Cr Jason Callanan - Mayor - Yarra Ranges Council

Join the Monbulk Structure Plan Community Reference Group

Yarra Ranges Council is seeking expressions of interest from community members to join a Community Reference Group for the Monbulk Structure Plan.

The structure plan aims to establish a vision and framework for future land use, development and urban design of the township.

The purpose of the reference group is for the community to have a voice and to share their local knowledge and needs, ensuring individuals and groups are represented at key points throughout the project.

Council is inviting nominations from people who are open-minded in their approach when considering the future possibilities of the town.

Those planning to nominate must be community-oriented, interested in a range of issues and willing to commit to working in a group where participants may have diverse views.

Being part of the group would mean having the opportunity to shape the future of Monbulk by contributing to Council’s planning process.

I want to create a township that provides a range of quality services and facilities for our community for years to come!

“It’s important we get the right mix of retail, cultural, recreation, entertainment and community facilities that support health and education, for residents and for visitors.”

Up to 10 people will be appointed to the group.

For more information about the project and to complete an expression of interest form, go to http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/…/Join-the-Monbulk-Struct…

Or visit Council’s Monbulk Community Link or phone Strategic Planning on 9294 6195.
The closing date for submissions is Friday, 29 July.

The Yarra Glen People’s Panel will hand down its final recommendations at next week’s Council Meeting on Tuesday, 14 June.

Comprising twelve Yarra Glen residents, the People’s Panel was established in March this year to decide how the proceeds from the sale of the former Yarra Glen Maternal and Child Health Centre could be spent on infrastructure projects in Yarra Glen.

The Panel met across April and May to hear from expert presenters and community members to assist them in making their final recommendations. A further 200 residents were also consulted as part of the project. Their feedback was used to assist the Panel in making its final recommendations.

Local residents were also encouraged to attend the Panel hearing days to watch the group in action.
Panel member and Local Yarra Glen resident Hayley Davies said the Panel was an opportunity for her to “give back to the community that raised me”.

“We had such a range of people on the panel from a member who was 84 years old to an 18 year old,” Ms Davies said.

“I was so impressed, we were provided with so much information and resources, we were even able to request resources or professionals we wanted to hear from to make an informed recommendation,” she said.

Ms Davies praised the Panel members for their enthusiasm and taking this opportunity to make recommendations directly to Council.

“The panel is truly democracy in action,” Ms Davies said. “This process gave us [the Panel members] a whole new appreciation on what is involved in making decisions [on infrastructure projects.”

At tonight's Ordinary Council meeting we will be recommending:

the Draft 2013-2017 Council Plan(2016 Update) incorporated with this resolution and initialled by the Mayor for identification, be the Council Plan and Strategic Resource Plan prepared by Council for the purpose of Sections 125 and 126 of the Local Government Act 1989.
The draft 2016-2017 budget incorporated with the resolution and initialled by the Mayor for identification, be the budget prepared by Council for the purpose of Section 127 of the Local Government Act 1989.
The draft Long Term Financial Plan 2016-2017 to 2025-2026 (including the draft Capital Expenditure Program 2016-17-2025-2026) incorporated with the resolution and initialled by the Mayor for identification, be the 10 year LTFP and the 10 year CEP prepared by Council as part of the 2016-2017 Budget process.
The Chief Executive Officer be authorised to:

Give public notice of the draft Council Plan, Budget, Capital Expenditure Program, and Long Term Financial Plan in accordance with Section129 of the Local Government Act 1989
Make available for public inspection the information required.

The "revised" nature strip guidelines are out for public viewing and comment. I encourage as much feedback as possible as this will affect everyone!

Click on the link below:

http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Lists/Current-consultation/Nature-strip-roadside-guidelines

At last night's Council meeting I moved a motion relating to the redevelopment of the Anderson Street Council Offices. This is a significant project for this council and has been delayed for over 10 years.

I understand and appreciate that this project will not be popular, but this building has been left to rot! A decision should have been made many years ago! Why wasn't it?

So we have had to make a hard decision to progress and finally after many delays and non-decisive "decision makers" this project will finally move forward to the next step.

