Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Greater Geelong City Council held at the Council Conference and Reception Centre - City Hall on 8 July 2014, commencing at 7:00pm.
Mr Tsorotes
Barton van Laar, President Bike Safe
Lyn Mason
Judith Brooks
Colin Wallace
Judith Brooks
Dennis More
Georg Daglas
Cr D Lyons (Mayor)
Crs:
T Ansett
L Ellis
J Farrell
K Fisher
B Harwood
J Irvine
E Kontelj
S Kontelj
R Macdonald
R Nelson
A Richards
D Frost (Acting Chief Executive Officer)
M Kelly (Acting General Manager Corporate Services)
P Bettess (General Manager Economic Development, Planning and Tourism)
G Van Driel (General Manager City Services)
J McMahon (General Manager Community Services)
P Jane (Acting General Manager Projects, Recreation and Central Geelong)
J Brown (Manager Administration and Governance)
R Bourke (Co ordinator Governance & Legal Services)
D Chiller (Senior Co-ordinator Communication & Marketing)
A Paterson (EO – Mayor)
The Mayor declared the meeting open at 7:00pm.
Council acknowledges Wadawurrung Traditional Owners of this land and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who are part of the Greater Geelong community today.
Cr Fisher acknowledged NAIDOC’s week of celebrations held across Australia to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. An aboriginal flag was raised at Johnstone Park this week as part of local celebrations of NAIDOC Week.
Councillors:
M Heagney (Leave of Absence)
Cr Macdonald moved, Cr Ansett seconded -
That the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on 24 June 2014 be confirmed and signed.
Carried.
Nil.
Question Time is an opportunity for questions to be addressed to Council and while the minutes record the general content, they do not purport to be a transcript of what was said by individuals. Likewise Councillor or Officer verbal responses are in summary form only. Views expressed may not be the views of Council.
Council's practice is to provide a separate document on its website setting out questions and responses including any more detailed written responses which may be provided subsequent to the meeting.
Mr Tsorotes asked the following questions of Cr Farrell:
In May you retweeted an offensive and racist comment directed towards me where I referred to as “A Greek Property Parasite”. Why Cr Farrell did you feel this was appropriate in your position?
Cr Farrell took the question on notice.
When Georgia Capper commented on this you clearly back tracked saying “love the Greeks” “Property parasites, not so much”. Please elaborate what you define as a property parasite?
Cr Farrell took the question on notice.
Why Cr Farrell have you not apologised to me for this or made any effort?
Cr Farrell responded she did not believe that she did anything wrong.
The following question was directed at Cr Lyons and Mr Frost:
I made a written complaint on the matter and was astounded to learn that there is no social media code of conduct governing the behaviour of Councillors aside from the Mayor, even those such as Cr Farrell are using their accounts for the purpose of their roles as civic leader. Why is there no such policy in place, given that many large organisations have criteria which can see employees terminated for behaviour on their own personal accounts if it reflects negatively on the business?
The Mayor took the question on notice.
Barton van Laar, President Bike Safe asked the following questions:
Could any unallocated funds in this year Budget mid August review be used to fund:
Design works for cycling infrastructure as identified in the PBN Priority Works List (Items 1,2,3,4 and 26) - $150,000;
Capital Works (Items 4, 5, 14) - $410,000;
Can any of the CBD related works be funded in the existing CAA Budget – specifically (Items 3, 5b, 7, 8, and 20);
Can Council allocate a dedicated engineer to facilitate the PBN in design, planning and submissions, reviewing existing and future works and budgets?
The Mayor took the questions on notice.
Cr Richards responded to the third operations question – planning money:
Barwon to Bay Project is in this year’s budget. Other projects not in this year’s budget include:
Boundary Road to Malop Street $25,000, Northern Suburbs Cycling Link $30,000, Southern Moorabool Street Bridge Link $30,000, Armstrong Park Local Link $50,000 -total $135,000.
These will be discussed over the next two weeks.
Barwon to Bay is going to cost $3M, Boundary Road to Malop Street, $187,000, Northern suburbs Cycling Link $400,000, Southern Moorabool Street Bridge Link $200,000 – any project over $500,000 will be hard to fund from this year’s budget.
Cr Harwood added Home for Cycling is being developed on the Geelong Criterium Circuit (Belmont) which will house a huge education department for young riders and much needed facilities for cycling events, club competition and training.
Lyn Mason directed her questions to Cr Richards:
Firstly, you commented at the Council Meeting in May that the question regarding fracking would be addressed in the Environmental Management Strategy document when it comes back to Council in June/July. As there is only one more scheduled Council meeting in July, can you please let me know when we should expect the EMS document to be available?
Can you advise the process that will be adopted to determine Council’s position on coal seam gas mining in Geelong?
Can you advise the timeframe of Council’s discussions on this topic and the process for public questions and input?
Cr Richards responded he has an open mind as Council is governed by evidence and legislation. I must have an open mind to questions before entering the Chamber.
Councillors research the issue and we talk about it at briefings. There is a high degree of technical difficulty, but each Councillor comes to their own view through research and consultation within their community.
Regarding the EMS – Council officers advise the report is unlikely to be presented until August. During discussion today, officers have agreed to separate fracking as an individual report to Council in August.
Gary Van Driel added that in relation to the EMS – the document has been out for public comment and significant feedback was received on the document. The Strategy will come back to Council in August. Cr Richards was correct regarding fracking, which will now be identified as a current issue and officers will prepare a report and recommendation for Council to consider.
Judith Brooks asked when Council will be updating the 2010 Barwon Heads Traffic Study?
Gary Van Driel took the question on notice.
Colin Wallace asked:
Mr Mayor, did you know that Cr Andy Richards was the portfolio holder for Infrastructure during the time, according to a table devised by Council, most and perhaps all of the post-development infrastructure works paid for out of the $100,000 handed to Council by Ropeworks developers Woolworths, that Cr Richards was the portfolio holder for Infrastructure when the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh of the half-yearly reports Council was to provide to Woolworths or the subsequent owner in accordance with the Ropeworks Section 173 Agreement were due but which were never even produced and that Cr Richards was the portfolio holder for Infrastructure during the entire period of half-yearly reports being due when Woolworths was the owner?
The Mayor reiterated, as previously advised, Council will no longer respond to questions in relation to Ropeworks or matters that are either trivial or repetitive in nature.
Dennis More asked his questions in relation to Agenda Item 1 - Amendment C288 – Adventure Park, Bellarine Highway, Wallington:
Re Appendix 3 – Page 7 – 3rd paragraph:
Is this going to be a consistent approach to other proposed developments?
Peter Bettess responded that it is a consistent approach to land in a comprehensive development zone.
Georg Daglas asked if Council agrees that the Alcoa Pier Point, Point Henry is the most cost effective option to building Victoria’s second container wharf unloading facility given that the majority of infrastructure required is already existing?
Cr Ansett responded he viewed it as more of a State Government issue made between Labor and Liberal. It’s not something I can answer. Cr Ansett indicated he would be happy to provide a written response.
Cr Farrell presented additional signatures which are to be added to those previously acknowledged from “Friends of the Old Netball Courts Reserve”. The required action is to enable genuine engagement with the community to ascertain the feasible future use/s of the subject land for community purpose. The petitioners respectfully request that Council defer the proposed Amendment C299 and proposed sale of land until after completion of the review of Council’s Open Space Strategy and Policy.
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