Minutes of Council - Wednesday, 27 July 2022

Council 10 27 July 2022

12.1 Airport Advisory Committee - 15/6/2022 - BUSSELTON MARGARET RIVER AIRPORT - OPERATIONS UPDATE

STRATEGIC THEME	OPPORTUNITY - A vibrant City with diverse opportunities and a prosperous economy
STRATEGIC PRIORITY	3.4 Develop aviation opportunities at the Busselton Margaret River Airport.
SUBJECT INDEX	BUSSELTON MARGARET RIVER AIRPORT
BUSINESS UNIT	Commercial Services
REPORTING OFFICER	Manager Economic and Business Development Services - Jennifer May
AUTHORISING OFFICER	Director, Community and Commercial Services - Naomi Searle
NATURE OF DECISION	Noting: The item is simply for information purposes and noting
VOTING REQUIREMENT	Simple Majority
ATTACHMENTS	Nil

This item was considered by the Airport Advisory Committee at its meeting on 15/6/2022, the recommendations from which have been considered by Council.

The committee recommendation was moved and carried.

COUNCIL DECISION

C2207/179 Moved Councillor P Cronin, seconded Councillor A Ryan

That the Council receives and notes the Airport Operations Report.

CARRIED 9/0

En Bloc

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That the Council receives and notes the Airport Operations Report.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report provides an overview of the operations and activities of the Busselton Margaret River Airport (BMRA) for the reporting period 1 January 2022 through 31 May 2022. This includes an update on passenger numbers, regular public transport services (RPT), closed charter and general airport operations.

BACKGROUND

The BMRA has seen positive growth in aircraft landings and passenger numbers with the commencement of Jetstar RPT services, additional closed charter flights operating during the reporting period, along with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) Large Air Tanker and helitac operations, and military aircraft activity.

Aircraft Movements

The total number of Fly in Fly out (FIFO) closed charter services operating from the BMRA has increased, with 28 flights (56 movements) per week as at the end of May which has increased from 24 flights at the end of March. Currently there are four airlines operating closed charter services from the BMRA utilising the F70, F100, A320 and Dash 8 aircraft and servicing North West destinations such as Boolgeeda, Barimunya, West Angeles, Newman, Roy Hill and Karratha.

Still to be confirmed are two new flights on a Thursday and Friday which could potentially start in the third quarter of this year.

Jetstar RPT services direct from Melbourne to Busselton commenced on Wednesday 6 April with 3 flights a week on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays. For the reporting period there have been 24 Jetstar flights.

The total number of aircraft landings has increased over all aircraft categories during the period 1 January 2022 through to 31 April 2022 with some monthly variations mainly due to light and general aviation traffic. The total aircraft landings during the period from January 2022 – April 2022 was 5,026 compared to 3,606 for the same period in 2021.

Passenger Numbers

Passenger numbers have increased by 50% (32,896) for the reporting period compared to same period for 2020/21 (21,956), representing an increase of over 200% from 2019/20 (10,346). The total number of passengers passing through the BMRA for 2021/2022 to the end of May was 58,657.

The increase in passenger numbers can be attributed to the growth in FIFO passenger numbers across all closed charter airlines servicing Rio Tinto, BHP and FMG, and the commencement of Jetstar services with a total of 8,168 RPT passengers arriving and departing from the BMRA since 6 April.

Carpark

Currently 1,540 FIFO passengers have been provided swipe cards to access the BMRA car park at a discounted rate. The average daily occupancy for the reporting period was 390 parked patrons per day. The public car park has now reached capacity on a number occasions and Officers have been investigating a temporary car parking solution while an extension to the new public car park is constructed. The original proposal was to fence off approximately 9,000m2 of the southern general aviation apron for FIFO passenger use and line mark with up to 300 car parks, however the costs of installing boom gates and a temporary pay system was unjustified. Officers are now proceeding with an alternative solution whereby an external fenced area to the transport operator’s car park will be installed and FIFO parking will be accessed through the transport operators car park using the existing car parking system. A drawing of the proposed area is included below.

· Regional Airport Program Funding projects (RAP) - Federal Government programs

o RFDS relocation project – further consultation with the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS) has resulted in a request to change the location of the new RFDS patient transfer facility to the General Aviation precinct. Officers have requested a variation to the funding agreement to defer the final delivery milestones into the 2022/23 financial year. The grant funding allocation is for $188,665 however with price escalations since the grant application submission the project is expected to cost in the region of $280k. The City will be required to fund this shortfall, however it can be funded through the Airport Infrastructure Renewal Reserve as part of the 2022/23 budget.

o Central apron expansion project - Officers have been negotiating with the preferred tenderer however the works have not been awarded as yet. Officers are requesting a variation to the funding agreement at this time.

· Airside and landside mowing programs.

· Runway and taxiway line marking program.

Following endorsement by the Council (C2205/098) on 11 May 2022, the position of an Aviation Business Development Officer is being advertising and closes on 20 June. The City is also advertising for a casual Airport Reporting and Maintenance Officers to provide support to the team given the significant and rapid growth in FIFO closed charter and commencement of RPT services which now extends over six days a week (Monday – Saturday).

OFFICER COMMENT

With the end of the 2021/22 financial year approaching, the BMRA has seen significant growth over the past eleven months in aircraft and passenger activity. Officers are estimating that the BMRA will have had over 11,000 aircraft movements in 2021/22 and in the region of 64,000 passengers through the terminal.

Officers will continue to progress the delivery of the operational improvements listed above and will also focus on the following in 2022/23;

· An RFT was advertised for the supply and construction of three general aviation hangars. The RFT submissions indicated that the price escalation in materials and services meant that only two hangars could be constructed for the available budget. Officers have delayed awarding the tender to construct the hangars and have been investigating the design to see if there are cost efficiencies that can be achieved. A new RFT will be issued in the new financial year.

· The procurement of an Airport inspection, maintenance and reporting tablet/online system to facilitate accurate and real time reporting, recording and reporting of regulatory requirements, recording and workflow of maintenance and capital items; and processes such as online inductions and applications.

· Regional Airports Development Scheme (RADS) - Department of Transport (DoT)

o Financial and Asset Management Framework. The completion of the framework is a new requirement by DoT for airports when applying for future RADS grants. The framework will also provide the City with key tools in the management of airport assets and provide improved financial management and modelling capabilities.

· A new Airport Master Plan will be delivered with a focus on business and commercial development to replace the existing BMRA Master Plan (2016-36) which was developed with a strong focus on infrastructure and for which the majority has now been achieved.

· A review of the BMRA Wildlife and Hazard Management Plan is required as regulatory requirement under CASA MOS Part 139.

· An external review /audit of the BMRA Transport Security Program is required as regulatory requirement under the Aviation Transport Security Regulations.

· Business development strategy and implementation plan to guide the marketing and development of commercial opportunities at and relating to the BMRA, including the attraction of new domestic routes and planning for future international operations.

Statutory Environment

The BMRA operates in accordance with the following:

· Aviation Transport Security Act 2004

· Aviation Transport Security Regulations 2005

· CASA part 139 Manual of Standards (Aerodromes)

· City of Busselton Transport Security Plan

· Ministerial Statement 1088

· City policies and procedures

Relevant Plans and Policies

The officer recommendation aligns to the following adopted plans:

· BMRA Master Plan (2016-2036)

· The BMRA operates under the Busselton Margaret River Airport Noise Management Plan 2019

Financial Implications

Revenue

Actual year-to-date (YTD) revenue for the reporting period is $2,215,989.14 compared to the YTD budget of $2,337,750, noting that security screening revenue has not been realised due to the delay in the Jetstar flights. Excluding the security screening revenue, YTD actual budget ($2,215,989.14) is tracking higher than the YTD budget ($1,715,759) with the key revenue areas contributing towards this being airport landing fees, sundry income and car parking income.

Expenditure

Actual YTD expenditure for the reporting period is $765,473.56 (including commitments) compared to the YTD budget of $1,054,701, not including the airline attraction program which has not been expended due to the delay in the Jetstar flights, and depreciation. Lower expenditure for the reporting period can mainly be attributed to the lower expenditure costs in security screening services of YTD budget $360,371 compared to actual budget of $96,584

Stakeholder Consultation

Consultation has been occurring on a regular basis with Department of Transport, Government agencies, airport stakeholders, Department of Home Affairs, Aviation Marine Security (AMS), Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Air Services Australia, Virgin Australia Regional Airline, Qantas Group, the Busselton Aero Club, Albany, Esperance, Geraldton Airports and Australian Airports Association, concerning many topics and issues relating to the Airport.

Risk Assessment

An assessment of the potential implications of implementing the officer recommendation has been undertaken using the City’s risk management framework, with risks assessed taking into account any controls already in place. No risks of a medium or greater level have been identified.

Options

The Airport Advisory Committee may choose not to receive and note the Airport Operations Report.

CONCLUSION

Officers continue to strive to provide a high level of customer service at the BMRA, while ensuring the airport is compliant, safe and security is maintained throughout. The commencement of Jetstar RPT services has identified a number of operational actions and infrastructure investment requirements.

The focus for the new financial year will be to prepare a new BMRA Master Plan, achieving operational efficiencies and business and commercial development initiatives have been deferred to date.

TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

Not applicable.

Council 16 27 July 2022

12.2 Policy and Legislation Committee - 22/6/2022 - PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSOLIDATED PARKING SCHEME (CPS)

STRATEGIC THEME	LIFESTYLE - A place that is relaxed, safe and friendly with services and facilities that support healthy lifestyles and wellbeing
STRATEGIC PRIORITY	2.10 Provide local road networks that allow for the safe movement of people through the District.
SUBJECT INDEX	Consolidated Parking Scheme
BUSINESS UNIT	Environmental Services
REPORTING OFFICER	Ranger & Emergency Services Coordinator - Ian McDowell
AUTHORISING OFFICER	Director, Planning and Development Services - Paul Needham
NATURE OF DECISION	Executive: Substantial direction setting, including adopting budgets, strategies, plans and policies (excluding local planning policies); funding, donations and sponsorships; reviewing committee recommendations
VOTING REQUIREMENT	Simple Majority
ATTACHMENTS	Attachment a CPS Amendment Queen Street ⇩ Attachment b CPS Amendment Castle Rock Road 1 ⇩ Attachment c CPS Amendment Castle Rock Road 2 ⇩ Attachment d CPS Amendment Castle Rock Road 3 ⇩ Attachment e CPS Amendment Smiths Beach SLS ⇩ Attachment f CPS Amendment Barnard Park West ⇩ Attachment g CPS Amendment Old Tennis Club ⇩ Attachment h CPS Amendment Smiths Beach Road Congestion ⇩ Attachment i CPS Amendment Smiths Beach Road No Stopping ⇩ Attachment j CPS Amendment Smiths Beach Road No Stopping (inclusive of Committee Amendments)⇩

This item was considered by the Policy and Legislation Committee at its meeting on 22/6/2022, the recommendations from which have been considered by Council.

The committee recommendation was moved and carried.

COUNCIL DECISION

C2207/180 Moved Councillor P Cronin, seconded Councillor A Ryan

That Council, pursuant to clause 2.1 of the City of Busselton Parking Local Law 2020, approves the following amendments to the Consolidated Parking Scheme:

1. Designation of two parking bays in Queen Street outside St Mary’s Church, as shown in Attachment A, as “No Parking, 9am to 5pm Mon to Fri, Hearses Excepted”;

2. Designation of both sides of Castle Rock Road in Meelup Regional Park, as shown in Attachments B, C and D, as “No Parking, Road or Verge”;

3. Designation of an area close to the beach access gate to Smiths Beach, as shown in Attachment E, as “No Parking, 7am to 12pm Sun, Oct to Apr, Surf Life Saving Vehicles Excepted”;

4. Designation of one parking bay in the Barnard Park West western car park, as shown in Attachment F, as “No Parking, 6am to 6pm Mon to Fri, Authorised Vehicles Excepted”; and

5. Designation of the following special purpose parking bays in the Old Tennis Club car park, as shown in Attachment G, as follows:

(a) five new disabled parking bays located within the car park;

(b) two loading zones on the northern side of Foreshore Parade; and

(c) one bus zone on the northern side of Foreshore Parade.

6. Amending the designation of both sides of Smiths Beach Road, as shown in Attachment J, inclusive of the Committee Amendments, removing “No Stopping” on Eastern side, and amending Western side to “No Stopping, Road or Verge”.

Reasons: The Committee recommended to allow parking on the eastern side of Smiths Beach Road as per Attachment J to alleviate access issues on a trial basis for the 2022/2023 summer season.