As a ratepayer you will get ample opportunity to voice your concerns, suggestions and input into this project as the project progresses.

There are still 2 HOLD points for council to make a final decision prior to construction!

But this project has been "on hold" for over 10 years!

Below is the motion and my speech.

RECOMMENDATION

That Council

Endorses the complete redevelopment of the Anderson Street Council Offices site.
Approves the additional funding and borrowings required to undertake the complete redevelopment of the Anderson Street Council Offices.
Funds additional costs for the complete redevelopment of the Anderson Street Council Offices with $3.8 million from the Asset Renewal Fund, and $5.9 million from new borrowings.

Councillors I would like to move an “Alternate” motion to item 7.8 regarding the Municipal Office Project and if I have a seconder I will speak to it.

Councillors, we have been on a long journey with this project and we have now made some significant progress:

Even before I came to council in 2012, this building has been undergoing a number of reviews and assessments about its longevity and its adequacy for our employees and our rate payers.

During my time we have considered various options on what to do here, from relocating to another building, constructing a new office, or renovating/rebuilding here.

A few years ago council considered the move to then old swinburne site and co-locate with other educational agencies, that didn’t come to fruition.

In august 2015, we endorsed to do a revised “feasibility” assessment for this site here at the shire offices in Lilydale which were built in 1970.

I have been privy to a recent tour of the office block which revealed some alarming issues, such as flooding, termites, and land movement. Not to mention the office interiors where there was no natural light, odours of built up moister and large cracks in the walls.

Upon completion of this feasibility report “which we initially priced at around $420,000.00” but ended up being $117,000.00 a saving of over $300,000.00 revealed an even more alarming scenario.

Here it is! a substantial report outlining clearly the current state of play here at these offices.

This report revealed $6.5 Million dollars were needed to just make our offices “compliant and appropriate” for today’s standards.

Things such as disabled access, heating and cooling, fire safety, electrical, plumbing. ALL revealed major issues!

None of this happened overnight! Some of these issues have been “brewing” for many years prior to 2012, and for whatever reason had been delayed, deferred or patched up.

We are now facing a critical point! We must make some changes!

Now that we are all aware of the issues, and now they have been documented we must act!

Also we now have a real opportunity to recreate a civic centre for the Yarra Ranges Shire that is “fit for purpose” a space that will last for another 50 years.

Now tonight’s recommendation isn’t about accepting a contract and placing construction signs up, it’s the next step in the chain

We have been shown the issues, we all know how bad this place is, we now have some options around what we would like to move to for the next decision point.

Now I was concerned when I received this report in our agenda – a 13 page report.

I was uneasy to bring this to council.

Now if i was uneasy to propose a multi-million dollar project on 13 pages and had multiple briefings from architects and project officers and 2 tours of the site, I wonder how our community would feel?

Do we have something to hide?

Well I can stand here and unequivocally state NO WE DONT

Yes some questions need to be answered?

Are we being responsible with your rates?

If we look at pages 169, 170, 171 (of the meetings agenda) we all see a graph showing our risk of debt, the top line for the public’s sake is at 40%. There it shows the “Victorian Auditor General’s office (VAGO)” suggestion that 40% and below is considered a low risk.

Looking at each graph – we don’t breach that level, hence we are well within our means to support/fund this project.

What about the rate cap coming in, will council ask for a variation so we can exceed the 2.5% rate cap in order to fund this project? – We have all agreed to stick within the rate cap and not ask for any variation.

Why can’t we just fix the compliance issues? –

We can, but we still have major issues with space, cost of renting other locations, people still working in outdated and redundant annexes.

For one of the largest employers in this shire (around 900 staff) if we were to just fix the non compliant issues, I feel that just shows we are going to cover our backsides and not worry how our current staff work and operate.

Research shows that with modern, well lit, and well spaced office space, productivity can increase by 10%, and absenteeism can drop by 5%.

Well it looks like you are only looking after your own back yard!

Yes we are looking after are own backyard, but this backyard supports ALL of your back yards

If we want to improve customer service, planning, and other services, we need to look after our staff by providing them with safe and healthy environments that they WANT to work in (Not just get payed)

Why are you not telling us about this major project?

