The projects chosen by Councillors and approved by Council in each of the six divisions are:-

Division 1 – Cardwell foreshore bikeways

Division 2 – Tully Heritage Trail signage

Division 3 – Refurbishment of Taifalos Park at Kurrimine Beach

Division 4 – Upgrade of Innisfail Conservatorium with additional air conditioning and refurbishment

Division 5 – Upgrading Matt Cockbain Park, The Coconuts

Division 6 – Recreational and tourism infrastructure, lighting of existing walking path in East Innisfail

One additional project for the construction of a portable half pipe skate ramp will be included in the unlikely event that any of the primary projects fail to be approved.

The above process is separate from the application for major project funding, again under federal stimulus programs, which is contestable. Our project if successful will be either for a larger and new library for Innisfail, a swimming pool for Mission Beach or for a new grandstand for the Tully showgrounds oval. The total funds available for Queensland’s 70 plus Councils will be approximately $20M. As the projects are required to be ‘major’, costing in excess of $1-2M each, there may only be a dozen projects approved for the whole of Queensland.

Each Council is encouraged to submit only one project.

Our key priorities remain the water and sewerage backlog. The other high priority item is the replacement of the Jubilee Bridge which is also not suitable for funding under this program.

We fund four libraries in our region, but the Innisfail library is in temporary under-sized premises. A replacement library would be an ideal project and is supported by federal and state government members and addresses a Cyclone Larry initiated problem.

The swimming pool is also suited to the funding guidelines. I am advised that Mission Beach is the only community in Queensland of similar size that does not have a pool, and in my view, pays disproportionally to Council’s rate income and does not have the same level of facilities as other towns in the region.

The third candidate for funding is the Tully grandstand. This replacement project is being progressed by Council staff (as opposed to consultants) as part of a master plan for the area.

It is sensible to progress all three possibilities for two main reasons – we need to have reserve advanced projects if for some unknown reason one of the projects is eliminated and secondly, with governments increasingly offering funding for ‘shovel ready projects’ it makes good sense to have plans ready for such occasions.

The proponents for each potential project naturally want to know how their favoured project is progressing and the public have every right to transparency in decision making. The reports will be made public before Council decides.

The professional consultants for the library and the pool will be seeking information from the existing library and pool advocacy groups.

Tourism is already a vital part of our region’s economy and will be increasingly so.

In this process of development we must be very careful to preserve what we have and ensure we don’t lose our uniqueness and the reasons why people want to come here in the first place.

We don’t want to create just another Australian coastal destination. We are different and need to value this difference – with, very importantly, abundant rainfall, great natural beauty, unique wildlife and special architecture.

The recent 2009 Tropical North Queensland Tourism Awards in Cairns highlighted our diversity and the many attractions of the region.

There were five tourism awards won by businesses in the Cassowary Coast Region.

Murdering Point Winery, famous for its tropical fruit wines, received a Hall of Fame award for consistent and long service to the tourism industry. Congratulations to the Berryman family.

Paronella Park, the No 1 ‘Queensland Must Do’ winner received the Heritage and Culture award. Paronella Park is an outstanding tourist attraction that continues to expand its appeal. Mark and Judy Evans are excellent ambassadors for our region.

Spirit of the Rainforest Tours won the indigenous tourism award. Running out of the Echo Adventure and Cultural Centre south of Tully, at the site of the former King Ranch, this tour is a part of the wide ranging activities organised there. Congratulations to all concerned, especially to well known and respected indigenous elder Ernie Grant and his family.

The Mission Beach Visitor Information Centre (MBVIC) won its category competing against the numerous visitor information centres across the Far North Queensland region. No one at the awards were more proud than Angi Matveyeff, the Visitor Information Centre Manager and Karen McNally, Marketing Manager for Mission Beach Business and Tourism. Well done to you both and to all the MBVIC volunteers.

A Judge’s commendation award was won by the Elandra Resort at South Mission Beach. Congratulations to the Manager David Brook and owners Adam Karras and Katrina Knowles.