CARRIED 9/0

En Bloc

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That Council, pursuant to clause 2.1 of the City of Busselton Parking Local Law 2020, approves the following amendments to the Consolidated Parking Scheme:

1. Designation of two parking bays in Queen Street outside St Mary’s Church, as shown in Attachment A, as “No Parking, 9am to 5pm Mon to Fri, Hearses Excepted”;

2. Designation of both sides of Castle Rock Road in Meelup Regional Park, as shown in Attachments B, C and D, as “No Parking, Road or Verge”;

3. Designation of an area close to the beach access gate to Smiths Beach, as shown in Attachment E, as “No Parking, 7am to 12pm Sun, Oct to Apr, Surf Life Saving Vehicles Excepted”;

4. Designation of one parking bay in the Barnard Park West western car park, as shown in Attachment F, as “No Parking, 6am to 6pm Mon to Fri, Authorised Vehicles Excepted”; and

5. Designation of the following special purpose parking bays in the Old Tennis Club car park, as shown in Attachment G, as follows:

(a) five new disabled parking bays located within the car park;

(b) two loading zones on the northern side of Foreshore Parade; and

6. Amending the designation of both sides of Smiths Beach Road, as shown in Attachment I, from “No Stopping” to “No Stopping, Road or Verge”.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This reports presents a number of proposed changes to the Consolidated Parking Scheme (CPS) pursuant to Clause 2.1 of the City of Busselton Parking Local Law 2020.

BACKGROUND

The CPS is an administrative document and series of maps that detail car parking restrictions across the local government district. Restrictions include timed parking zones, no parking/no stopping zones, and special purpose parking zones including disabled parking bays, loading zones, taxi zones, and bus zones. The current version of the CPS was endorsed by the Council in February 2018 (CC1802/21) however, there have been some minor amendments to the CPS since that time.

The City of Busselton Parking Local Law was last reviewed in 2020. Under the provisions of the previous version (2010) of the Parking Local Law, the authority under clause 2.1 to determine parking stalls, parking stations and parking areas, approving amendments to the CPS, was delegated to the City’s Chief Executive Officer.

Under this delegation amendments to the CPS did not occur without first consulting with Councillors. Prior to a change being made Councillors were provided written notice of the proposed change, and if they considered it appropriate to do so, could request a report be presented to the Council for their consideration.

During the review of the Parking Local Law in 2020, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries advised that the power to make determinations under clause 2.1 of the Local Law could not be delegated. As a result of this all amendments to the CPS, even those that are relatively minor in nature, require a resolution of the Council before taking effect.

OFFICER COMMENT

No Parking (Hearses Excepted): St Mary’s Anglican Church, Queen Street - Attachment A.

St Mary’s Anglican Church (the Church) has approached the City requesting that two of the Queen Street parking bays outside the Church be reserved for hearse parking only, Monday to Friday. Prior to the recent roundabout works at the intersection of Queen Street and Peel Terrace, the first of these two bays had the word “reserved” spray painted on the road however, the wording had faded and was not enforceable.

Currently, the two bays in question have no restrictions meaning motorists can park there all day. Anecdotally, employees of nearby businesses in Queen Street utilise these bays all day on a daily basis causing issues for the Church when funeral services are scheduled. In August 2021 for example, a funeral director (parked in the first bay) but was unable to remove the deceased from the hearse as another vehicle parked in the second bay behind the hearse was causing an obstruction.

Officers support the request from the Church and propose to regulate parking in the first two bays outside the Church in Queen Street (as shown in Attachment A) by designating them: “No Parking, 9am to 5pm Mon – Fri, Hearses Excepted.” The change would not have a significant impact on overall parking availability or supply in the Busselton City Centre.

No Parking Road or Verge: Castle Rock Road - Attachments B, C and D.

The demand for parking at Castle Rock beach during peak holiday periods is high. This creates a hazardous situation when motorists, unable to park in the beach car park, park on both sides of Castle Rock Road. This has the potential to obstruct access for emergency service vehicles attending emergency incidents in the area. There is also an added risk of hot exhausts from vehicles parked over dry vegetation causing a bush fire.

To mitigate the risk on Boxing Day and Australia Day, traditionally two of the busiest days at Meelup Regional Park, from 2016/17 to 2020/21 the City controlled vehicular access to Meelup Regional Park through the implementation of vehicle check points at either end of Meelup Beach Road at an approximate cost of $4,500 per day.

It should be noted that part of the rationale for controlling access to Meelup Regional Park, on Boxing Day and Australia Day, was to discourage large gatherings of people who were at times engaging in anti-social behaviour. This strategy appears to have worked with incidents of anti-social behaviour greatly reduced over the past five years.

As a means of better controlling the hazards associated with vehicles parking along Castle Rock Road on a permanent basis, rather than just Boxing Day and Australia Day each year, this report proposes to prohibit parking along Castle Rock Road (as shown on Attachments B, C and D) by designating it “No Parking, Road or Verge”.

No Parking (Surf Lifesaving Vehicles Excepted): Smiths Beach - Attachment E.

The Smiths Beach Surf Lifesaving Club (SLC) has approached the City requesting a 24 metre length of the gravel road shoulder, adjacent to the beach vehicle access ramp be reserved for SLC vehicle parking only, from 7am to 12pm on Sundays, October to April each year.

The basis for their request is that a suitable area to park and unload a trailer transported off-road all-terrain vehicle (ATV) for use on the beach is a critical aspect of running Smiths Beach SLC Nipper Program and surf patrols. Equipment trailers from the SLC Club Shed on Canal Rocks Road are towed by normal on-road vehicles to the beach access ramp, where they are unhitched from the vehicles and hitched to the ATV that then tows them onto the beach (3 to 5 trailers are used on any given Sunday during SLS operations). It has been getting increasingly difficult for the SLC to park and unload the ATV due to the high demand for public parking at Smiths Beach during peak holiday periods.

Officers support the request from Smiths Beach SLC and propose to regulate parking on the gravel road shoulder, immediately adjacent to the beach vehicle access ramp by designating it “No Parking, 7am to 12pm Sun, Oct – April, Surf Life Saving Vehicles Excepted” (as shown in Attachment E).

No Parking (Authorised Vehicles Excepted): Barnard Park West Western Car Park - Attachment F.

The City’s Jetty Maintenance Team has requested that one parking bay in the Barnard Park West western car park be reserved for authorised City vehicles only from 6am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

Although there is parking available within the jetty maintenance compound, immediately adjacent to the car park, there are times the compound needs to be cleared to allow larger vehicles to enter. Often during peak periods, there are no bays available in the car park, and this hinders jetty maintenance.

This report proposes to regulate parking in one bay, immediately adjacent to the maintenance compound, in the Barnard Park West western car park by designating it “No Parking, 6am to 6pm Mon – Fri, Authorised Vehicles Excepted” (as shown in Attachment F).

Special Purpose Parking: Old Tennis Club Car Park - Attachment G.

The Old Tennis Club car park is an all-day parking area bounded by Marine Terrace to the south, Queen Street to the west, Foreshore Parade to the north, and Jetty Way to the east. The car park was constructed in two parts and includes six disabled parking bays. One of the disabled parking bays has already been included in the CPS however, the remaining five have not.

Located on the northern side of Foreshore Parade are two loading zones, and one bus zone which are also not reflected in the CPS.

This report proposes to amend the CPS (as shown in Attachment G) by adding the as constructed five disabled parking bays, two loading zones, and one bus zone to the CPS.

No Parking Road or Verge: Smiths Beach Road (for P&L discussion) - Attachments H and I.

Currently both sides of Smiths Beach Road, from Canal Rocks Road to a point approximately level with the north-east corner of the Smiths Beach Resort, are designated no stopping areas in the CPS. This restriction applies only to the road. During peak holiday periods when the demand for parking is high, motorists often park on the verge in bush areas. Others park with half of their vehicle on the verge and the other half on the road. Some ignore the restrictions altogether and park wholly on the road.

A major issue during those peak periods is the ’follow the leader’ affect which occurs when one or two people choose to park contrary to the existing no stopping signs, then others follow in the belief that if “they can do it, so can we”. Unfortunately, when this happens it creates a hazardous situation due to traffic and parking congestion as shown at Attachment H.

Concerns regarding this congestion were raised through the City’s Bush Fire Advisory Committee (BFAC), on behalf of some Smiths Beach residents by one of the Fire Control Officers of the local Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade. Concerns are that congestion of the type as shown in Attachment H may seriously hamper emergency access and egress for first responders to an incident, or a forced evacuation due to an emergency incident such as a bushfire.

Certainly one of the ways to manage this congestion is for the City to have zero tolerance to illegal parking along Smiths Beach Road. That would most likely only be a temporary fix, though, as the City’s ability to rigorously enforce these restrictions on a regular basis is limited (Smiths Beach is only one area within the City where parking demand is high during peak holiday periods). It may also harm the reputation of the City as a tourist destination if we start to regularly issue parking infringements at this or any other location for which there is high demand for parking.

A solution to this problem may be to amend the CPS to change the restriction from “No Stopping” to “No Stopping, Road or Verge”. This would act as a deterrent and provide greater clarity to those people who choose to straddle the road and verge when parking along Smiths Beach Road, apparently with the belief that because part of their vehicle is not on the road they are not committing an offence. Another major concern associated with people wholly or partially parking on the verge is the risk of a bushfire starting when a hot exhaust comes into contact with dry vegetation.

Should the CPS be amended as recommend the City’s initial approach would be one of education, including written cautions for people who choose to ignore the restrictions, followed by a period of stronger enforcement whereby infringements would be issued to offenders as a means of changing behaviours.

This report proposes to amend the CPS (as shown in Attachment I) changing the parking designation of Smiths Beach Road from “No Stopping” to “No Stopping, Road or Verge”.

P&L may choose to proceed with this amendment to the CPS as recommended above. Alternatively, due to high community interest in the proposed Smiths Beach Development, P&L may recommend consultation with the affected community prior to considering this proposal.

Statutory Environment

The officer recommendation supports the general function of a local government under the Local Government Act 1995 to provide for the good government of persons in its district.

Pursuant to clause 2.1 of the City of Busselton Parking Local Law 2020 (the Local Law):

“Determination of parking stalls, parking stations and parking areas

(1) The Council may by resolution constitute, determine or vary:

(a) parking stalls;

(b) parking stations;

(c) parking areas;

(d) no parking areas;

(e) no stopping areas;

(f) permitted time and conditions of parking in parking stalls, parking stations and parking areas which may vary with the locality;

(g) permitted classes of vehicles which may park in parking stalls, parking areas and parking stations;

(h) permitted classes of persons parking stalls, parking stations and parking areas; and

(i) the manner of parking in parking stalls, parking stations and parking areas.

(2) Where the Council makes a determination under subclause (1), the CEO must give local public notice of, and erect signs to give effect to, the determination.”

Under the provisions of clause 1.8 of the Local Law:

“For the purpose of this local law, vehicles are divided into classes as follows:

a. buses;

b. commercial vehicles;

c. motorcycles and bicycles;

d. taxis; and

e. all other vehicles.”

In the case of the recommendation to regulate parking in the first two parking bays outside St Mary’s Anglican Church, a hearse would be included in the classification “all other vehicles”.

Relevant Plans and Policies

There are no relevant plans or policies to consider in relation to this matter.

Financial Implications

There are no financial implications associated with the officer recommendation. Costs for the installation of parking signage and/or line marking will be funded using existing operating budgets.

Stakeholder Consultation

The proposal to regulate parking along Castle Rock Road was presented to, and endorsed by the Meelup Regional Park Working Group.

Other than the above, no external stakeholder consultation was required or undertaken in relation to this matter.

Risk Assessment

Options

As an alternative to the proposed recommendation the Council could approve with changes all or some of the proposed amendments to the CPS.

CONCLUSION

Officers are proposing that the Council approves the recommended amendments to the Consolidated Parking Scheme pursuant to Clause 2.1 of the City of Busselton Parking Local Law 2020.

TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

If approved by the Council, public notice of the amendments to the CPS will be given within four weeks. Signage designating the changes will be procured concurrently with the public notice and will be erected as soon as practicable after receipt.

