Cleveland parking to be discussed by Council on Wednesday

Cleveland parking issues will be discussed at Redland City Council’s monthly meeting on Wednesday 12 October.

Other issues on the agenda include:

• A proposal to livestream video coverage of council meetings
• Redland City Council’s financial statements and Annual Report for 2021/22.

The meeting starts at 9:30am.

Some local residents have indicated their intention to gather outside the Council’s offices in Bloomfield Street from 9:00am on Wednesday to protest about disgraced mayor Karen Williams not resigning following her drunk driving car crash in June.

We’ve been told that to attend last month’s Council meeting, the mayor sneaked into the Council building via the Redland Art Gallery to avoid any contact with the community or the media. What will she do on Wednesday?

Petitions to Council

Two petitions are listed for presentation to Council on Wednesday:

“Request for Council to Withdraw its Offer of Land in the Birkdale Community Land Precinct for the Building of an Olympic Whitewater Centre” is listed for presentation by Cr Paul Bishop (Division 10).

“Request for Independent Review of Any Environmental Impact Statement on Toondah Harbour” is listed for presentation by Cr Peter Mitchell (Division 2).

The meeting agenda indicates that both of these petitions will be treated as operational matters to be dealt with by the Council CEO Mr Andrew Chesterman.

Given the significance of these issues it would be more appropriate for both petitions to be considered by elected councillors at a future Council meeting.

Cleveland parking review

Community concerns about regulation of Cleveland car parking including a petition initiated by local business are discussed in an officers’ report to Council (Item 15.1).

Ongoing concerns about Cleveland parking are a very predictable consequence of the Council’s decisions to sell off various car parks.

Livestreaming of council meetings

Livestreaming of Redland City Council meetings will commence from January 2023 if the Council approves an officers’ proposal.

The officers’ report notes that all of the larger South East Queensland Councils (other than Redlands) are already livestreaming Statutory Meetings.

Redlands2030 drew attention to Redland City Council’s inadequate video coverage of council meetings in a story we published in July 2022:

Redlands Council’s failure to livestream meetings

Council’s 2021/22 Annual Report

Draft financial statements and an Annual Report are included in the meeting agenda for adoption by Council on Wednesday.

The ‘Message from our Mayor’ in the draft Annual Report does not include any apology for getting drunk then driving while drunk and crashing her Council supplied car after the Council’s Budget meeting on 23 June 2022.

Also missing from the Annual Report is any mention that rates and charges imposed by Redland City Council are the highest in south east Queensland.

The draft financial statements show that Redland City Council achieved a surplus of $43,592,000 in the 2021/22 financial year.

Why didn’t the Council have lower rates and charges?

Details of salaries and expenses for the mayor and elected councillors, as shown in the draft 2021/22 Annual Report are shown below.

This might be a good time for the community to consider matters such as:

• Are ratepayers getting value for money from the elected mayor and councillors?
• Should these be part time roles and paid accordingly?
• Should we consider having fewer division councillors?

Confidential items

Five confidential items are listed for non-public discussion at Wednesday’s meeting:

• 20.1 Voluntary Transfer of Land Concession
• 20.2 Quandamooka Coast Native Title Federal Court Update
• 20.3 New Lease – Cleveland
• 20.4 Renewal of Lease – Coochiemudlo Island
• 20.5 Land Tenure – Victoria Point / Coochiemudlo Island

Motions from Cr Julie Talty

Cr July Talty has put forward two items for discussion on Wednesday:

• 18.1 Request to Review the Conservation Grants Category or Bushfire Management Planning and Implementation
• Request to Review Council’s 2022-2023 Register of Fees and Charges in Relation to City Water

Court appeals

Council officers prepare a report each month about various Planning and Environment Court actions and appeals involving Redland City Council.

The report omits any reference to the Council’s appeal against the heritage listing of Willard’s Farm in Birkdale.

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

Link to Council meeting agenda

Here’s a link to the meeting agenda which includes officers’ reports.

Redlands2030 – 9 October 2022

Updated on 10 October to include section ‘Court appeals’.