A second place in the new tourism development category was won by the MaMu Rainforest Canopy Walkway. This tourist addition in our region gives new and spectacular views and, in my view, could easily have won this section. In fact Geoff Bowes from Ergon Energy, the sponsor of this award, said to me that he wished he could have presented both the winner, Herberton Historic Village and MaMu Canopy Walk an award.

These Queensland Tourism awards are real achievements for our region are an outstanding result.

The Cassowary Coast’s tourist numbers improved on last year, in contrast with flat or declining figures for northern regions more heavily dependent on overseas tourist numbers.

With our three main industries – bananas, tourism and cane all looking good for the immediate future we have every reason to be optimistic.

We are already renowned for the achievements of our sporting and cultural identities. The recent events have been more to do with groups, working well together.

1. The indigenous cultural exhibition, presenting the art and culture of the Ma Mu peoples was well attended and very successful. It was important to see school groups coming through every weekday that the exhibition was open. The Cassowary Coast region has now hosted two groundbreaking indigenous events, this one and the Girrigun Festival in Cardwell a couple of years ago.
2. After many years of effort the refurbished clubhouse of the Etty Bay Surf Lifesaving Club has been officially opened at a ceremony there, during the recent Far North regional surf carnival. The greatly expanded facilities will be available for use by other community groups and privately for functions, which will help support the club.
3. The Innisfail Harvest Festival, the longest continually running festival in Queensland, attracted people from throughout the region. The contribution of the Rotary Clubs of Innisfail in organising this event is acknowledged. This event was in danger of folding which given its long history would have been very sad. It was wonderful to see the Samoan dancers from Tully enthusiastically participating, particularly at such a difficult time for them with the tsunami affecting their homeland only the week before.
4. The Cassowary Coast Walkathon in Tully raised over $50,000 for cancer research, with seventeen teams walking through the night in relays. Tully hosts the only walkathon in our region and organisers were very pleased with this year’s event, with teams coming from across the region from Cardwell to Innisfail and significantly more than the hoped for amount being raised.
5. The Biennial Innisfail Art Exhibition, held again in the Shire Hall for the first time since Cyclone Larry, was enthusiastically welcomed back with a good attendance on opening night and for the artist’s critique and Art Deco lecture and luncheon the next day.
6. The Innisfail Race Day was everything that a country race meeting should be. Good racing, prize money and trophies of a high standard, a well prepared and presented track and a large crowd enjoying the event and the company, with four bus loads of people coming from Tully this year.

Volunteers have contributed greatly to all these occasions and their assistance is essential and much appreciated.

Congratulations to all concerned.

As a region we can be very proud of our achievements and that we can offer such a diversity of community events for all to enjoy. It really has been quite an extraordinary few weeks.

The state government is now encouraging and supporting local governments to secure funds directly from the federal government, especially from Stimulus Package money.

In the next few days applications will open for $120 million available to local government for major strategic projects. Applications will close in mid December. This is the second and possibly last such tranche.

Readers might recall that the CCRC was successful in receiving approximately $2 million from the first tranche, which was applied to the Multi-Purpose Centre in Tully.

We won’t know the criteria for the next tranche until the applications open, but they are expected to be similar to the first one. Queensland’s share could be expected to be in the order of $20 – $25 million, which could fund say 10 – 15 projects across the 70 plus councils.

Last week Senator Jan McLucas, State MP Curtis Pitt and Jacque Duffy representing the Innisfail Library group, initiated a meeting with myself, the relevant Divisional Councillor, Ian Rule and Julie Murphy, the Director of Community Services CCRC.

The agenda of those calling the meeting was to promote an application for the above funds for a new Innisfail Library.

There is no shortage of possible projects and no shortage of passion from ratepayers for their preferred projects.

Council’s previously identified top priorities are water and sewerage projects. Planning is well advanced for the water and sewerage works and progressing for a replacement Jubilee Bridge.

I stress that none of the above projects have been approved for commencement and will not proceed until we know how we are going to pay for them.

For council to borrow for the water and sewerage works without state subsidies at the past historic levels, presently reduced to nil, could increase existing water and sewerage charges by more than 100%, which is clearly unacceptable.