Council 33 27 July 2022

12.4 Policy and Legislation Committee - 22/6/2022 - COUNCIL POLICY REVIEW: VERGE AND PUBLIC OPEN SPACE IMPROVEMENT

STRATEGIC THEME	LEADERSHIP - A Council that connects with the community and is accountable in its decision making.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY	4.2 Deliver governance systems that facilitate open, ethical and transparent decision making.
SUBJECT INDEX	Council Policies
BUSINESS UNIT	Governance Services
REPORTING OFFICER	Governance Coordinator - Emma Heys
AUTHORISING OFFICER	Director Finance and Corporate Services - Tony Nottle
NATURE OF DECISION	Executive: Substantial direction setting, including adopting budgets, strategies, plans and policies (excluding local planning policies); funding, donations and sponsorships; reviewing committee recommendations
VOTING REQUIREMENT	Simple Majority
ATTACHMENTS	Attachment a Council policy: 185/3 Verge and Public Open Space Improvement - Subdivision (Current)⇩ Attachment b Council policy: Verge and Public Open Space Improvement - Subdivisions (Proposed)⇩

This item was considered by the Policy and Legislation Committee at its meeting on 22/6/2022, the recommendations from which have been considered by Council

The committee recommendation was moved and carried.

COUNCIL DECISION

C2207/181 Moved Councillor P Cronin, seconded Councillor A Ryan

That Council adopt the amended Council policy: Verge and Public Open Space Improvement – Subdivisions (Attachment B) to replace the current policy (Attachment A).

CARRIED 9/0

En Bloc

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That Council adopt the amended Council policy: Verge and Public Open Space Improvement – Subdivisions (Attachment B) to replace the current policy (Attachment A).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report presents an amended Council policy: Verge and Public Open Space Improvement – Subdivisions (the Policy) (Attachment B), with the policy having been reviewed as part of the City’s ongoing review of its Council policies. Officers recommend it replaces the current Council policy (Attachment A.)

BACKGROUND

Council policy: Verge and Public Open Space Improvement – Subdivisions was last reviewed 13 December 2017 (Attachment B). The intention of the policy is to establish the City’s minimum landscaping standards and to provide guidance around how the City will deal with proposals from a developer to implement within a subdivision a higher standard of landscaping and infrastructure.

Officers have undertaken a review of the Policy as part of the City’s ongoing review of Council policies and are proposing a number of amendments to improve the application of the policy.

OFFICER COMMENT

The objective of the Policy is to outline how the City will deal with proposals from developers of subdivisions to construct or apply a higher standard of landscaping and infrastructure to new subdivisions that are to be vest to the City for management.

The City has set out a minimum standard of subdivision landscaping and infrastructure within its Engineering Technical Standards and Specifications (Technical Specifications) and whilst the preference is that this standard is not exceed, it is acknowledged that historically in selected subdivisions a higher standard has been constructed and provided for through application of a Specified Area Rate (SAR), and that there may be instances where the Council would consider this in the future.

The information required for developing landscaped areas is contained within the Technical Specifications, Section 9(a) and 9(g) – Landscape;

· Section 9a - Landscaping General

· Section 9b - Landscape Irrigation

· Section 9c - Landscape Road Reserve or Nature Verge

· Section 9d - A Guide to Landscape POS Rev A

· Section 9e - Combined Species Rev A

· Section 9f - Environmental Weeds Rev A

· Section 9g - A Guide to Landscape Entry Statements

These standards and specifications need to be read in conjunction with the City's relevant statutory requirements, Council Policies, relevant State and Federal Government policy and the WA Planning Commission (WAPC) conditions including operational policy Liveable Neighbourhoods (latest version).

The proposed amendments to the Policy set out the City’s position with respect to proposals from a developer for a higher standard of landscaping and infrastructure in subdivisions that are intended to be vested in the City for management. That is, that a SAR would be applied subject to the approval of Council, and the submission of plans. The option of a Developer Funded Landscape Annuity Proposal has been removed, as this is not a current practice.

The duplications with the Technical Specifications has been removed from the Policy and replaced with a simple reference to the minimum standards of landscaping and infrastructure required by the City.

How a SAR is to be calculated has been removed from the Policy as this would be determined at the time as part of any application to Council for a SAR. This detail is to be included in the Technical Specifications when a review of these documents is undertaken.

Statutory Environment

The Officer Recommendation supports the general function of a local government under the Local Government Act 1995 to provide for the good government of persons in its district.

Relevant Plans and Policies

The City’s Engineering Technical Standards and Specifications are a relevant document associated with the officer recommendation.

BACKGROUND

The Regulations detail the form and manner in which financial activity statements are to be presented to the Council on a monthly basis, and are to include the following:

· Annual budget estimates

· Budget estimates to the end of the month in which the statement relates

· Actual amounts of revenue and expenditure to the end of the month in which the statement relates

· Material variances between budget estimates and actual revenue/expenditure (including an explanation of any material variances)

· The net current assets at the end of the month to which the statement relates (including an explanation of the composition of the net current position)

Additionally, and pursuant to Regulation 34(5) of the Regulations, a local government is required to adopt a material variance reporting threshold in each financial year. At its meeting on 26 July 2021, the Council adopted (C2107/140) the following material variance reporting threshold for the 2021/22 financial year:

That pursuant to Regulation 34(5) of the Local Government (Financial Management) Regulations, the Council adopts a material variance reporting threshold with respect to financial activity statement reporting for the 2020/21 financial year as follows:

· Variances equal to or greater than 10% of the year to date budget amount as detailed in the Income Statement by Nature and Type/Statement of Financial Activity report, however variances due to timing differences and/or seasonal adjustments are to be reported only if not to do so would present an incomplete picture of the financial performance for a particular period; and

· Reporting of variances only applies for amounts greater than $25,000.

OFFICER COMMENT

In order to fulfil statutory reporting requirements and to provide the Council with a synopsis of the City’s overall financial performance on a year to date basis, the following financial reports are attached hereto:

Statement of Financial Activity

This report provides details of the City’s operating revenues and expenditures on a year to date basis, by nature and type (i.e. description). The report has been further extrapolated to include details of non-cash adjustments and capital revenues and expenditures, to identify the City’s net current position; which reconciles with that reflected in the associated Net Current Position report.

Net Current Position

This report provides details of the composition of the net current asset position on a full year basis, and reconciles with the net current position as per the Statement of Financial Activity.

Capital Acquisition Report

This report provides full year budget performance (by line item) in respect of the following capital expenditure activities:

· Land and Buildings

· Plant and Equipment

· Furniture and Equipment

· Infrastructure

Reserve Movements Report

This report provides summary details of transfers to and from reserve funds, and associated interest earnings on reserve funds, on a full year basis.

Additional reports and/or charts can be provided as required to further supplement the information comprised within the statutory financial reports.

Comments on Financial Activity to 31 May 2022

The Statement of Financial Activity (FAS) for the year to date (YTD) shows an overall Net Current Position of $4.6M as opposed to the budget of ($23M). This represents a positive variance of $27.6M YTD.

The following table summarises the major YTD variances that appear on the face of the FAS, which, in accordance with Council’s adopted material variance reporting threshold, collectively make up the above difference. Each numbered item in this lead table is explained further in the report.

Description	2021/22 Actual YTD $	2021/22 Amended Budget YTD $	2021/22 Amended Budget $	2021/22 YTD Bud Variance %	2021/22 YTD Bud Variance $	Change in Variance Current Month $
Revenue from Ordinary Activities				*6.08%*	*4,683,921*	*1,005,058*
1. Operating Grants, Subsidies and Contributions	6,244,864	4,103,022	4,841,906	52.20%	2,141,842	(342,490)
2. Other Revenue	661,293	271,381	414,950	143.68%	389,912	94,896
3. Interest Earnings	672,055	583,809	609,250	15.12%	88,246	26,216
4. Gain on Sale of Non Current Assets Held for Resale	464,492	0	0	100.00%	464,492	464,492
5. Fair Value Adjustment to Assets	462,502	0	0	100.00%	462,502	462,502
Expenses from Ordinary Activities				*9.17%*	*7,432,056*	*(270,143)*
6. Other Expenditure	(2,783,148)	(8,536,663)	(9,685,100)	67.40%	5,753,515	416,463
7. Non-Operating Grants, Subsidies and Contributions	18,219,244	15,979,529	34,864,437	14.02%	2,239,715	2,135,702
Capital Revenue & (Expenditure)				*39.89%*	*23,747,771*	*9,054,007*
8. Land & Buildings	(4,506,538)	(20,216,837)	(22,802,632)	77.71%	15,710,299	730,840
Plant & Equipment	(973,533)	(2,855,000)	(2,890,000)	65.90%	1,881,467	(44,038)
Furniture & Equipment	(363,211)	(595,109)	(854,368)	38.97%	231,898	20,555
Infrastructure	(19,542,755)	(33,099,676)	(38,537,750)	40.96%	13,556,921	(71,394)
9. Proceeds from Sale of Assets	79,227	776,071	776,071	(89.79%)	(696,844)	50,388

10. Proceeds from New Loans	21,325,000	25,450,000	25,450,000	(16.21%)	(4,125,000)	0
11. Self Supporting Loans - Repayment of Principal	55,517	156,649	267,033	(64.56%)	(101,132)	(10,580)
12. Total Loan Repayments – Principal	(2,720,229)	(3,060,971)	(3,839,418)	11.13%	340,742	10,580
13. Advances to Community Groups	(1,325,000)	(5,450,000)	(5,450,000)	75.69%	4,125,000	0
14. Transfer to Restricted Assets	(33,377,503)	(10,011,600)	(10,021,740)	(233.39%)	(23,365,903)	(1,116,841)
15. Transfer from Restricted Assets	13,755,058	0	1,735,682	100.00%	13,755,058	5,682,042
16. Transfer to Reserves	(23,675,630)	(19,330,836)	(23,109,232)	(22.48%)	(4,344,794)	(2,529,667)
17. Transfer from Reserves	13,455,789	9,199,246	39,544,446	46.27%	4,256,543	3,832,122

Revenue from Ordinary Activities

In total, revenue from Ordinary Activities is close to budget, being 6.1% ahead YTD. There are however material variance items contained within this category, on the face of the Financial Activity Statement, that require comment.

1. Operating Grants, Subsidies & Contributions

Ahead of YTD budget by $2.1M, or 52.2%, mainly due to the items listed in the table below:

Revenue Code	Revenue Code Description	Actual YTD $	Amended Budget YTD $	Variance YTD $	Variance YTD %	Change in Variance Current Month $
*Finance and Corporate Services*		*3,722,345*	*1,735,641*	*1,986,704*	*114.47%*	*(3,221)*
10250	Information & Communication Technology Services – Other Grants & Subsidies	20,363	-	20,363	(100.00%)	-
YTD amount recognised represents the subsidies received for the trainee being utilised in the Information Services business unit. This was not included in budget at the time of development as it was not known whether a trainee would be placed in this financial year.
10152	Other General Purpose Funding - Grants Commission	3,439,482	1,436,196	2,003,286	139.49%	(20,302)
The variance is due to a prepayment of the 22/23 Financial Assistance Grant. This has been restricted and transferred into the Prepaid Grants Reserve, so will have a nil impact on the net current position for 21/22. It will be unrestricted and transferred back out to be utilised in the 22/23 year.
10151	Rates Administration – Legal Fees Reimbursement	46,445	27,026	19,419	71.85%	(3,011)
The higher than expected legal fees reimbursement is due to the higher than expected debt recovery proceedings. All legal costs are recoverable from the properties involved.

