambool changes course on the location for a new art gallery;
More goats put to work on weed control;
Major changes to the NSW rate pegging system proposed;
Pressure mounting on a Qld councillor to resign;
A council under fire for not paying for Welcome to Country ceremonies;
And a marathon Council meeting of more than 14 hours results in a controversial decision in the US;
All of that and much more ahead in the latest update from the Local Government News Roundup.
Thanks for joining me for today’s podcast – brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association.
Here are some of the Victorian council related stories making news in recent days.
The vacancy on Greater Geelong Council, triggered by last week’s resignation of Kylie Gryzbek, will be filled through a countback procedure to take place on 28th June.
The countback, scheduled for 10am, will include all formal votes from the 2020 election to be distributed to unsuccessful candidates who remain eligible to participate.
Socialist Alliance candidate Sarah Hathway, who received the next highest vote after the successful candidates at the 2020 election, has indicated she will take up the role if elected.
Ms Hathway has been part of community campaigning against the Council’s proposed budget cuts, particularly in relation to libraries and job losses.
She tells the Geelong Advertiser today that she is incredibly disappointed that the countback won’t occur in time for her to take up a position on the Council vote on the budget.
Meanwhile, five of the current Geelong councillors fronted a crowd of library campaigners at a meeting held at Geelong West Town Hall on the weekend.
K-Rock radio reported that campaigners were pleased the councillors attended, but noted that there was no commitment to additional funding to maintain current library service hours.
The meeting followed criticism of the Council for not taking community members’ questions on the subject at the last formal Council meeting.
In more Geelong related news, the Advertiser reports today on a petition calling for a breakaway Bellarine municipality.
The lead petitioner, Samantha Wilson, is proposing a separate council area be established because she says Greater Geelong council has become too big, and has too much power over a large area and population.
As of this morning, the petition has just 60 signatures.
Geelong Advertiser, 7-6-23
Warrnambool City Council has moved away from a controversial proposal to build an art gallery on Cannon Hill.
A business case, funded by the state government, found that the estimated cost of $73M was excessive, and there would be only a marginal return on investment.
Some locals who have been campaigning against the use of the site for an art gallery are claiming a victory, according to the ABC.
Mayor Debbie Arnott said the public sentiment had been taken into account by the Council in reaching the decision, but that it was trying to be aspirational in its work to deliver an iconic regional art gallery.
The Council has now allocated $65,000 to a business case examining the potential of developing a new art gallery on the site of its existing gallery, which was built in the 1980s.
Warrnambool City Council; ABC News
A City of Melbourne committee has approved a draft Future Streets Framework for public consultation, after a debate in which one councillor described the plan as an elitist indulgence.
The Herald Sun reports this morning on the debate at a meeting yesterday about a plan that would see a number of CBD streets closed to motorists.
The plan would prioritise pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users on streets such as Flinders, Bourke and Spring Streets.
Eight councillors supported putting the plan out for consultation, while three were opposed.
Herald Sun, 7-6-23
Latrobe City Council has issued a strong statement of unwavering support for the timber industry, timber workers and communities impacted by a state government decision to close the native timber industry from the 1st January next year.
The statement follows debate at the Council’s latest meeting about the impact on the Gippsland community of the decision to bring the industry closure forward by six years.
The debate was brought on by a Notice of Motion by Cr Dale Harriman who was seeking that the council condemn the state government decision, and call on it to rescind the decision.
While the council voted against the notice of motion, it has called on the government to work collaboratively on viable and sustainable solutions to ensure a just transition for those impacted by the decision; and to support the attraction of new industry to enable economic activity and growth in the region.
Now in today’s Victorian Briefs:
New EV fast charging stations have been installed in Knox City, including at Bayswater train station.
Up to seven fast charging stations are being rolled out by Australian company JOLT at no cost to the council. The number of registered EVs in Knox is growing, currently estimated to be around 400.
A bin signage project has won a major graphic design award for Whitehorse City Council.
The project features 10 location specific poster designs promoting responsible waste disposal in Box Hill, and has won GOLD at the 2023 GOV Design Awards.
The posters represent the area’s cultural diversity and were developed by the council with Chee Design.
A new climate action platform has been launched by Indigo Shire in celebration of World Environment Day.
