Alcohol testing and bird feeding on agenda for next Council Meeting

On Wednesday, Redland City’s councillors will grapple with tricky issues including native bird feeding and drug and alcohol testing for elected councillors.

Also on the agenda are delivery and funding for remediation of Raby Bay revetment walls and the $200,000 per year cost of operating the Bay Islands Aquatic Centre.

This meeting will be live streamed by the Council. Most other local councils have live streamed meetings for some time, as we explained in a story published in July 2022.

You can view the meeting live streamed on You Tube, from 9:25am on the day of the meeting.

More information about viewing live streaming is on the Council Meetings webpage.

Drug and alcohol testing

The proposal to introduce drug and alcohol testing for Redland City’s mayor and other councillors is set out in a notice of motion from Cr Adelia Berridge.

“The intention of this Notice of Motion is about showing leadership to Council Officers
and ensuring clarity of thought when decisions are made which impact the Redlands and its citizens” says Cr Berridge.

The proposal is for elected officials to be subject to the same drug and alcohol testing given to council staff including random testing and post incident testing.

Mackay City Council adopted a policy of drug and alcohol testing of elected councillors at its meeting in August 2022.

It will be interesting to see if anyone has an interest to declare for this item.

Bay Islands Aquatic Centre

Redland City Council is the unwilling operator of a swimming facility on Russell Island known as the Bay Islands Aquatic Centre.

The officers’ report to Wednesday’s meeting says that current net operating cost for Council is about $200,000, approximately $21 per patron visit.

Members of the public using the pool pay much less to use this facility. Entry fees in 2022/23 are $3.80 for adults and $3.20 for children over three years of age.

Years ago a deal was done with the State Government giving them ownership of the asset and responsibility for its refurbishment while Council has operational responsibility which means the public can use the pool also.

The pool was built in 2007 on Council land and most of the capital cost was met by Redland City ratepayers as detailed in the Council’s FAQ.

Council officers are recommending that Council sign a new agreement with the State Government which includes an option for the Council to engage a long term operator.

Native bird feeding

Council officers want to change local laws by removing the current ban on feeding native birds where this causes a nuisance e.g. droppings, food waste attracting rodents.

The officers report says that since the current law was adopted in 2015 there have been 180 matters notified to the Council but no enforcement action but some complaints have been resolved through mediation and negotiation.

The officers’ report says public health risks and environmental nuisance issues
associated with native bird feeding can be managed under existing State legislation.

Raby Bay revetment walls

On Wednesday Council will consider “the delivery and funding for the revetment wall remediation project over multiple financial years”.

This item is classified as confidential and any discussion will take place in closed session with media and the public excluded. The agenda says that this item is treated as confidential because:

the Council is satisfied that discussion of this matter in an open meeting would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest as it deals with the local government’s budget and negotiations relating to a commercial matter involving the local government for which a public discussion would be likely to prejudice the interests of the local government.

Court Cases

Here is a link to the Council’s latest report on court appeals and actions.

Redlands2030 recently published the following story:

Cleveland Train Station apartments proposal rejected by P&E Court

At its December meeting the Council refused a development application for 122 dwellings in Kinross Road. An appeal against that decision was filed with the Planning and Environment Court on 20 January 2023.

Mayor’s trip to North America

At the Council’s December meeting approval was given for deputy mayor Julie Talty to travel to Taiwan and mayor Karen Williams to visit North America. Redlands2030 has published a story about the mayor’s trip: Mayor Karen Williams takes flight.

Agenda for meeting on 23 January

The agenda for the council meeting on 25 January can be found on the Council’s website. It includes the officers’ reports for all items except the confidential item.

Redlands2030 – 23 January 2023

Update: weblinks for live streaming of meetings updated 25 January 2023 6:30am.