10200	Financial Services – Insurance Recoveries	46,369	104,750	(58,381)	(55.73%)	18,172
When and how much insurance claims will be is not possible to predict. The full year budget has been allocated over the year based on the monthly trend over the last 4 years.
10227	Finance & Borrowing – Repayment of Interest on Self Supporting Loans	12,579	47,228	(34,649)	(73.37%)	(1,910)
This is lower than expected due to the SSL not proceeding for the AUDC. It is offset by lower interest expenses.
B1517	Goose Café – Utilities Reimbursements	-	10,000	(10,000)	(100.00%)	-
Nothing received, as there were no costs incurred for which CoB needed to be reimbursed for, due to the café burning down. The budget was set prior to this occurring, and has nil impact on the NCP due to a corresponding offset in utility costs.
*Community and Commercial Services*		*194,379*	*362,951*	*(168,572)*	*(46.44%)*	*1,036*
10542	Club Development – State Government Grants	-	22,500	(22,500)	(100.00%)	-
A $30K grant is due from DLGSCI, and activities conducted will be reconciled at year end to determine how much of the grant can be recognised as revenue.
10543	Community Development – State Government Grants	6,397	120,000	(113,603)	(94.67%)	-
The Lottery West grant of $53K for the Strengthening Communities Program was received in July and is gradually being expended. A reconciliation will done at year end to determine how much of the grant needs to be recognised as income to offset the expenditure. A % will require carry over into 22/23 FY as the grant is over 2 years.
11151	Airport Operations – Contributions	-	50,000	(50,000)	(100.00%)	-
This was a RADS grant (Dept of Transport) that has been delayed by DOT. The project will commence in the new FY including receipt of the $50k.
B1361	YCAB (Youth Precinct Foreshore) – Contributions	50,223	39,000	11,223	28.78%	(855)
$40K of the actuals relate to the sponsorship cash from Rio Tinto for the continuation of youth services activities in Busselton and Dunsborough. There have also been various other grants recognised for completed activities, such as Crime Prevention, SW Youth Fest and leadership Camp, that were not fully catered for at the time of creating the budget in early 2021.
10380	Busselton Library – Parenting Payment Reimbursements	14,809	1,265	13,544	1070.69%	(54)
It was not known at time of setting the budget that these payments would be forthcoming.
*Planning and Development Services*		*1,075,087*	*900,609*	*174,478*	*19.37%*	*131,070*
10820	Strategic Planning – State Government Grants	-	18,750	(18,750)	(100.00%)	-
This grant funding, provided by DPLH, relates to the CHRMAP project which was anticipated to be completed earlier in the financial year but has been held up in response to concerns raised by residents in Siesta Park and Marybrook. The CHRMAP will be taken to Council in June and, if approved, the final grant payment will be actioned.
10925	Preventative Services – CLAG – Health Dept Grant	45,916	33,250	12,666	38.09%	-
The CLAG funding received from Dept of Health is more than budgeted due to an anticipated long mosquito breeding season in 2021-22 and very limited larvicide product carried over from the previous season, requiring an increase in the larvicide product funding approved.

10940	Fire Prevention DFES – Contributions	91,380	55,880	35,500	63.53%	2,950
The reconciliation of the Fire Prevention activities conducted in the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd quarters resulted in higher than predicted billing and recognition of contributions from DFES.
*Engineering and Works Services*		*1,378,054*	*1,103,821*	*274,233*	*24.84%*	*(346,375)*
10830	Environmental Management Administration – State Government Grants	-	11,100	(11,100)	(100.00%)	-
This money is the Western Ringtail Possum Habitat Revegetation Project. This project has been running for four years and we are now into the final season. The Grant has to be acquitted by the end of September 2022. The money comes from the national Landcare Program but South West Catchments Council contract us to undertake the works. We invoice SWCC. The City spends the money first to implement the project then through the annual reporting system sends an invoice to recoup the costs.
11160	Busselton Jetty – Contributions	727,173	876,600	(149,427)	(17.05%)	(438,306)
Full year contributions are $149K less than budget, as the gross margin at the Jetty (upon which the contributions are based), were significantly affected by COVID, and the budget for 21/22 was set on prior years (early 2021), well before the audited financials for BJINC were available (October 2021).
11301	Regional Waste Management Administration	45,659	15,304	30,355	198.34%	-
Other Councils have contributed more than was originally forecast in the budget.
11404	Plant Purchases (12) – Insurance Recoveries	11,900	-	11,900	(100.00%)	-
Not something that can be predicted or budgeted for. Has nil impact on the net result as anything received forms part of what is transferred to the Plant Reserve at year end.
11501	Operations Services Works – Workers compensation Reimbursements	251,711	57,222	194,489	339.88%	(5,202)
Not possible to predict when or how much in workers compensation claims are going to be received. Budget has been allocated evenly over the year.
C8500	Cycleways Maintenance Busselton – Sundry Reimbursements	12,472	-	12,472	(100.00%)	-
This amount represents a reimbursement from Main Roads for costs incurred pruning along the bypass cycleway, for which no budget was included.

2. Other Revenue

Ahead of YTD budget by $390K, or 143.7%, mainly due to the items listed in the table below:

Revenue Code	Revenue Code Description	Actual YTD $	Amended Budget YTD $	Variance YTD $	Variance YTD %	Change in Variance Current Month $
*Planning & Development Services*		*93,649*	*109,035*	*(15,386)*	*(14.11%)*	*(42,008)*
10950, 10960, 10970	Animal, Litter & Parking Control – Fines & Prosecutions	47,814	69,878	(22,064)	(31.58%)	(4,308)
Result impacted by improved public compliance coupled with a shift in focus away from prosecution toward education.
*Engineering & Works Services*		*510,039*	*105,461*	*404,578*	*383.63%*	*105,870*
11107	Engineering Services Design – LSL Contribution from Other LGA	10,897	-	10,897	(100.00%)	-
At the time of Budget development a staff member had not planned to take LSL, which has since changed. We have now received the contribution of the previous employer.
12642	NCC Standpipe – Sale of Water	25,396	14,509	10,887	75.03%	(5,436)
Sales are based on meter readings for water taken from the standpipe. Over summer there was considerably more volume taken than was originally budgeted.
G0030 & G0031	Busselton & Dunsborough Transfer Station – Sale of Scrap Materials	452,641	90,952	361,689	397.67%	91,832
Prices received for scrap metal have been favourable affecting the positive result. Due to the more favourable prices, a higher volume of scrap metal was sold from stockpiles.

3. Interest Earnings

Ahead of YTD budget by $88K, or 15%, due to an increase in interest rates being offered on investments over the last few months.

4. Gain on Sale of Non Current Assets Held for Resale

This line represents the gain on sale of land that was reclassified in the previous financial year as being held for resale. The amount of $464K is the difference between the value we had the land recorded at in the books and what we actually received.

The land in question is the Ambergate land, which the auditors determined should be reclassified from Non Current Assets to Held for Resale, due to the published intention of Council to sell prior to year end.

5. Fair Value Adjustments to Assets

This line represents re-recognition of capital work in progress costs for the geothermal works at the GLC that dues to a system error were incorrectly written off as P&A assets due to the individual cost amounts being under $5K.

As part of the 5 year asset revaluation process, whilst examining the costs associated with the GLC building, this discrepancy was uncovered, and the $462K revenue item is effectively the reversal of the previous incorrect expense write-off.

Expenses from Ordinary Activities

Expenditure from ordinary activities is $7.4M, or 9.2%, less than expected when compared to the budget YTD. The expense line items on the face of the financial statement that have a YTD variance that meet the material reporting threshold are outlined below.

6. Other Expenditure

$5.8M, or 67.4%, under the budget YTD. The main contributing items are listed below:

Cost Code	Cost Code Description	Actual YTD $	Amended Budget YTD $	Variance YTD $	Variance YTD %	Change in Variance Current Month $
*Executive Services*		*101,941*	*76,087*	*(25,854)*	*(34.0%)*	*601*
10001	Office of the CEO	44,287	76,087	31,800	41.8%	4,492
The underspend relates to the inter-council initiatives budget line item, which has not been spent to date.
10011	Emergency Contingency Costs (Other)	57,655	-	(57,655)	(100.0%)	(3,891)
There is no budget for this particular area, as it is used purely to capture specific unforeseen emergency related costs. YTD actuals represent the costs associated with the forgone rental opportunities at the YCAB, whilst it is being used as a COVID vaccination clinic i.e. effectively tracking this part of the City’s contribution to the vaccination effort. This a non-cash “book entry”, with an offsetting revenue amount shown in Venue Hire income for the YCAB facility.
*Finance and Corporate Services*		*1,151,305*	*1,287,520*	*136,215*	*10.6%*	*227,200*
10000	Members of Council	581,487	634,812	53,325	8.4%	(10,969)
Timing related variances with underspends in primarily member allowances and sitting fees ($35k), plus underspends in reimbursements and training expenses due to change of council members.
10151	Rates Administration	33,050	384,910	351,860	91.4%	333,891
The budget is for rating valuations in relation to the interim rating of new properties. It was set as an even monthly spread, as historically these activities are random (e.g. dependant on building completions), and can’t be predicted. As such, there will always be timing variances. There was also a very large jump in May due to the budget including the 3 year GRV revaluation costs. The actual bill from LVS is expected in June.
10200	Financial Services	47,829	-	(47,829)	(100.0%)	(2,800)
The budget for the 5 yearly valuation of the City’s Land & Buildings was removed, as at the time of developing the budget it was believed that a qualified in-house valuer would be able to conduct this service.
10221, 10227, 10228, 10229 & 10230	Finance & Borrowing Programs 4, 11, 12, 13 & 14	197,054	103,082	(93,972)	(91.2%)	-
The Government Guarantee levy on the City’s loans as collected by the WA Treasury Corp payable for the period 1 January to 30 June 2021 was levied in July 2021. This invoice should have been posted to June via an accrual, however it was not completed and instead included in July’s expenses. Accordingly there will be three payments included in 2021/2022’s reports.
10370	Busselton Cemetery	71,308	-	(71,308)	(100.0%)	(71,308)
Additional neighbouring land purchased by CoB in September 2019, then transferred to the State Government as Crown Reserve for the cemetery expansion, was incorrectly allocated as a capital expenditure. This was picked up as part of the 5 yearly asset revaluation cycle and has now been reallocated correctly as a contribution.
10511	Community Assistance Program (Governance)	76,304	16,666	(59,638)	(357.8%)	(19,083)
YTD represents partial allocation of the funds for the You Choose Program. The full year budget of $100K will be allocated in May / June.
10700	Public Relations	95,486	104,605	9,119	8.7%	(2,957)
The variance is largely attributable to catering for civic events being under budget due to less events being run.
*Community and Commercial Services*		*1,241,394*	*6,921,058*	*5,679,664*	*82.1%*	*184,132*
10532	BPACC Operations	2,860	37,500	34,640	92.4%	-
BPACC operational activity will not commence until late 2023.
10533	Welfare / Senior Citizens	90,081	65,097	(24,984)	(38.4%)	-
The 4^th instalment of the yearly grant funding agreement for the Senior Citizens was paid in April, rather than in June where it was budgeted.
10543	Community Development	70,301	176,318	106,017	60.1%	(68)
This relates to the first three rounds of Community Assistance Program. Round 1 and 2 approvals were combined due to Council elections and round 3 closed on 30 November. From the first 3 rounds $133,873 is committed with actual expenditure to be seen in first quarter of 2022. Round 4 has now closed and applications are being assessed. Timing is largely dependent on CAP Applications received from community groups.
10558	Events	674,192	1,074,700	400,508	37.3%	(11,874)
The YTD underspend to budget can be explained as follows: · To date there have been 8 budgeted events cancelled due to COVID, totaling approximately $71K; · There have been 5 events that have occurred for which the City has yet to be invoiced for their contribution, totaling $57.5K; · 6 events have had partial payments, however a total of $91.5K remains due to milestones not yet met; · A further $192K was forecast to have been incurred by YTD March ($110K for Winter Wonderland, and approximately $60K in general unallocated funds).
10630	Economic and Business Development Administration	168,137	140,637	(27,500)	(19.6%)	(24)
This is due to MRBTA invoicing for visitor servicing which we pay at the beginning of the quarter as opposed to the end of the quarter.
10634	Business Support Program	-	23,850	23,850	100.0%	-
Final acquittals of the support program yet to be received. This budget was carried over from the 20/21 financial year, funded from the MERG Reserve, however it has now been ascertained that only approximately $10,000 will be required. This will more than likely be the positive variance by the end of the year, offset by a lower transfer from the reserve.
11151	Airport Operations	1,985	2,112,936	2,110,951	99.9%	191,669
Marketing activities continue to be delayed due to the postponement of Jetstar RPT services as a result of COVID restrictions etc.
11160	Busselton Jetty	-	3,000,000	3,000,000	100.0%	-
The budget YTD represents the City’s contribution to the AUDC project, which has been deferred. This was to be funded from the Jetty Reserve, so it will remain in the reserve at year end.
11156	Airport Development Operations	115,139	148,550	33,411	22.5%	-
At the time of setting the budget the timing for the final carried over payments related to a noise mitigation project were not known. $148K was estimated to be remaining in total, split over three payments, however we have not received practical completion on the works, and there are still some outstanding works in progress.
*Planning and Development Services*		*99,828*	*95,075*	*(4,753)*	*(5.0%)*	*6,294*
10805	Planning Administration	-	15,000	15,000	100.0%	-
This budget item relates to the Façade Refurbishment Program which the City normally runs on an annual basis. Due to staff shortages and other priorities this year, it’s not likely that the full year budget of $30K will get spent at all.
10942	Bushfire Risk Management Planning – DFES	27,145	-	(27,145)	(100.0%)	-
This unbudgeted spend represents the return of unspent grant funds to DFES for the 20/21 BRP program.
Various	Bushfire Brigades & SES	15,097	1,755	(13,342)	(760.2%)	(28)
Reconciliation and re-imbursement of the brigades was not budgeted to occur until June.
*Engineering and Works Services*		*188,445*	*156,923*	*(31,522)*	*(20.1%)*	*(1,531)*
10830	Environmental Management Administration	16,037	937	(15,100)	(1611.5%)	-
Biodiversity Incentive Rate Rebate costs per allocated and paid in January, however the budget of $17,650 is allocated to June. Variance will rectify at year end.
B1223	Micro Brewery - Public Ablution	-	60,000	60,000	100.0%	-
The full contribution of $120K to the ablutions, in two instalments, was made in the 20/21 financial year, however due to the lateness of the second $60K instalment, it was inadvertently included again in the 21/22 year budget unnecessarily.
G0042	BTS External Restoration Works	119,383	50,000	(69,383)	(138.8%)	-
Rendezvous Road Refuse site remedial works.