The shire is one of the first councils in Australia to create a public interface to track, document and report on its climate action and goals
A trio of abandoned goats has been put to work by Swan Hill council as part of weed control efforts.
The ABC has the story on how the two does and one billy goat went unclaimed before council officers decided to try them out on an overgrown patch of land.
So far they’ve been given a good report card for their work in targeting woody weeds and exotic species, and being an environmentally friendly alternative to the use of chemicals and manual labour.
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Now for some of the stories making local government news from around Australia this week.
Major changes to the rate pegging system in NSW have been flagged in a draft report released this week by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).
AAP reports that the draft report comes after a 10 month review, which called for input from ratepayers and councils.
The proposed changes include using economic forecasts to help calculate rate caps, rather than interpreting data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
We could also see council costs being calculated in separate categories for rural, regional, and metropolitan.
While many councils want to see rate caps abolished altogether, that was not part of the review’s purview. However, IPART does support the conduct of a broader independent review.
Submissions on the draft report close on July 4, with a public hearing to be held before final recommendations are made to the state government.
Mayors of affluent suburbs in Sydney are pushing back against calls for more housing in established areas, citing congestion and a lack of infrastructure to support population growth.
The NSW Productivity Commissioner has urged the state government to consider denser development and taller buildings in affluent suburbs to increase housing supply.
However, in a report from the Sydney Morning Herald, mayors argue that their areas are already congested, have denser populations than western Sydney, and lack the infrastructure to cope with even modest population increases.
They say that planning powers have been stripped from local councils and that the state government should engage more with local communities on development.
Planning Minister Paul Scully has acknowledged that western Sydney cannot continue to bear the brunt of population growth alone.
He said the government will spend $700 million each year on new infrastructure, and provide $1B over ten years to councils for new parks and sporting facilities.
An audit conducted by the South Australian auditor general has found issues in the way some councils manage sewerage services.
The audit focused on two councils, Berri Barmera Council and Yorke Peninsula Council, and found that both councils were successfully removing and treating wastewater from properties in their networks. However, the audit identified issues in how both were managing their networks.
According to a report from Government News, the audit found that Berri Barmera Council was not able to demonstrate that its CWMS network was being managed in a way that was financially sustainable over its useful life, with a likely funding shortfall of $4.6 million by 2030.
Yorke Peninsula Council was found not to have effectively assessed the condition of all its CWMS network components, had gaps in the way it calculated service costs, hadn’t identified network management risks and was failing to report on the performance of the network against CWMS objectives.
Both councils have accepted the auditor’s recommendations for improvement.
A regional councillor in southern Queensland has been reprimanded for misconduct after taking non-consensual photos of a woman at a gym.
The ABC reports that Lockyer Valley councillor Brett Qualischefski was referred to the Councillor Conduct Tribunal in 2022 after taking several photos of a woman while she was exercising at the Lockyer Valley Sports and Aquatic Centre in Gatton.
He admitted to taking two photos and looking at the woman’s groin on another occasion.
The tribunal ordered Qualischefski to undergo counselling and reimburse the council $2,000 for costs incurred, as well as reprimanding him for his conduct.
The matter was also referred to police, who issued Qualischefski with a caution.
While Cr Qualischefski has expressed remorse and stated that he wanted to “try to rebuild” the trust he had breached with the community, the Toowoomba Chronicle reports there are calls for him to resign his position.
Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan has reminded residents that she has no power to sack a councillor, but said that she would resign if she were in the same situation.
She was also critical of the time it has taken to deliver a verdict, given the incidents occurred in 2021.
ABC News; Toowoomba Chronicle 6-6-23
And at Cairns, the Mayor Bob Manning is again facing questions about a large personal loan allegedly received from a lawyer with connections to past development projects in the city.
The Cairns Post reports that the Office of the Independent Assessor is looking into misconduct allegations relating to the $150,000 loan, having called witnesses and taken statements from a number of current and former council employees.
The same matter has previously been investigated by the Crime and Corruption Commission, concluding in January 2022 with no charges laid.
Cairns Post, 6-6-23
Broken Hill City Council (BHCC) has come under fire from members of the local Aboriginal community after it voted to stop paying for Welcome to Country ceremonies during official events.
