Published on 25 July 2024
Elected representatives of the community, Councillors, come together to represent the views of the community and make strategic decisions on behalf of the community.
They are responsible for ensuring the Council operates in accordance with legislation, is financially responsible and delivering to the needs of the community within the means of the budget.
They meet regularly to make determinations on matters that impact on you and your community.
Following each meeting we provide a snapshot of the decisions that are made and the information that is tabled.
For a full outline of the meeting and the discussion points, please refer to the agenda and business papers, or listen to a recording of the meeting – that can be found with the agendas and minutes.
Tender for management of Tea Gardens and Wingham Memorial Swimming Pools
Contracts for the running of the Tea Gardens and Wingham Memorial Swimming Pools have been finalised with Councillors voting to award Tea Gardens to Hughes Swimming Pty Ltd and Wingham to Friends of Wingham Pool Inc.
Both contracts are for a three-year period with an option for two additional one-year extensions. Contracts will commence on 14 September 2024.
Old Bar Park Master Plan
A revised Old Bar Park Master Plan was adopted by Councillors.
The draft master plan was placed on public exhibition for the second stage of community consultation during April-May this year. During this time 150 formal submissions were received from the community.
A number of changes were made as a result of the extensive community consultation period, with Councillors acknowledging the extensive community consultation that had been undertaken and the responsiveness of staff to the community feedback.
Implementation of the master plan will be dependent on securing external funding to deliver the works.
Funding request – Forster Main Beach promenade fence
Council will look into replacing the promenade fence at Main Beach Forster.
Historic photos indicate the fence was installed circa 1950s or earlier. Recent asset inspections indicate that the condition of the fence is deteriorating and has reached its end of life and as such a replacement is required.
Memorandum of understanding – Newcastle airport
Councillors endorsed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Newcastle Airport. As part of the wider Hunter Airports Strategy, Newcastle Airports and MidCoast Council will look to investigate opportunities for collaboration activities to aid economic, tourism air freight and international / domestic air connectivity development in the MidCoast and Greater Hunter regions.
Specifically, the two bodies will;
Water and systems monthly performance report
Bootawa Dam is at 90 percent capacity with median rainfall predicted for NSW between July and September.
Council also continues to maintain a high level of compliance with drinking water risk management with a rate of 99.8 percent. Effluent quality was also recorded at 99.5 percent. Two overflows were reported.
The team received 194 customer requests for the month with 100 percent of requests completed within the adopted customer service standards.
Accessibility parking space compliance review
Councillors noted the report which summarised the findings of an accessible parking spaces review. The review highlighted the non-compliance of the majority of the region’s accessible parking spaces.
Data on the 284 accessible parking spaces in the Council area was captured and reviewed.
Of the 284 spaces only 14 were considered compliant or near compliant to the current standards. This is not surprising as the suite of Australian Standards for accessibility underwent significant changes between 2020 and 2022. Most of the spaces were installed well before this time.
Councillors resolved to note the report and present the findings to the community Inclusion and Wellbeing Group. Council will also seek grant funding to assist in the upgrade of the non-compliance parking and a report will go back to Councillors to identify a works program to address the issues/options raised by the audit.
Taree levee feasibility study – final report
Councillors noted a feasibility study which found the construction of a levee and pump system for the Taree CBD would not be effective or economically viable.
An assessment revealed a benefit to cost ratio of 0.16 which indicates the costs are around six times greater than the economic benefits.
With most of the benefits affecting only commercial properties with 95 percent of the savings in flood damages experienced by commercial properties makes it unlikely that State Government funding would be made available for the construction of the levee.
Furthermore, Council would also then be responsible for the ongoing maintenance which is significant due to the allowance for maintenance and replacement costs for the pump infrastructure. Councillors accepted that while the levee is technically feasible it is unviable.
Council will now investigate options for an early warning system through government agencies in times of flooding risk.
Transport for NSW established an e-scooter trial program for NSW and invited councils to partner with operators and participate in a limited trial. Beam along with Council were successful in gaining approval for a trial in Forster and Tuncurry.
Beam started the trial on Friday 8 December 2023 with 150 scooters. Overall, the level of usage has been relatively higher than other trials with the specific circumstances of Forster-Tuncurry trial providing a strong benchmark for other areas.
Policies adopted
The following policies were adopted following review by the Policy Working Group (the minutes of which were also provided to Councillors for information).
Policy for public exhibition
The Community Assets Inspection Policy was approved for a period of public exhibition to gain feedback from the community prior to further consideration by the Policy Working Group and Council.
For full details of all reports please see the meeting agenda.