RCC Week ending 13 June  2015

Redlands2030 brings you a weekly summary of Redland City Council news, and other information.

 King Island gets new visitor signs

New visitor signs at King Island - Photo by Chris McCormack Redland City Bulletin

New visitor signs at King Island – Redland City Bulletin

Visitor information signs have been erected on King Island which is connected to Wellington Point at low tide. The new signs were a joint effort by the Redland City Council (through a $1,700 councillor grant from Division 1 representative Cr Wendy Boglary) and the State Government.

The signs tell visitors that dogs, camping, destruction of trees and open fires are not allowed in this conservation park. More information is available in this report by the Redland City Bulletin.

Chicken poo power plant court case

The extent to which Council informed the community about its decisions in October 2012 in relation to a court case were explored in two articles by the Bulletin; published on 8 June and  11 June. A letter from CEO Bill Lyon, published in the hard copy edition of the Bulletin (10 June), stated that council issued a media release soon after the matter was discussed in a confidential session of council. Here is a link to the Council’s November 2012 media release.

Redland Investment Corporation

The Redland City Council has established a subsidiary company with a charter to “gain best value from surplus Council land and spur investment to benefit the Redlands”. In a news release issued on Friday, Cr Edwards stated “It’s not about selling off surplus land to make a quick dollar.” According to Cr Edwards:

Until now, Council only had two options available to it to manage surplus land: secure it and maintain it at a considerable cost to ratepayers, or sell it as is. This has resulted in some land being sold for bargain prices and purchasers handed all the benefits from up-valuing the land. Now through Redland Investment Corporation, the dividends from up-valuing some of Council’s land through obtaining development and environmental permits and business licences before sale will return to Council as a new revenue stream. In Cleveland and Capalaba Central Business Districts alone, Council has about four hectares of underutilised land. With the centres in need of investment and rejuvenation and the community in need of jobs, Redland Investment Corporation will work to spur the right type of investment in these areas.

The Council’s news release gives no indication as to which parcels of Council owned land are likely to be “upvalued” and sold off. Many in the community will be seeking reassurance that Council owned land with conservation values is not going to be sold off through the new corporation.

Council to discuss Tourism Strategy at meeting on 17 June

Cover of Redland City Tourism Strategy

Cover of Redland City Tourism Strategy

Council will have a General Meeting on Wednesday 17 June, commencing as usual at 9:30 am.

Here is a link to the agenda.

Items up for discussion include:

11.2.1 REVIEW OF MEETING STANDING ORDERS
The proposed new standing orders discusses who will be allowed to take photos and make recordings of Council meetings.
The proposed standing orders include the following provisions (item 29):
Council will record, in both audio and video, its general, special and committee meetings for the periods that they are open to the public. The recordings will be made available to the public online at the earliest opportunity after the meeting has concluded, usually no later than close of business the same day. The recordings will also be used to assist in the accurate preparation of the minutes.
All participants at meetings are reminded that parliamentary privilege does not apply to local government. Individuals must take responsibility for their own words and actions. Council may, at the discretion of the CEO, remove any part of a recording for publication only where there is real concern that not to do so would expose Council to risk of an action for publishing defamatory material or releasing personal information contrary to legislation.
Item 32 of the proposed new standing orders says that members of the public must:
Not, without the prior approval of the chairperson, make any audio or videorecording, or take any photographs
11.2.3 REDLAND CITY TOURISM STRATEGY AND ACTION PLAN 2015-2020
Councillors are being asked to adopt a Tourism Strategy and Action Plan developed by consultants The Stafford Group. The report to councillors states that the process used to develop these documents involved face-to-face industry consultation and face-to-face industry meetings and forums.
This document (included in the meeting agenda) may be of interest to anyone interested in tourism and its role in Redland City’s economic development. The proposed Actions start on page 75 of the report.
14.1.1 CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS AND RESOLUTIONS
Cr Murray Elliott proposes that council resolves to:
  1. Subject to resolution 2 below, publish on Council’s website all general meeting reports including attachments that have been resolved by Council since January 2010 to be kept wholly or partly confidential (noting that these will be attached to the minutes of the original meetings to which they relate);
  2. To redact information contained in the reports and attachments referred to in resolution A that may fall within the exceptions listed in the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI) including Personal Information, Legally Privileged Advice, Commercial in Confidence information, and Third Party Opinion that may be applied for and assessed by RTI application; and
  3. That the Chief Executive Officer implements a procedure to action the above resolutions as soon as practical, working from the most recent reports, backward in time; and applies such procedure to ensure future confidential resolutions are regularly reviewed and published wholly or partly as soon as the confidentiality terms are met in accordance with the RTI Act.

 Report by Redlands2030 – 14 June 2015

Correction: 15 June 2015, 11;55 am

When originally published this article reported that Cr Lance Hewlett was putting forward the motion referred to in item 14.1.1 CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS AND RESOLUTIONS. This was incorrect and it is in fact Cr Murray Elliot who is putting the motion forward.

Jan, Jun 14, 2015

Is the subsidiary company going to be staffed by council staff or by outside staff? If outside staff, land sales will have to fund staff wages before any profits can “relieve ratepayers rates rises!” Or are we looking at another committee and if so, will minutes be available?

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