7. Non-Operating Grants, Subsidies & Contributions

The positive variance of $2.2M is mainly due to the items in the table below. It should be noted that any negative variance in this area will approximately correlate to an offsetting positive underspend variance in a capital project tied to these funding sources. This can be seen in the section below that outlines the capital expenditure variances. Where this is not the case, the reconciliation of the projects and the required funding to be recognised in revenue is not completed until closer to year end. The overall positive variance however, due to certain projects in the table below, is due to a reimbursement of the municipal fund required for cashflow purposes a lot earlier than was initially budgeted.

Revenue Code	Revenue Code Description	Actual YTD $	Amended Budget YTD $	Variance YTD $	Variance YTD %	Change in Variance Current Month $
*Finance and Corporate Services*		*178,370*	*65,000*	*113,370*	*174.4%*	*117,370*
10250	Information & Communication Technology Services – Prepaid Grant Funds Utilised	117,370	-	117,370	100.0%	117,370
*Community and Commercial Services*		-	*178,101*	*(178,101)*	*(100.0%)*	*(13,750)*
10540	Recreation Administration	-	76,875	(76,875)	(100.0%)	-
10590	Naturaliste Community Centre	-	70,050	(70,050)	(100.0%)	-
10900	Cultural Planning – Prepaid Grant Funds Utilised	-	13,750	(13,750)	(100.0%)	(13,750)
C6010	Airport Fencing Works	-	17,426	(17,426)	(100.0%)	-
*Engineering and Works Services*		*17,602,913*	*15,736,428*	*1,866,485*	*11.9%*	*2,012,083*
A0001	Kaloorup Road Bridge 3380 – Main Roads Grant	-	39,000	(39,000)	(100.0%)	-
A0022	Yallingup Beach Road Bridge - 3347 – Federal Capital Grant	-	700,000	(700,000)	(100.0%)	-
A0023	Kaloorup Road Bridge – 3381 – Federal Capital Grant	-	663,000	(663,000)	(100.0%)	(234,000)
A0024	Boallia Road Bridge – 4854 – Federal Capital Grant	-	431,250	(431,250)	(100.0%)	(143,750)
A0025	Tuart Drive Bridge 0238 – Developer Cont. Utilised	510,989	2,002,748	(1,491,760)	(74.5%)	(156,594)
B9591	Performing Arts Convention Centre – Federal Capital Grant	-	5,692,500	(5,692,500)	(100.0%)	-
B9612	Churchill Park Renew Sports Lights – State Capital Grant	-	72,850	(72,850)	(100.0%)	-
B9614	Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct-Pavilion/Changeroom Fac. - Developer Cont. Utilised	16,172	-	16,172	100.0%	16,172
C0064	Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct (Stage 1) – Carparking - Developer Cont. Utilised	532,369	-	532,369	100.0%	532,369
C3116	Dawson Park (Mcintyre St Pos) – Developer Cont. Utilised	71,116	-	71,116	100.0%	-
C3211	Tulloh St (Geographe Bay Road) - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	25,043	-	25,043	100.0%	-
C3214	Kingsford Road - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	71,437	-	71,437	100.0%	-
C3215	Monash Way - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	71,939	-	71,939	100.0%	-
C3216	Wagon Road - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	81,341	-	81,341	100.0%	-
C3217	Limestone Quarry - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	119,687	-	119,687	100.0%	-
C3218	Dolphin Road - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	90,634	-	90,634	100.0%	-
C3219	Kingfish/ Costello - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	33,551	-	33,551	100.0%	-
C3220	Quindalup Old Tennis Courts Site - POS Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	34,480	-	34,480	100.0%	-
C3225	Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct (Stage 1) – Developer Cont. Utilised	1,051,007	-	1,051,007	100.0%	106,772
C3243	Vasse River - Ongoing Restoration of River Habitat – State Capital Grant	-	90,000	(90,000)	(100.0%)	-

C3244	Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct - Outdoor Courts – Developer Cont. Utilised	118,503	-	118,503	100.0%	118,503
F0084	Thompson Way - New Path – Contributions	36,818	-	36,818	100.0%	-
F0112	Causeway Road Shared Path – State Capital Grant	-	98,500	(98,500)	(100.0%)	(18,500)
S0005	Buayanyup Drain Shared Path – Developer Cont. Utilised	183,251	-	183,251	100.0%	183,251
S0048	Bussell Highway – Developer Cont. Utilised	137,684	400,000	(262,316)	(65.6%)	137,684
S0070	Kaloorup Road - Reconstruct and Seal Shoulders – Main Roads Grant	331,435	-	331,435	100.0%	331,435
S0072	Causeway Road Duplication – R2R Grant	50,000	-	50,000	100.0%	50,000
S0076	Kaloorup Road (Stage 1) – Main Roads Direct Grant	-	448,800	(448,800)	(100.0%)	-
S0077	Ludlow-Hithergreen Stage 2 Reconstruct & Widen – MR Capital Grant	135,576	192,000	(56,424)	(29.4%)	135,576
S0078	Sugarloaf Road – State Capital Grant	302,993	804,000	(501,007)	(62.3%)	142,191
S0321	Yoongarillup Road - Second Coat Seal – MR Capital Grant	-	100,000	(100,000)	(100.0%)	-
S0331	Barracks Drive Spray Seal – MR Capital Grant	-	130,980	(130,980)	(100.0%)	-
S0332	Inlet Drive Spray Seal – MR Capital Grant	-	47,000	(47,000)	(100.0%)	-
S0333	Chapman Crescent Spray Seal – MR Capital Grant	-	78,000	(78,000)	(100.0%)	-
S0334	Chapman Hill Road – MR Capital Grant	237,620	1,122,000	(884,380)	(78.8%)	237,620
S0335	Kaloorup Road – MR Capital Grant	-	361,425	(361,425)	(100.0%)	56,424
S0336	Wildwood Road – MR Capital Grant	1,801,423	1,406,625	394,798	28.1%	-
W0265	Seascape Rise - Road Safety Upgrade – Developer Cont. Utilised	236,000	-	236,000	100.0%	236,000
W0274	Rendezvous Road Spray Seals – Developer Cont. Utilised	47,916	-	47,916	100.0%	47,916

8. Capital Expenditure

YTD there is an underspend variance of 55.3%, or $31.3M, in total capital expenditure, with YTD actual at $25.4M against the YTD budget of $56.8M. A large portion of this positive underspend variance is offset by the negative variance in Non-Operating Grants, Contributions & Subsidies discussed above, with the remainder offset by the negative variances in Transfers From Reserves and Restricted Assets related to funds held aside for these projects. The attachments to this report include detailed listings of all capital expenditure (project) items, however the main areas of YTD variance are summarised as follows:

Cost Code	Cost Code Description	Actual YTD $	Amended Budget YTD $	Variance YTD $	Variance YTD %	Change in Variance Current Month $
*Land*		*2,599*	*45,837*	*43,238*	*94.3%*	*4,167*
10610	Property Services Administration	2,599	45,837	43,238	94.3%	4,167
This is a contingency fund for costs associated with land acquisition or disposal under the LTFP, such as advertising costs in relation to the proposed disposition of freehold land holdings at Ambergate.
*Buildings*		*4,503,939*	*20,171,000*	*15,667,061*	*77.7%*	*726,673*
B9614	Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct-Pavilion /Changeroom Facilities	16,172	1,095,835	1,079,663	98.5%	204,167
There has been minimal expenditure to date as works have not yet commenced. The design is currently under review to achieve budget alignment in consultation with user groups.
B9012	Civic and Administration Building Replacement of Cladding	432,531	100,000	(332,531)	(332.5%)	(760)
The full year budget of $500K for this project was forecast to be completed by June, however works were completed in February and billing complete in April. By year end there will be savings to budget of approximately $68K, which will remain in the admin building reserve.
Various	Busselton Performing Arts Convention Centre	3,174,096	17,015,538	13,841,442	81.3%	692,637
Construction commenced in February, a lot later than originally forecast. Unspent budget at June 30 will remain in reserve and restricted assets to be carried over into the following financial year.
B9300/1/2	Aged Housing Capital Improvements	51,036	182,250	131,214	72.0%	(12,887)
Budgeted works were proposed to separate the power and drainage that service Winderlup Court and Winderlup Villas. Western Power have now confirmed that separation of power is not required. As there are other works required to these units the proposal is a capex spend of circa $28,000 for bathroom upgrades and reflux valves and a possible further $70,000 for replacement carports.
B9596	GLC Building Improvements	91,045	213,852	122,808	57.4%	(1,973)
Proposed project for stadium ventilation has been put on hold, pending a review of capital projects. Storage upgrade has commenced.
B9608	Demolition Allocation (Various Buildings)	-	20,000	20,000	100.0%	5,000
Any actual demolition costs are included in the Loss on Disposal calculations of the buildings in question, and will not appear here.

B9610	Old Butter Factory	17,991	6,000	(11,991)	(199.8%)	-
The YTD overspend is due to the retention monies owing to the contractor on final completion of project. These were not factored in at the time of developing the budget.
B9611	Smiths Beach New Public Toilet	-	250,000	250,000	100.0%	-
Notification has been received by the entity that currently supplies the water that they are no longer able to supply water for City toilets. As such an MOU is being reviewed by the property team to establish viability of infrastructure works and costs for water supply. A clearing permit application is also underway, however all other activity on the project has been put on hold until these issues are resolved. It is likely that this project will need to be re-listed in next financial year’s budget, with the funding remaining in reserve until then as well.
B9612	Churchill Park Renew Sports Lights	144,117	212,850	68,733	32.3%	(68,350)
The installation of both the new oval lighting and renewed lighting at the trotting track has commenced. There is a budget amendment pending as the costs will exceed budget. The project is anticipated to be completed by June 30, however lack of consistent contractor availability may cause this project to carry over into the next financial year.
B9613	CCTV Installation	29,921	50,000	20,079	40.2%	10,000
The CCTV installation at the GLC is complete, but we intend to use the remaining funds to upgrade corresponding components in the CCTV infrastructure to improve the overall system and allow for future expansion.
B9615	Naturaliste Community Centre AMP	(495)	72,000	72,495	100.7%	1,136
Delays due to contractor availability, these works will be re listed into next financial year.
B9616	Buildings Asset Management Plan High Use Allocation	126,714	150,000	23,286	15.5%	(5,466)
Much of the spend in this area is purely maintenance related and will be re-allocated against the operational budget. The underspend against budget that will result at year end will be offset by the overspend in operations due to the re-allocation of actual maintenance costs.
B9617	Buildings AMP Renewal Allocation - Meelup Ablution	32,707	200,000	167,293	83.6%	(25,318)
During Budget planning these works were anticipated to be spread evenly over 5 months. Due to unforeseen design complexities the works were not able to start on time. These issues have been resolved and this project will be delivered in this financial year.
B9621	Bovell Construction of Changerooms	17,606	-	(17,606)	(100.0%)	(17,606)
Costs represent deposits for the initial design, supply and installation of ablutions. The full year budget of $90K (fully grant funded), will appear in June.
B9622	Dunsborough Youth Centre Building Construction	20,664	-	(20,664)	(100.0%)	(4,596)
The timing for works and initial procurement of a transportable building was not accurately known at the time of setting the original total budget of $80K, which has been allocated in June.
B9720	BMRA Hangars	-	210,000	210,000	100.0%	-
This tender will not be awarded this FY due to staff / resource shortages and the budget allocation will need to be rolled over into next FY. This piece of work will be picked up by the Airport Business Development Officer position, funding endorsed by Council at 11 May Council meeting.