We are, this is the start of explaining to everyone our current situation, this brief will grow, I’ve learnt today that the “draft” soil report has arrived and that alone is another 2-300 pages.

I want to ensure we are not trying to hide anything and we want to be as transparent as possible, BUT

I want us to be consistent too! We must follow a process, all major projects do,

In fact we are stepping outside of this process by providing the public with these reports!

This wasn’t done for Burrinja, the Belgrave hub, the Monbulk Living and learning centre or the Regional Soccer facilities ALL of which were multi Million dollar rate payer projects.

Our community will have AMPLE input in the next steps such as the actual planning permit process!

Councillors I am asking for your support for the 3rd option which essentially creates a new office but it will still keep some of its original identity, it will be modest and FIT FOR Purpose!

This is no Taj Mahal, you won’t see any gold seat toilets, or crystal chandeliers, what our rate payers and staff will get is a functional, breath of fresh air and a place they can’t enjoy coming to.

Tonight’s decision is to give our council officers some direction and start looking further into what we need here as in terms of practicality and cost efficient work space along with creating a new civic centre which will last for another 50 years

I ask that you support option three and let this project finally move forward, any further delays will only result continued disregard for our work force and rate payers due to excessive maintenance and repairs, and continued hiring of new staff!

What is rate capping?

In 2015, the Victorian Government introduced rate capping legislation in the form of its “Fair Go Rates System” (FGRS). The FGRS or rate capping introduces an annual rate cap set by the Minister for Local Government which controls general rate increases for all councils during that financial year.

On 22 December 2015, the Minister for Local Government, the Hon Natalie Hutchins MP, advised an annual rate for the 2016/17 financial year of 2.5 per cent. Councils can seek approval to raise an increase above this figure through a variation with the Essential Services Commission (ESC).

How will rate capping impact local government?

Rate capping inhibits local government’s ability to deliver services to local communities and seeks to control democratically-elected councillors.

Similar policies carried out in the 1990s by the Kennett Government resulted in a significant cut in spending, especially for infrastructure maintenance and renewal. The current Government’s rate capping policy would likely see a widening of Victorian local government’s asset renewal gap, a focus of a recent Victorian Auditor-General report, and force local government to reconsider its role in the delivery of many community services.

What is a variation to the rate cap?

A large number of councillors have expressed a concern at their ability to manage community infrastructure and service delivery under rate capping; and question how to support growth which is better aligned to community expectation and their agreed Community Plan.

Councils have the option to seek a variation above the annual rate cap, through the ESC, to support vital community services and infrastructure.

There are many reasons councils may choose to seek a variation:
•   Funding vital infrastructure
•   Supporting community services
•   Asset and infrastructure renewal

Now that the VEC has made its final report, where does this now leave you and what ward (electorate) will you be in?

There will now only be 3 wards - generally speaking

Chirnside (metro)
Streeton (Hills)
O'Shannassy (Valley/Rural)

For those in the current "Chandler Ward" - Most of you will become O'Shannassy with the exception of the Monbulk township, which will be in "Streeton Ward".

Suburbs of:

Silvan, Wandin, Wandin East/North, Macclesfield, Yellingbo, Haddles Creek, Beenak, Mt Evelyn, Seville, Seville East, Gruyere, Coldstream, Woori Yallock, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Wesburn, Don Valley, Millgrove, Warburton, East Warburton, Big Pats Creek, McMahons Creek, Reefton, Cambarville, Fernshaw, Healesville, Badger Creek, Chum Creek, Tarrawarra, Diamond Creek, Steels Creek, Cape Horn, Yarra Glen, and Yering.

All these townships will now be under O'Shannassy Ward.

"The VEC recommends Yarra Ranges Shire Council consist of nine councillors elected from three three‑councillor wards"

A representation review for Yarra Ranges Shire Council was scheduled for 2019. Based on evidence suggesting that the Lyster Ward was approaching the 10 per cent tolerance for the average number of voters per councillor, the scheduled representation review for Yarra Ranges Shire Council was brought forward in to the 2015 program.