The Jubilee Bridge replacement is likely to cost some $20 million plus. There will be extra geo-technical work required due to initial investigations indicating a problem with the foundation to the river bed near the northern bank, so we can’t finalise the design or the cost at this time. Some $12 million has been promised from the state government, but to date the federal government has not indicated any assistance and we don’t have and can’t readily find the remaining $8 million.

To add to our problems, it appears that restoration of the Flying Fish Point rock wall will also need to be undertaken at council’s expense in the next two years. Other essential outstanding post cyclone Larry restoration works include two of the Region’s jetties, at Clump Point and Dunk Island.

The time frame for the upcoming round of federal grants is tight and we certainly won’t have time for widespread community consultation or possibly for developing scenarios involving complex joint facilities.

The councillors will need to workshop our approach and make sure an application for a grant is submitted before the close date. Senator Mc Lucas has recommended that only one application be forwarded from the CCRC.

So let’s look at all options and the priorities for the region, await release of the funding rules and see if we can repeat our success and secure some of the remaining available federal stimulus package money.

The last election was held on a divided basis, with one councillor for each of six geographical divisions, as determined by the state government. Now a new local government electoral act, when proclaimed, will say how future local government elections will be held.

I thought it would be useful to set out some of the arguments for and against each system.

Divisional Elections

For:

1. Each geographic area has a representative, who should be aware of the interests of the residents in their division.
2. The costs of campaigning in a smaller area are less.
3. The divisional system is the current one, familiar to voters.

Against:

1. Councillors can be placed in a difficult position where the overall good of the region may be in conflict with divisional interests.
2. Candidates can choose what division to stand for regardless of their place of residence. Electors can only vote for candidates in their division.
3. Councillors can be elected with few votes, especially if there are many candidates in one division. Councillors have been elected with as few as 350 votes in the past in these circumstances.

Undivided Elections

For :

1. Candidates will be required to be informed about issues across the whole region, regardless of their support base.
2. Candidates with the highest overall regional support will be elected.
3. Voters will have the full list of candidates to consider.

Against :

1. Candidates may need to raise campaign funds to meet increased costs.
2. Teams of candidates are possibly more likely.
3. Smaller geographic areas may be under-represented. Assuming that voters are more likely to know and vote for a local, the chance of being elected is reduced if there are many candidates.

As you can see there are good reasons for and against both systems and the community is no doubt divided as to which is preferable.

Last month the CCRC deferred consideration of this topic to enable all councillors more time to consider their position and to allow for some public input, as has occurred.

At the last council meeting we voted on the issue and the outcome was five votes for no divisions and two for divisions.

Over to the state government to decide!

Three examples are:

• There has been an outcry recently over local government inspectors advising business owners that the grease traps installed on their business premises require upgrading. This requirement stems from state government demands that connections to the sewer comply with their standards. Even if a small commercial kitchen, for example in a motel, operates perfectly well with a 250 litre grease trap, the state government requires a 500 litre grease trap. There is no flexibility, only the ability to negotiate to undertake the changes over several months.
  We are aware of the angst being felt by the local business operators affected and concerned about commercial kitchens that will close, threatening the viability of businesses and reducing vital local incomes and employment.
  I will write to the state government seeking relaxation of the laws and some flexibility in their implementation. The number one priority for all levels of government at this time should be job creation and retention.

• A second example is to do with domestic animal control. Shortly, every new family dog or cat will have to be micro-chipped and registered. All to do with state government regulations, again required to be administered by local government, but with fines determined by the state. Domestic animal controls already cost rate payers dearly and costs are set to rise.

• A third example concerns the 2031 Plan which has the power of law and which overrides new local government planning decisions. In fact, local government must advise the state government by November 2009 as to how to apply these rules to our planning schemes.
  Council is likely to have to prepare a new planning scheme for the region. This would not normally be required at this time, as both the existing schemes are recent. However, state government regulation, unrelated to amalgamation, will require the cost of a new scheme to be brought forward. There is of course a clear advantage in having one scheme for the whole region. The issue is the timing of its introduction, given the many costs of amalgamation.

We need development in this region to boost employment, diversify the economic base and to spread the burden of infrastructure costs. Unfortunately, our ability to approve new residential, commercial and industrial subdivisions is constrained by the lack of capacity in the Sewerage Treatment Plants in Tully and Innisfail – a classic circular dilemma.