B9808	Busselton Jetty Tourist Park Upgrade	4,314	25,000	20,686	82.7%	-
Timing Issue - capital works upgrades that cannot be done until after Easter (the tourist season). The Facilities team are expecting to raise purchase orders and confirm works before the end of this financial year.
*Plant & Equipment*		*973,533*	*2,855,000*	*1,881,467*	*65.9%*	*(44,038)*
10250	Information & Communication Technology Services	-	40,000	40,000	100.0%	-
Vehicle now due to be delivered July. The budget for this will be carried over in the Plant Reserve and re-listed for expenditure in the 22/23 budget year.
10372	Dunsborough Cemetery	2,727	20,000	17,273	86.4%	(2,727)
The budget is for maintenance trailers for the cemetery, both for grave shoring equipment and watering equipment. The delay in procurement of these items is due to current material and supply related issues. The trailers have in fact been ordered, however delivery is not expected until October. The budget for this will be carried over in the Cemetery Reserve and re-listed for expenditure in the 22/23 budget year.
10630	Economic and Business Development Administration	-	75,000	75,000	100.0%	-
The budget relates to the replacement of two vehicles. One vehicle due to be delivered in June. Second vehicle yet to be ordered.
10810	Statutory Planning	-	35,000	35,000	100.0%	-
Vehicle has been ordered, delivery now due in July. The budget for this will be carried over in the Plant Reserve and re-listed for expenditure in the 22/23 budget year.
10920	Environmental Health Services Administration	-	40,000	40,000	100.0%	-
Vehicle will be ordered when new officer appointed. This will be carried over and relisted in the 22/23 budget.
10950	Animal Control	-	50,000	50,000	100.0%	-
Ute for rangers was ordered in May and is expected to be delivered and paid for by the end of June.
11001	Engineering Services Administration	-	35,000	35,000	100.0%	-
Vehicle due in November 2022. The budget for this will be carried over in the Plant Reserve and re-listed for expenditure in the 22/23 budget year.
11107	Engineering Services Design	69,015	185,000	115,986	62.7%	-
Survey equipment worth $73K incorrectly budgeted here, but actual cost has been allocated under Furniture & Office Equipment. 2 x cars delivered. A new survey ute was ordered in May, but is not expected to be delivered and paid for until October, so the budgeted for this will be carried over and relisted in the 22/23 budget.
11151	Airport Operations	-	15,000	15,000	100.0%	-
Slasher (tractor mounted) not yet ordered.
11202	Building Facilities - Weather Station Installations	10,280	20,000	9,720	48.6%	20,000
The actual weather stations have been procured, but are now not expected to be installed until the end of June. Initial forecast was that this was to have happened by May.
11401	Depot Workshop	-	10,000	10,000	100.0%	-
The budget is for a replacement hydraulic press. Specification requirements are being reviewed in light of supply chain issues.
11402	Plant Purchases (P10)	420,639	896,000	475,361	53.1%	-
Bin cleaning trailer not yet ordered. DWF site ute to be held and not replaced at this time. New waste truck to be delivered in June.
11403	Plant Purchases (P11)	130,486	569,000	438,514	77.1%	-
An RFQ for 3 x light trucks is in progress. Irrigation ute and Parks maintenance ute not yet ordered, waiting feedback on requirements from P&Gs team.
11404	Plant Purchases (P12)	88,453	515,000	426,547	82.8%	-
Specification development is in progress for 2 x light trucks and RFQ is in progress for a new grader.
11407	P&E - P&G Smart Technologies	-	75,000	75,000	100.0%	25,000
This budget was to be used for investment in smart technologies to manage / address drying climate, however plans have not yet been developed for its use. Funds will remain in reserve if not spent for this purpose by year end.
11500	Operations Services Administration	39,931	75,000	35,069	46.8%	(39,931)
Vehicle ordered, delivery now expected in July. The budget for this will be carried over in the Plant Reserve and re-listed for expenditure in the 22/23 budget year.
G0013	Domestic Organics Collections (FOGO)	19,346	-	(19,346)	(100.0%)	(6,449)
At the time of setting the budget of $75K for investigative works and FOGO trials, it was unknown what sort of activities would be undertaken. As such, the full year budget of $75K has been allocated to an operational contractors line, where in fact we needed to purchase some monitoring equipment to affix to the trucks. There is an underspend against budget in the contractor line that will offset this spend against a nil budget.
*Furniture & Office Equipment*		*363,211*	*595,109*	*231,898*	*39.0%*	*20,555*
10250	Information & Communication Technology Services	187,458	220,891	33,433	15.1%	(10,775)
Underspend is due to not yet ordering ICT asset replacement items. This is due to be ordered in the coming months though actual delivery may not occur for some time due to global supply chain issues.
10558	Events	-	200,000	200,000	100.0%	-
The budget YTD represents the carry-over from the 20/21 year for the electronic billboard. The initial tender process closed with three responses over the forecast budget. The tender was not awarded and it was agreed at the November MERG meeting to restructure the tender with options. A new tender has been issued which closed on 14 April 2022, and received 9 submissions. A preferred tenderer has been identified, approvals and final costings are currently being sought before the tender is awarded. This has been identified as a carryover into 2022/23, with the tender expected to be awarded in July 2022.
10590	Naturaliste Community Centre	16,326	51,650	35,324	68.4%	-
A carry-over from $26.6k from 20/21 was for purchase of replacement fitness equipment, pending arrival in June 22 valued of $11.4k. Fencing purchase of $8k was moved out to infrastructure, increasing the variance. Overall underspend is as a result of unsuccessful CCCF capital grant application 50/50 contribution of $33.4k.
10591	Geographe Leisure Centre	11,840	-	(11,840)	(100.0%)	-
The entire budget allocation was inadvertently attributed to June, resulting in the overspend timing variances. The $11.8K was expensed for indoor pool blankets, in time for winter, with remaining budget $18K for replacement of fitness equipment.
10900	Cultural Planning	14,199	50,968	36,769	72.1%	31,329
The underspent budget in this area is due to the carryover of the Sculpture by the Bay acquisitive art award, due to the cancellation of the event this year, as well as the latest Vasse Village artwork which is in design and will be installed next financial year. The Vasse Village artwork is funded from the public art reserve and contributions from the developer and business owners.
11107	Engineering Services Design	73,211	-	(73,211)	(100.0%)	-
Cost of new survey equipment that was incorrectly budgeted for under Plant & Equipment, instead of Furniture & Office Equipment.
B1350	Churchill Park- Other Buildings	-	26,450	26,450	100.0%	-
The budget relates to the storage facility project. Discussions are still progressing with the Stakeholders, delaying construction until a later date.
B1450	Depot Building-Busselton	19,844	-	(19,844)	(100.0%)	(2,068)
Expenditure was for 8 sit-to-stand workstations at the depot administration building. There was no budget for this particular line, however it was believed at the time of procurement that it would be offset by considerable savings in other areas.
*Infrastructure*		*19,542,755*	*33,099,676*	*13,556,921*	*41.0%*	*(71,394)*
Various	Roads	7,822,747	10,536,827	2,714,080	25.8%	(54,659)
Many road construction projects are now well underway. Impacting this increasing variance through to June will be the outcome from discussions with Council in September/October 2021 where it was decided that the current capital works program would be spread over 18 months extending into the 2022/23 financial year. To this end, some projects that were to be budgeted this financial year have been put on hold given the state of the economy, availability of contractors and increased costs. · 48% of the YTD variance valued at $1.323m is associated with the two remaining Regional Road Safety Program projects that are both currently in progress. These works will be completed by June 30. · 12% of the YTD variance valued at $340k is associated with the Kaloorup Road Blackspot project with works to come in under budget by est. $400k. · The Peel & Queen Street Roundabout Service Relocation works were recently completed in April. This variance will swing into an estimated $380k deficit positon upon receipt of all invoices associated with the project. A budget amendment report will go to Council on this matter. There will be a significant under expended variance to budget associated with road projects come June 30.
Various	Bridges	1,256,861	5,160,991	3,904,130	75.6%	(16,887)
Major bridge works are completed by Main Roads, with financial recognition of works often not occurring until late in the financial year. To date, works have been completed on the Bussell Highway bridge #241, Yallingup Beach Road bridge #3347 and the Tuart Drive bridge #0238 that has now been open to the public. Invoices for two of these projects have been received and will be will be entered in June. The City has limited control over Main Roads scheduling and it is often the case that some Bridge projects are carried over into the following year. The City was recently notified that bridge works on Layman Road, Kaloorup Road, Boallia Road & Gale Road values at $2.308m will now not commence until the 2022/23 financial year. This variance will continue to increase until invoices for works are provided by Main Roads, which is typically at the end of the financial year.
Various	Car Parks	1,083,635	1,909,010	825,375	43.2%	(29,767)
39% of the YTD variance valued at $336k is associated with the new car parking for the Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct where works are progressing. The following two projects will not be completed this year and thus will represent under expenditures come June 30: • Dunsborough Chieftain Crescent Carpark Extension $160k YTD, annual budget $240k. • Hotel Site 2 Carpark $230k YTD. There will be a significant under expended variance to budget associated with Car Parks projects come June 30.

Various	Footpaths & Cycleways	872,875	1,808,608	935,733	51.7%	(5,782)
29% of the year to date variance totalling $275k is associated with the $500k Busselton CBD Footpath Renewal project where the majority of this project has temporarily been put on-hold pending further review and potential re list. 11% of the YTD variance valued at $104K is associated with the Buayanup Drain Shared path project. Not all of this the budget will be expended as the value of the project was reduced towards the end of last financial year, however the amount carried over was not adjusted based on the reduced estimate. 16% of the YTD variance valued at $155K is associated with the Causeway Road Shared Path project. Tender prices for these works have come in higher than anticipated and it is thus unclear if this project will proceed this financial year. There will be a significant under expended variance to budget associated with Footpaths & Cycleway projects come June 30.
Parks, Gardens & Reserves		8,081,691	13,151,100	5,069,409	38.5%	20,993
Various	Busselton Jetty - Capital Expenditure	477,639	681,310	203,671	29.9%	(108,997)
At the time this budget was being prepared the 50 year Jetty plan was being revised and structural assessments were being carried out. To this end, some of the scheduled works were able to be moved forward and as such were not required to be completed this financial year. There will be a variance to budget in the order of $200k come June 30; where these monies will remain in the Jetty Reserve to fund the rescheduled works going forward.
Various	Coastal & Boating	199,850	1,176,800	976,950	83.0%	(115,702)
70% of the variance valued at $773k is attributable to both the stage 2 West Busselton & Forth Street seawall works. A report to Council in late January resulted in a decision to only proceed with the West Busselton works at this time with some of these costs to be offset by the Fourth Street Seawall project that has been put on hold. This project has now commenced with contractor costs to be incurred in May/June. 18% of the variance valued at $198k is associated with a Coastal Adaptation project re the Mitigation of Coastal Flooding. This project is in the design phase with a major portion of the funding anticipated to be outlaid before the end of the FY; subject to the availability of resources and material.
Various	Waste Services	1,098,136	1,887,500	789,364	41.8%	25,291
Budget for the Busselton Landfill Post-Closure Capping, Rehab & Remediation of $1M are $657k under budget YTD, as works associated with have paused while awaiting DWER’s instruction around remediation options associated with property classifications. Focus for the remaining financial year shifted to earthworks for the construction of Dunsborough Landfill Cell 2 budgeted at $500k. It is anticipated, come June 30, there will be a significant under expended variance to budget associated with several Waste Services projects.
Various	Townscape & Vasse River	60,710	1,500,382	1,439,672	96.0%	233,829
No townscape works of any significance associated with projects in this category have yet to commence, however planning is well advanced. Some of the townscape works in Dunsborough valued at $1.057m will be staged, between the 21/22 and 22/23 financial years. The budget of $640K for major Vasse River works, that commenced in April, will be moved into the operational area via a budget amendment in June, as it is not capital related.
Various	Other P&G Infrastructure	6,245,356	7,905,108	1,659,753	21.0%	(13,429)
There are 45 individual Parks & Gardens capital projects budgeted this financial year ranging in value from between a mere $1.8K to $2.1M. · 67% of the YTD variance valued at $ 1.1M is associated with the Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct project. · The Barnard Park East Foreshore Landscaping project is reported at $532K over expended to the annual budget, this has been highlighted in Councillor briefings.

Various	Drainage	325,053	246,400	(78,653)	(31.9%)	21,313
The City’s drainage project on Carey street is reported at $95K over budget YTD. The budget for the footpath in the same location is under budget $197K. City Labour costs associated with the footpath may be included in the drainage project; if this is found to be the case the costs will be reallocated.
Various	Regional Airport & Industrial Park Infrastructure	99,893	286,740	186,847	65.2%	(6,605)
YTD actual is made up of four separate account strings all part of the Airport development project. Some are completed (underspent) and others may not be spent until the end of the FY depending on timing of the works. A nominal amount was budgeted for unforeseen noise mitigation requirements, resulting from the commencement of RPT services. Some of these works have only just commenced.