A preliminary report was released on Wednesday 30 September. The VEC considered public submissions and research findings when formulating the options presented in the preliminary report.

Electoral structure

The VEC put forward three models for further consultation. Option A reflected the status quo of nine councillors elected from single-councillor wards, with slightly modified ward boundaries. Option B reflected the strong message in submissions that a three-ward model with three councillors in each would be the best way to represent the three major geographic communities of the municipality. Option C (a multi‑councillor model with one four-councillor ward, one three-councillor ward and one two‑councillor ward) also reflected the desire for multi-councillor wards expressed in submissions, minimising the need to split localities and providing an alternative arrangement for capturing identified communities.

Options

After careful consideration, the VEC put forward the following options:

· Option A (preferred option)
Yarra Ranges Shire Council continue to consist of nine councillors elected from single‑councillor wards, with modified ward boundaries.

· Option B (alternative option)
Yarra Ranges Shire Council consist of nine councillors elected from three three‑councillor wards.

Option C (alternative option)
Yarra Ranges Shire Council consist of nine councillors elected from one four‑councillor ward, one three-councillor ward, and one two-councillor ward

The VEC accepted submissions responding to the preliminary report from Wednesday 30 September until 5.00 pm on Wednesday 28 October. The VEC received 18 response submissions. A list of people who made a response submission can be found in Appendix 1. Table 1 indicates the level of support for each option.

Table 1: Preferences expressed in response submissions*
Option A	Option B	Option C
7	10	0
*One submission did not support any of the VEC’s proposed options.

The VEC conducted a public hearing for those wishing to speak about their response submission at 7.00 pm on Thursday 5 November at the Yarra Ranges Shire Council Offices, 15 Anderson Street, Lilydale

Option B: nine councillors elected from three three-councillor wards

The model put forward by the VEC in Option B captured the sentiment expressed in many of the submissions, which described the natural formation of three distinct areas: the densely populated urban area of the metropolitan fringe; the south-western area around the Dandenong Ranges; and the rural communities and natural environments in the east of the municipality. Option B has strong and clearly identifiable ward boundaries reflecting these communities of interest.

This option combines the current wards of O’Shannassy, Ryrie and part of Chandler into a large rural ward. Parts of the inner Dandenong Ranges in Streeton and Lyster Wards are combined; with sections of the Walling, Melba and Billanook Wards also merged to form one larger, urban multi-councillor ward.

The boundaries avoid splitting localities as far as possible, and of all the options, the preservation of localities (particularly in the higher-density urban western part of the Shire) is achieved most effectively by this model.

This model also brings with it the benefits of the proportional representation vote counting method, and provides voters with a greater number of candidates to choose from at election time. Once in office, there are more councillors for constituents to approach on matters of concern in each ward.

One of the limitations of multi-councillor wards is that the capacity for councillors to be familiar with all local issues can be reduced due to the larger size of the wards. With three councillors per ward, however, there is an opportunity for sharing the workload between councillors. While the O’Shannassy Ward proposed under Option B is much larger in geographic area than the current single-councillor ward, the model increases the representation for voters in the ward by providing more councillors.

Fair and equitable representation is still able to be achieved, and is arguably improved, with multiple councillors per ward. The three-ward structure with three councillors per ward is considered by the VEC to be less vulnerable to the impacts of the population growth pattern, and is therefore a sustainable model for the municipality into the future.

In submissions and at the public hearing, the VEC heard persuasive arguments for the three three‑councillor wards option, put forward by residents from across the whole municipality. The model has been tested in previous reviews and has consistently received strong local support.

While it is important to note that the VEC’s decision is not made according to the popularity of the option, it is clear that there is an appetite for change, with momentum building over a number of years.

Taking into account the effects of the uneven projected population pattern, longer-term vulnerability of the single-ward boundaries, as well as the sentiment expressed in submissions in support of Option B, the VEC considers Option B a preferable model for the Shire.