The solution will be to approve developments within the existing sewered areas, continue to press the state government for immediate reinstatement of the subsidy scheme and seek long-term funding at concessional interest rates.

The problem with borrowing to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure is that already high sewerage charges will have to increase. I made it clear to state government officials last month that council is not unwilling to address environmental requirements. It is simply financially unable to. Hopefully this will protect council from prosecution.

We will do all that can reasonably be done and press the state government to do likewise and relax expectations from “ideal” to “realistic”.

This year has been especially difficult because we have tackled the daunting task of integrating the residential rating categories from the north and south of the Region.

General rates have increased by 6%. We worked to keep the increase to a minimum, in the knowledge that integration would result in rates for some 1861 properties going down, while some 1620 would have to increase by greater than 15%.

The minimum charge will increase from $802 to $875, which is a 9% increase and this will affect some of the properties in the 0-40000 unimproved capital value category.

The Community Rating Reference Group recommended that council calculate the minimum ‘cost’ a basic residential property incurs and the result was $1,600. This reflects the fact that, unlike a typical trading company, most of council’s costs are fixed. A minimum charge of say 50% – 60% of this calculated ‘cost’ is seen by me as reasonable. This enabled council to lessen the burden on rural rate payers, which was identified by the Reference Group as necessary.

Charges for water and sewerage need to reflect the real cost of providing these utilities and increases of 8% have been made for most services. The charge for Tully sewerage has increased by $102.56 to $475 per property, but is still significantly less than Mission Beach at $594.34 (using the same shared system) and Innisfail at $606.70 (where major works are necessary).

Garbage and waste management charges have increased by 6%..

Rates and charges will raise $45.6 million out of total revenue of $63.2 million.

Total operating expenditure includes depreciation and interest and the pleasing outcome is a small surplus. This is with providing for the employment of an Economic Development Officer – a new and necessary position in our developing Region.

Notable big ticket items of cash operating expenditure include:-

• $5M on road maintenance
• $3.5M on parks, gardens and sporting fields
• $1.5M on library services
• $1.1M for waste disposal
• $563,000 on visitor information centres
• $423,000 on swimming pools
• $326,000 on showgrounds
• $307,000 for stinger enclosures
• $214,000 on aerodrome facilities

Capital items in the budget include:-

• Roads and drainage $7M
• Sewerage work $6M
• Fleet and plant $3.2M
• Facilities and building $2.3M

In addition to the major sewerage works in Cardwell township (total net cost to council of some $6 million), the Multi Purpose Centre in Tully will be built for a cost to ratepayers of $1.4 million (total costs being some $6 million) and we are proceeding with investigatory planning and costing to allow council to consider the construction of a new bridge in Innisfail, with $12 million coming from the state government, towards a total cost of some $20 million. If the Innisfail Bridge proceeds we will need to borrow or source federal money.

Our existing borrowings are $20.4 million, which is a modest level of debt.

From the earliest days of settlement of the township of Cardwell successive local governments part funded the construction and maintenance of this road to the Tablelands.

With the development of the timber industry, forestry became the major user and the state government took over maintenance.

When the forestry industry was effectively closed down by the federal government, maintenance was continued by the state government’s Parks and Wildlife Service. Usage was predominantly then for tourist access to the Tablelands and the wonderful Blencoe Falls on the Herbert River.

However, over time, the condition of the road deteriorated due to natural events, traffic and the decision of the state government to discontinue maintenance.

Cardwell Shire Council closed the road due to its poor condition and the lack of funds to undertake repairs.

The Kirrima Range Road is and remains very important to both the coastal and tableland communities. Other accesses to the Tablelands are via the Mt. Fox Road to the south or the Palmerston Highway north of Innisfail – a long way round as a coastal / highland link for many CCRC residents and tourists. The H Road at the head of Tully Gorge was closed several years ago.

The importance of the Kirrima Range Road is still recognised by the state government and it is eligible for partial funding as a “local road of regional significance” – if it is re-opened. However they will not otherwise contribute to the repairs.