9. Proceeds From Sale of Assets

YTD there have been minimal proceeds from sale of assets recorded against the YTD budget of $776K. This is due to the continuing delays in delivery of acquisitions, and the associated transfer to auction of the vehicles being replaced. Some vehicles that were planned to be traded/auctioned have also been retained and redeployed instead.

10. Proceeds from New Loans

YTD it was forecast that the self-supporting loan to BJINC of $4M for the AUDC project would have been drawn. This will no longer be proceeding. A further $125K of self-supporting loans to community groups was also forecasted to have been drawn and on-lent by this stage of the financial year. The combination of these items accounts for the $4.125M negative variance YTD.

This is offset by a corresponding positive timing variance of $4.125M in Advances to Community Groups.

11. Self Supporting Loans – Repayments of Principal

This line is $101K under budget mainly due to the AUDC loan not proceeding, but is offset by part of the positive variance in Total Loan Repayments, where the City is not required to repay those budgeted amounts associated with the un-drawn self-supporting loans.

12. Total Loan Repayments - Principal

Repayments of the principal on loans is $341K under budget YTD, mainly due to the loan for the BPACC not proceeding in the timeframe as budgeted, as well as the deferment of the AUDC project and hence the non-draw down of the associated self-supporting loan to BJINC (offset per above).

13. Advances to Community Groups

Although it is not possible to predict when these loans will be applied for, the negative variance is 100% offset by the positive variance in Proceeds from New Loans outlined above. YTD the variance is $4.125M mainly due to the AUDC being put on hold.

14. Transfer to Restricted Assets

There is a YTD variance in transfers to Restricted Assets of $23.4M because there is usually no budget for this item during the year. The transfers are usually not possible to predict, and are fully reconciled only at year end.

At the time of budgeting it is not possible to predict what grants will be received, and in what timeframe, nor when they will be spent and hence potentially transferred to Restricted Assets (or unspent portions thereof).

YTD, loans of $20M were received for BPACC that were transferred to restricted assets ($10M of which was budgeted for per a budget amendment for an additional $10M borrowing), until utilized, as well as $9.6M in various government grants, plus $1.8M in Roadwork Bonds, and $2M in developer contributions, deposits and bonds.

15. Transfer from Restricted Assets

YTD, there has been $13.8M transferred from Restricted Assets into the Municipal Account. The transfers are usually not possible to predict, and are fully reconciled only at year end.

This was attributable to $7.1M of grant money for works completed and reconciled, $810K of Roadwork Bonds, $474K of caravan park deposit refunds, utilization of $3.2M of restricted loan money (BPACC), and $2.2M of various other bonds and deposits returned or utilised.

16. Transfer to Reserves

YTD, there has been $4.3M more transferred to reserves than budgeted due to receiving the $2M of Financial Assistance Grants for the 2022/23 year in advance. This was put aside in the Prepaid Grants Reserve to be utilised next financial year. Also, the $2.5M proceeds from sale of the Ambergate land was also set aside in the Strategic Projects Reserve, which was not forecast in the original budget.

17. Transfer from Reserves

YTD, there has been $4.3M more transferred from reserves than budgeted YTD, due to reconciliation of completed reserve funded works occurring earlier than forecast (usually done at year end), for some particularly large projects.

Investment Report

Pursuant to the Council’s Investment Policy, a report is to be provided to the Council on a monthly basis, detailing the investment portfolio in terms of performance and counterparty percentage exposure of total portfolio. The report is also to provide details of investment income earned against budget, whilst confirming compliance of the portfolio with legislative and policy limits.

As at 31st May 2022 the value of the City’s invested funds decreased from $107M as at 30^th April 2022 to $104.5M.

As at 31^st May the 11AM (an intermediary account which offers immediate access to the funds compared to the term deposits) account balance is $20.5M, down from $23M as at 30^th April 2022.

The decrease of $2.5M in 11am account is due to:

· Addition of $2.5M for sale of Land in Ambergate deposited to 11am account;

· Deduction of account to meet $5M from the 11am account, with the funds being transferred to the cheque normal operating expenses.

During the month of May seven term deposits totalling the amount of $19M matured. These were renewed for a further 96 days at 1.75% on average.

The official cash rate increased during the month of May by 0.25% to 0.35%. A further increase of 0.5% in June has resulted in the current rate being 0.85%. Further increases are expected in the coming months further increasing the cash rate. This will result in higher interest earnings for the City, although future borrowings will incur higher rates also.

Council 102 27 July 2022

12.8 Finance Committee - 20/7/2022 - SERVICE AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENT REVIEW - ANNUAL REPORT

STRATEGIC THEME	LEADERSHIP - A Council that connects with the community and is accountable in its decision making.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY	4.4 Govern a professional organisation that is healthy, capable and engaged.
SUBJECT INDEX	Governance
BUSINESS UNIT	Corporate Services
REPORTING OFFICER	Manager Governance and Corporate Services - Sarah Pierson
AUTHORISING OFFICER	Director Finance and Corporate Services - Tony Nottle
NATURE OF DECISION	Executive: Substantial direction setting, including adopting budgets, strategies, plans and policies (excluding local planning policies); funding, donations and sponsorships; reviewing committee recommendations
VOTING REQUIREMENT	Simple Majority
ATTACHMENTS	Attachment a Adopted Methodology ⇩ Attachment b Example Service Statement ⇩ Attachment c Small Business Friendly Approvals Recommendations ⇩

This item was considered by the Finance Committee at its meeting on 20/7/2022, the recommendations from which have been considered by Council.

The committee recommendation was moved and carried.

COUNCIL DECISION

C2207/184 Moved Councillor P Cronin, seconded Councillor A Ryan

That the Council:

1. Endorses the Service and Process Improvement Review Annual Report for 2021/2022; and

2. Acknowledges the continuation of the Service and Process Improvement Review (SPIR) program as part of the City’s continuous improvement approach to organisational performance.

CARRIED 9/0

En Bloc

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That the Council:

1. Endorses the Service and Process Improvement Review Annual Report for 2021/2022; and

2. Acknowledges the continuation of the Service and Process Improvement Review (SPIR) program as part of the City’s continuous improvement approach to organisational performance.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In determining the CEO’s key performance indicators for 2021/2022, the Council and CEO agreed to identify and implement process and service improvement initiatives, including the recommendations of the Small Business Development Corporation’s small business friendly approvals program, and provide an annual report of outcomes through this Committee. It was also agreed that stage 1 of the service improvement methodology adopted by Council on 28 April 2021 would resume.

Stage 1 is intended as a high level review or analysis of the City’s services (as opposed to a ‘deep dive’ service review).

This report presents an overview of the activities and outcomes of service and process review over the previous 12 months. Discussions around service and process review are reflected in a growing culture of process thinking, and a series of opportunities have been identified and / or actioned through the year. This report provides a summary of some of the more significant organisational improvements.

It is recommended that Council endorses this report, and acknowledge service and process improvement is part of an ongoing continuous improvement approach to organisational performance is also sought.

BACKGROUND

Like many local governments, the City is increasingly challenged with changing community expectations, devolution of services from State Government, and an increasingly complex legislative environment. The City of Busselton district has also undergone significant growth over the last fifteen years, leading to increased service demands.

Maintaining a focus on efficient and effective service delivery is important to meet these needs in a financially sustainable manner; with a clear understanding of the City’s customers, their needs, the services delivered and the outcomes achieved underpinning this.

The City currently undertakes internal reviews of its service provision annually through a business planning process. Through this process service units assess their service provision, identify challenges and opportunities for improvement, and forward plan associated actions and priorities. Additional resourcing requirements (to fund improvements or to meet service levels) are identified through a resourcing proposal form, and assessed by Senior Management as part of Long Term Financial Planning and annual budget processes. In addition officers make services improvements as they are identified, within the scope of budget allocations.

In order to continuously improve this process, Council adopted at its meeting on 28 April 2021 (C2104/079) a methodology for the implementation of more focused service improvement reviews (Attachment A) – to gather and collate information on City services in order to better understand, measure and report on the level and quality of service being delivered. The adopted methodology outlines a three stage service improvement review approach. Stage 1 is to conduct a high level review or analysis of the City’s identified services, building on the current annual service planning.

Council allocated an additional $100,000 to the draft 2021/2022 salaries and wages budget for the purposes of resourcing stage 1 of the adopted methodology. Shortly after however, these funds were repurposed to support an additional position within the Planning directorate. As a result the following CEO KPI was set for the 21/22 year:

a) Identify and implement process / service improvement initiatives and provide an annual report of outcomes through the finance committee including a report on the SBDC program recommendations.

b) Resume implementation of stage 1 of the service improvement methodology adopted by Council.

The following outlines the work undertaken this year with respect to service and process improvement.

OFFICER COMMENT

Service and process improvement review activities were undertaken this year through various initiatives.

In accordance with stage 1 of the adopted service improvement methodology, a Service and Process Improvement Review (SPIR) program and project team was established during the year. Two internal part-time secondments from within governance and IT (1 FTE in total) were sourced to form a small project team with guidance of the Manager Governance and Corporate Services. The position of Corporate Planning Officer within Governance was also transitioned through the year to a Business Performance Officer position - to aid in the future implementation of service and process improvement review work. Through natural attrition and recruitment this appointment did not occur until April 2022; moving forward however this position will add much needed resourcing.

The project team undertook a high level anaylsis of four service areas as part of a ‘pilot’ for what is intended as an ongoing program:

1. Human Resources (Subservices: HR, Payroll, WHS and Risk)

2. Legal Services (Subservices: Legal, Contract and Tendering)

3. Design and Survey (Subservices: Design, Survey)

4. Ranger Services (Animal Control, Parking Control, Law Enforcement)

The approach was to gather existing information relating to the service function, understand the service drivers (who – customer, what – outputs, and why – outcome), analyse the sub services, benchmark service delivery where possible against relevant local government organisations, identify opportunities for improvement and provide recommendations. This information is included in a Service Statement for each service – an example is attached (Attachment B).

Process mapping of a key process was also undertaken using a new process mapping software, Promapp, which enables a range of data to be captured and collated including triggers and inputs to the process, procedure / steps in the process, timeframes – active and wait times in the process, and the cost to complete the process based on the timeframes. Process mapping has been embraced by staff participating, and while it will take time to integrate Promapp into the organisation, the initial pilot has demonstrated the value and opportunity it presents.

Overall the pilot reviews identified a number of improvements that will have a positive impact on service efficiency and effectiveness. Many of these are operational in nature, such as for instance review of the servicing levels and allocation of responsibility for the filling of dog bag dispensers, or review processes to improve the efficiency of training administration. Broader organisational items for progression, subject to prioritisation and resourcing, are detailed below.

Opportunity	Recommendation
IT Road Map
A well developed and communicated IT roadmap will reduce tendency of service areas to source IT solutions on their own, creating the potential for duplication and wastage.	Technology plays an important role in improving efficiency and the development of an IT road map has already been recognised by IT as a priority and is being developed, with this to be reviewed as we complete more service reviews. It should be noted that the City’s core ERP system, Technology One, is currently going through a process of upgrade. This upgrade is expected to be complete by the end of 2022, after which the City will have more access to online applications and portals.
Project Management Systems and Technology
The City has a variety of paper based project planning templates. They are not however used consistently and the lack of one project planning / management approach can lead to project delivery delays due to insufficient lead times, and rework. Ownership of projects can also be unclear when they cross over multiple work areas. Lack of centralised project management software to aid project communication, efficiency and delivery.	Develop and implement a consistent project management approach (from idea conception through to planning and delivery) and supporting tools. It is recommended that a software solution be investigated to aid in the application of an organisational wide approach and discipline.
Organisational Reporting
Organisational reporting is often very manual, with a lack of established data sets, dashboards etc and reports.	Develop service metrics which can be tracked and reported on. Set up self-service dashboards in Tech One and automatic reports.
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Customer perceptions of service (both internally and externally) are not captured for a number of service areas.	Develop a process to capture customer feedback.
Online Forms
Many of the City’s internal processes utilise paper based forms which require printing, signing, scanning and registering. There is an opportunity to use Tech One forms to feed data into forms from the system.	Engage Tech One consultant to improve organisational understanding and use of the Tech One modules, including the use of online forms and workflows.
Database Management
The City’s database requires regular management to ensure maximum contact mechanisms. This will assist with the efficiency of consultation and engagement.	Develop and implement a process to improve the City’s database. Research future implementation of a customer relationship management system.
Decentralised Procurement
Decentralised procurement can lead to inconsistency in systems and processes and duplication / wastage.	Undertake a further review of procurement as a broader service area to determine if the current decentralised model is the most efficient.