Advertising

In accordance with the Act, public notices of the review and the release of the preliminary report were placed in the following newspapers:

Newspaper

Notice of review

Notice of preliminary report

Herald Sun

Wednesday 15 July

Wednesday 9 September

Free Press Leader

Tuesday 4 August

Wednesday 30 September

Mount Evelyn Mail

Tuesday 4 August

Tuesday 6 October

Ranges Trader Mail

Tuesday 4 August

Tuesday 6 October

Mountain Views Mail

Tuesday 4 August

Tuesday 6 October

Ferntree Gully Belgrave Mail

Tuesday 4 August

Tuesday 6 October

Lilydale Yarra Valley Leader

Tuesday 4 August

Tuesday 6 October

The Age

Tuesday 4 August

Wednesday 30 September

Media releases

A media release was prepared and distributed to local media at the commencement of the review on Wednesday 5 August. A further release was distributed at the publication of the preliminary report on Wednesday 30 September. A final release was circulated on the publication date of this final report.

Public information sessions

Public information sessions for people interested in the review process were held on:

·         Monday 10 August at the Yarra Ranges Shire Council Offices, 15 Anderson Street, Lilydale

·         Wednesday 12 August at The Memo, 235 Maroondah Highway, Healesville

·         Thursday 13 August at the Monbulk Community Link, 21 Main Road, Monbulk.

Helpline and email address

A telephone helpline and dedicated email address were established to assist members of the public with enquiries about the review process.

VEC website

The VEC website delivered up-to-date information to provide transparency and facilitate public participation during the review process. An online submission tool was made available and all public submissions were posted on the website.

Guide for Submissions

A Guide for Submissions was developed and distributed to those interested in making submissions. Copies of the Guide were available on the VEC website, in hardcopy on request and also provided to Council.

Council website and newsletter

Information about the review was provided to Council for publication in council media,

e.g. website and newsletter.

Well my first week in the chair has passed, and Im still awake!! Lots to do and people to meet. Ive been humbled by the support I am receiving and look forward to working with them all. Only 8 more days until we reopen the Olinda Pool, can't wait!! Hope to see you all there!

Cr Jim Child (Chair) and Cr Jason Callanan (Mayor & RAV Delegate) are excited to be part of this committee!

The Rural Advisory Committee will be an important conduit to inform Council and provide constructive advice on issues and initiatives relevant to the management and development of the rural sector within the municipality.

The RAC will have a strategic and guiding role in the rural sector. It is representative of a broad cross section of the rural sector. Agribusiness is recognised in the Economic Development Strategy as a key strategic sector. It is a critically important element of the Yarra Ranges economy, providing 7% of total economic output and 6% of jobs. The Strategy highlights the importance of Council maintaining strong links with industry partners and local producers. The Committee fulfils in part our aspirations in this regard.

Cr Jason Callanan - Mayor - Yarra Ranges Council

MONBULK STRUCTUR PLAN WANTS YOU!

Yarra Glenn to decide funding allocation!

Council Meeting 10th May 2016

Whats been happening in the shire?

Nature Strip Guidelines - Have your say!

Municipal Building Project Motion

Rate Capping - What does this mean?

What is rate capping?

How will rate capping impact local government?

What is a variation to the rate cap?

3 Wards? Where do you sit?

Major Changes at 2016 Elections!

A preliminary report was released on Wednesday 30 September. The VEC considered public submissions and research findings when formulating the options presented in the preliminary report.

Options

Option B: nine councillors elected from three three-councillor wards

1st Week Done!

Inaugural Yarra Ranges Rural Advisory Committee

"HAVE A CHAT WITH MAYOR JASON"

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Newspaper	Notice of review	Notice of preliminary report
Herald Sun	Wednesday 15 July	Wednesday 9 September
Free Press Leader	Tuesday 4 August	Wednesday 30 September
Mount Evelyn Mail	Tuesday 4 August	Tuesday 6 October
Ranges Trader Mail	Tuesday 4 August	Tuesday 6 October
Mountain Views Mail	Tuesday 4 August	Tuesday 6 October
Ferntree Gully Belgrave Mail	Tuesday 4 August	Tuesday 6 October
Lilydale Yarra Valley Leader	Tuesday 4 August	Tuesday 6 October
The Age	Tuesday 4 August	Wednesday 30 September