As reported by the ABC, the council voted on a policy change at its May meeting, with the revision meaning that the Wilyakali people, the traditional owners of Broken Hill, would still be invited to perform the ceremony but would not be paid for it.
Mayor Tom Kennedy said that until recently, he and many councillors were unaware that the service was paid for, and argued that paying for a Welcome to Country turned it into a paid statement, and that many Aboriginal people would be happy to perform the ceremony for free.
The Broken Hill Aboriginal Community Working Party (CWP) has called on the council to withdraw its decision and meet with members and traditional custodians to discuss how to put reconciliation back on track.
The District Council of Coober Pedy in South Australia has confirmed that the proposed CCTV cameras for the town’s central business district will not have facial recognition capabilities or licence plate scanning.
According to an ABC report, the clarification came after rumours circulated in the community that the cameras would be used for citizen tracking.
The council’s chief executive, David Kelly, said that the cameras would be used to prevent violence and vandalism, and that police would monitor footage when an incident had occurred.
Briefly:
A record crowd of local government leaders, delegates and elected representatives for this year’s ALGA Annual Conference in Canberra from 13-16 June – the 29th National General Assembly (NGA).
There are around 450 delegates registered for the 2023 Regional Forum on Tuesday 13 June and more than 1000 people for the NGA at the National Convention Centre – making it the largest event in ALGA’s history!
Australian Local Government Association
City of Launceston Councillor Andrea Dawkins has been elected as Acting Deputy Mayor following a vote around the Council table.
Councillor Dawkins was first elected to the council in 2014, and served in State Parliament from 2015 to 2018.
Acting Mayor Matthew Garwood and Acting Deputy Mayor Dawkins will serve in their respective roles until the finalisation of a Mayoral by-election by the Tasmanian Electoral Commission in July.
An e-scooter trial in the city of Mackay has been extended by a further 12 months, taking it through June next year.
Since June last year, the e-scooters have been used for more than 180,000 individual trips and travelled nearly 400,000 km.
Now for today’s International Spotlight:
A marathon meeting of the Atlanta City Council has concluded after 14 hours, resulting in a controversial decision to approve $31M in funding for a police and fire training centre.
According to a report from Axios, more than 350 people spoke at the meeting, most in opposition to what has become known as the “Cop City” plan.
Opponents say the money would be better spent on addressing underlying causes of crime, and there are concerns the development would have environmental impacts on the planned location at the South River Forest.
The meeting started just after lunch on Monday, and ended at 5.30 the next morning with a vote of 11-4 in favour of the development.
In Texas, City of Austin employees are protesting new policies that require them to come into the office more frequently after three years of being able to work from home.
NPR station KUT reports the policy was introduced two weeks ago by interim City Manager Jesús Garza, requiring all executives to be in the office five days a week starting Monday, and all non-executive staff to be in the office for a minimum of three days starting in October.
The city’s employee union said the new rules were developed hastily and lacked data-driven policymaking.
The union is pushing to postpone the changes until March.
Some employees fear they will lose their jobs if they are unable to work remotely, while others believe the policy is not environmentally friendly. The policy is scheduled to go into effect on Monday.
A trade union in Scotland has accused North Lanarkshire Council of planning to fire hundreds of early years practitioners and then rehire them on lower pay, a claim the council has described as “entirely inaccurate”.
Unison, Scotland’s largest public service union, estimates that as many as 375 full-time workers could be affected, with some salaries cut by up to £6,500.
The union is balloting members on whether to take strike action over the issue.
The council said the changes were part of its budget-setting process for 2023-24 and that employees affected had several options, including voluntary severance or early retirement on enhanced terms.
A council in Scotland has ordered the removal of a mural of a witch painted on the side of a pub in Pittenweem, Fife.
The mural, painted by street artist Rogue One, was deemed to be “based on historically inaccurate false narratives” by council planners.
The village of Pittenweem is notorious for killing five witches in the 18th century, with at least 26 people tortured and 18 killed in total.
According to the Daily Mail, the artwork has been criticised by some locals and a councillor for being “gaudy” and not fitting in with the appearance of the historic village.
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That’s the latest from the Roundup for the 7th June 2023.
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The Local Government News Roundup is recorded in the city of Greater Geelong, Victoria, on the land of the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation.
I’ll be back soon with more of the latest local government news. Until next time, thanks for listening, and bye for now.