Council has written to the federal government for assistance, on the basis that it was their initial decision to close forestry.

Natural disaster rectification funding, which typically applies to local council assets, including roads, has been refused, despite extensive damage by flooding earlier this year. The reason given is that the road is not open and in use.

Following this rejection of natural disaster funding, council conducted some minor rectification works, not with a view to re-opening the road, but to ensure that further damage did not render the surface unrepairable.

This very valuable asset to our region, which has so much potential, must remain affordable to the community and be effectively managed and promoted.

The renovation and restoration has cost $17 million – paid for by post cyclone Larry insurance proceeds of $6 million; a state government grant of $3 million and $8 million from council revenue and reserves.

This total includes unavoidable costs associated with the heritage listing of the building ($2 million) and upgrade of light and sound equipment, lifts and air conditioning ($3 million) to bring the facility up to competitive modern standards.

There was also expenditure on bringing the building up to current fire protection standards and installing an enhanced power supply, mainly required for the air conditioning.

The upcoming refit of the basement will cost another $1 million.

The small area at the rear of the basement level was previously sub-standard office space. To the centre of this level was a large area used for records storage and to the front was the space formerly used by the State Emergency Service (SES).

Council needed to renovate the offices and make better use of the storage space and the area now vacated by SES in its move to the Flying Fish Point Road premises.

The new SES premises, which were opened on Monday 13th July, provide a first class facility. The Cassowary Coast Regional Council (CCRC) contributed $250,000 to this project.

Council has to vacate the present rented premises on the corner of Grace and Rankin Streets (the old library building) as the lessee wants to develop the site.

The completion of the Johnstone Shire Hall and the full utilisation of all levels of the building by the CCRC will take off the agenda any issue of another purpose built council headquarters for many years to come.

It is true that the sale of the old library premises by the previous council, subsequent to Cyclone Larry, for $505,000, contributed to building reserves that were utilised for the completion of the hall.

The building of a larger library will most likely be a multi million dollar project and the $505,000, as above, will need to be significantly added to in order to fund a new facility.

The design of libraries in the digital age is undergoing significant revision worldwide. It will be necessary for council, with the community, to decide on an appropriate design, location and costing, taking into account all the relevant factors.

Council endeavours to make savings and improve efficiencies and this process is ongoing.

A Service Review Panel has been set up, comprised of all councillors, meeting regularly, to identify savings. These savings will be used to: reduce debt; develop opportunities; assist asset refurbishment and maximise grants and subsidies.

Savings will not be used for recurrent expenditure items, as this would not improve the overall financial position of the council.

Any reserve will be used for the renewal or replacement of existing assets, rather than the creation of new ones.

Of course expanded services, where necessary and the purchase of new assets will need to occur. These will be funded from other sources, including subsidies and in some instances debt (particularly where the assets generate income such as water and sewerage infrastructure).

The Service Review Panel will utilise the skills and knowledge of our staff who are often in the best position to identify savings.

We will also benchmark against similar councils. Benchmarking is the process used to compare our performance in particular areas against the performance of other councils. There are nine similarly sized councils in Queensland, plus the three adjacent councils, that we could use to test our performance.

Benchmarking does not need to be done at a detailed level for every type of service. It can be as simple as comparing unit rates used for particular services by another council and if they are performing well, finding out why.

Also the Department of Local Government publishes annual comparisons of councils across a range of services and this is a ready source of data that provides some useful indicators of areas that can improved.

Benchmarking is also possible at a financial ratio level, where it is relatively easy to compare financial performance across a range of indicators after the production of the annual financial statements.

One of the important issues addressed at the first meeting of the panel was the priorities for review over the coming year. The Strategic Financial Action Plan identified a number of areas that could be addressed sooner rather than later. These include:

• Roadside vegetation (mowing standards etc)
• Gravel road maintenance
• Plant utilisation
• Motor vehicle fleet
• Corporate overheads
• Duplication of services
• Parks
• Community Facilities

Staff have already undertaken a review of plant utilisation and the motor vehicle fleet.

It was felt important to undertake a review of an internal service in the first instance in order to demonstrate to the community that the council is getting its own house in order before any review is undertaken of services provided directly to the community.