While progress of the SPIR program was somewhat constrained by the available resourcing and other factors such as staff movements, leave, and the impacts of COVID, the piloting of a small number of service assessments has allowed officers to understand the time commitment involved in the process, and to also recognise the limitations of a high level review, versus a ‘deep dive’ service review. For instance while we do have some high level benchmarking data through our work with the Regional Capitals Alliance WA, there is currently a lack of detailed service level benchmarking data readily available.

Benchmarking across local governments can be difficult even when comparing basic core functions, with organisational structures and the level of service provided varying, and the time required to unravel relevant data and costs to make robust comparisons is more aligned to the complexity of a deep dive investigation (part of stage 2 of the methodology for selected services).

Similarly we currently lack robust service measures (quantitative and qualitative) in some areas, it is recommended as per above that this is an area for focus. Changes to the chart of accounts, which went live on 4 July 2022, will help the City to link its costings together so that it can report on all of the different types of transactions for each service/project/job undertaken by the City. This critical piece of work, a significant improvement project in and of itself, will allow us to draw out key data and reports to better assist with benchmarking, measurement and also accurate costing of services.

Notwithstanding, the high level benchmarking data we do have indicates that the City is comparatively well placed with other similar regional City Councils. Pleasingly, discussions around process improvement is also leading to a growing culture of organisational process review, with teams looking for ways to streamline what they do. Some examples of improvements made through the year are listed below:

Opportunity	Solution
Chart of Accounts Reconfiguration and Enterprise Budgeting.	As noted above, the City went live with its new chart of accounts on 4 July 2022. This was the culmination of significant work by the business systems improvement team, finance and key stakeholders around the organisation and will greatly improve the organisational access to costing information and ultimately aid in better decision making. The 2022/2023 budget is being formulated aligned to this new chart of accounts within the T1 enterprise budgeting model. While there have been challenges this year running the chart of accounts and enterprise budgeting project concurrently, the online budgeting system will lead to a more efficient budget development process.
Amendments made to after-hours messaging service.	A review of calls received by our after-hours call centre revealed that a large portion (approximately 70%) of calls were non-urgent (people could call back in business hours or email), disconnected on greeting / wrong number, or seeking information available on the website. In an attempt to mitigate costs associated with these types of calls, a revised after-hours message was developed and implemented to be played in between the call to the City, and the redirection to the call centre. Immediately after, a 30% reduction in calls going through to the call centre was noted, equivalent to a reduction in annual expenditure of between $8,000 and $10,000.
A review of the bond collection process for low risk bookings.	A trial waiver of low risk bonds for 42 bookings was undertaken with the administration resources reduced by 65 hours and processing costs reduced by $2,000. There were no instances of damage and customer feedback was positive as they don’t need to pay two invoices. A permanent change has now been formalised. It should also be noted that venue bookings are down overall, likely due to COVID. Under normal circumstances the achieved savings would have been higher. In addition a review of the workflows removed redundant steps which were causing staff time and frustrations.
Improved management of facility maintenance requests using SharePoint.	Staff undertook a trial in the use of Microsoft Sharepoint and developed a centralised ‘facilities / maintenance request’ process, on-line form and system. Anyone across the organisation with access to a phone tablet or desktop PC can now submit a maintenance request and review the status of their requests. This has reduced the number of emails and phone calls to individual facilities officers and provides centralized data for analysis, enabling better tracking and reporting of maintenance requests. The data captured is already providing insights into maintenance trends and improving allocation of work time.
Improvements to Building Condition Reporting (BCR) and Building Inspections.	Improved collaboration across various areas of the organisation has led to an improved and more consistent method of capturing and analyzing building condition data to inform a facilities maintenance plan. As part of the initiative, 60 City owned and managed facilities have been inspected using mobile devices to collect data. Buildings with a greater number of priority items were then inspected in more detail to produce a plan of works for next financial year. Using new applications in Microsoft 365 building inspections are able to be done online capturing data, including photos, in real time. This reduces time spent on administration.
Implementation of CRM module within Rangers.	Rangers commenced using the T1 customer request management (CRM) module to record and track customer requests. This was previously a manual process with it being time consuming to track and report on completed jobs. The use of CRM has increased transparency with completed jobs recorded and registered into ECM in a timely manner.
Implementation of T1 applications to record and track subdivisions under construction.	Use of T1 application processes to record and track subdivisions has provided increased communication and workflow transparency between planning and development control. It has also provided for T1/ECM Connected Content registrations which saves staff a lot of time registering information into the City’s document management system.
Implementation of BPay for payments and bonds.	Bpay functionality within T1 was implemented to streamline the payment process. This has reduced the effort of finance and provided customers with more payment options.
Improved management of EWS customer requests.	It was identified that the management of customer requests was better suited to the functions of the customer service team, as opposed to the operations team who are focused on delivery of the works. As a result a new process was implemented with operations supervisors providing completion reports to the customer service team and customer service closing out the requests with customers.
Compliance Workflows.	Updated workflows were implemented within T1 to improve management of holiday home and extractive industry compliance matters. In relation to extractive industries, this has improved transparency and workflow of information between compliance and planning, and has reduced the registration processes for annual audit information with increased efficiency through the T1/ECM Connected Content registration process.
Planning and Building Infringements.	Akin to several of the improvements noted above, T1 is in the process of being configured to enable planning and building infringements to be issued and tracked from the system.
Updating of T1 profiles.	As part of the chart of accounts upgrade, the 400+ profiles in T1 financials has been streamlined, saving time associated with new staff set up and providing staff more access to the chart for reporting purposes.
Good receipt workflow.	The goods receipt workflow in T1 was implemented to sign off on invoices received. This was previously a manual paper based process.
Improved Field Access	Work is progressing to provide operations staff with increased mobility and access to online forms in the field. Paper based forms such as the City’s Step Back 5 x 5 form has been translated to a mobile friendly online form using Microsoft applications.

Small Business Friendly Approvals Program

In addition to the above, implementation of the recommendations from the Small Business Friendly Approvals program has been progressed through the implementation team consisting of staff from across the organisation.

Timeframes for completion of the 20 recommendations vary, with a number of actions unable to be commenced as yet and / or not due for completion until late this calendar year. While staff turnover has had some impact, some great progress is being made including changes to the City’s website, reshaping the initial new small business enquiries process, improved internal communication platforms, and progressing development of a common language / writing guide. Attachment C provides a summary of progress against each action.

Statutory Environment

The Officer Recommendation supports the general function of a local government under the Local Government Act 1995 to provide for the good government of persons in its district.

Relevant Plans and Policies

The officer recommendation, and the implementation of service improvement reviews, aligns closely to the integrated planning and reporting framework and the development of the City’s Corporate Business Plan. It is envisaged that more detailed service information will be incorporated into future iterations of the City’s Corporate Business Plan, providing the Council and the Community with a more detailed overview of City services and their contribution to achievement of the City’s goals and objectives. The information will also aid Council when considering new services or changes to service provision.

Financial Implications

There are no financial implications associated with the Officer Recommendation. There may however be financial implications associated with identified opportunities for improvement, specifically around technology.

Service and process review work has, and is currently intended to be undertaken within existing resources. Should Council consider deep dive investigations or wish to increase the level of focus on service analysis additional resourcing may be required.

Stakeholder Consultation

No external stakeholder consultation was required or undertaken in relation to this matter.

Risk Assessment

Options

Further to the officer recommendation, Council may choose to request more information or to provide specific future direction to the CEO with respect to service and process review.

CONCLUSION

Service and process improvement work is part of a continuous improvement approach which will continue in 2022/2023. Upgrading of the City’s Technology One platform will provide greater opportunity to implement improvements through technology and also to improve the customer experience as identified through the Small Business Friendly Approvals program. Once the chart of account and enterprise budgeting are fully bedded in, it is anticipated that the Business Systems Improvement Team will also be able to assist IT with systems improvement.

With respect to service analysis, the intent is to undertake a high level analysis of the remainder of City services in the coming year and to collate a set of Service Statements with more robust service costings. Process mapping and the identification of process champions across the organisation is considered important. A list of opportunities and recommendations will continue to be developed and then prioritised.

TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

Not applicable.

Council 133 27 July 2022

16.1 LOCKE ESTATE CAMPSITE 16 LEASE

STRATEGIC THEME	ENVIRONMENT - An environment that is valued, conserved and able to be enjoyed by current and future generations.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY	1.2 Work with the community to manage and enhance natural areas and reserves and their biodiversity.
SUBJECT INDEX	Locke Estate
BUSINESS UNIT	Corporate Services
REPORTING OFFICER	Leasing and Property Officer - Julie Oates
AUTHORISING OFFICER	Manager Legal and Property Services - Ben Whitehill
NATURE OF DECISION	Contractual: To enter into a contract e.g. a lease or the award of a tender etc..
VOTING REQUIREMENT	Simple Majority
ATTACHMENTS	Attachment a Campsite 16 Lease Plan⇩

The officer recommendation was moved and carried.

COUNCIL DECISION

C2207/185 Moved Councillor P Cronin, seconded Councillor A Ryan

That the Council

1. Enter into a lease with The Legacy Club of Western Australian Incorporated subject to the consent of the Minister for Lands for the occupation of a portion of Reserve 22674, Lot 5303, Deposited Plan 220583; Volume LR3088, Folio 423, Caves Road, Siesta Park as indicated in Attachment A, on the following terms and conditions

(a) The term of the lease commencing no later than 1 October 2022 and expiring on the 30 November 2032;

(b) The annual rent to commence at $2,500.00 plus GST with annual rent increase of CPI or 3% whichever is greater;

(c) For up to the first 6 years of the term of the lease the lessee is required to pay Council $4,000 per annum to be placed in an interest bearing Reserve for future coastal works adjoining the Locke Estate;

(d) The lease being consistent with the City’s standard Locke Estate lease agreement; and

(e) All costs for the preparation of the lease to be met by the lessee.

CARRIED 9/0

En Bloc

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That the Council

(a) The term of the lease commencing no later than 1 October 2022 and expiring on the 30 November 2032;

(b) The annual rent to commence at $2,500.00 plus GST with annual rent increase of CPI or 3% whichever is greater;

(d) The lease being consistent with the City’s standard Locke Estate lease agreement; and

(e) All costs for the preparation of the lease to be met by the lessee.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Campsite 16 at the Locke Estate has been vacant since 2019. This report recommends that Council enter into a lease with The Legacy Club of Western Australian Incorporated (Legacy) for Campsite 16 at Locke Estate.

BACKGROUND

Reserve 22674, Lot 5303, Caves Road, Siesta Park, also known as the Locke Estate, is an 'A class' crown reserve vested with the City of Busselton (City) for the designated purpose of ‘Recreational Camp Sites and Group Holiday Accommodation’.

The Locke Estate consists of sixteen campsites. Fifteen of the campsites are currently leased and operated by various not-for-profit organisations. Council recently resolved to enter into a lease with South-West Aboriginal Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation for campsite 7 following an expression of interest process. Meanwhile campsite 16, the subject of this report, remains vacant.

Campsite 16 was leased between 2016 and 2019 by the Grand Lodge of Western Australian Freemasons Homes for the Aged Incorporated (Masonic Care). The lease was surrendered by Masonic Care in 2019. Since then the campsite has been managed by the City.

Unoccupied campsites have typically been leased by an Expression of Interest (EoI) process with applications assessed against detailed selection criteria designed to assess a prospective lessees’ ability to meet the lease purpose and terms relevant to the Locke Estate campsite. The selection criteria were reviewed in 2015 (C1506/155).

Campsite 16 has limited development potential due to a lack of existing infrastructure, high bushfire risk, small development zone and a small lease term of approximately 10 years.

Due to the constraints Council have considered several options for Campsite 16 including:

· Seeking EoI’s for the campsite;

· Retaining all or part of the campsite for community use;

· Leasing all or part of campsite to Legacy who currently lease the adjoining campsite 15.

Following discussions officers were requested to explore leasing Campsite 16 to Legacy.

OFFICER COMMENT

Legacy cares for the families of Australian Defence Force men and women who have lost their lives or their health as a result of their service. Legacy currently uses campsite 15 to support the partners and children of veterans.

Legacy has held its current lease of campsite 15 since 2011 but have occupied the campsite for a significantly longer period with the majority of the infrastructure built after the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. During this time they have demonstrated their capability to manage the campsite both logistically and financially.

In 2021 Legacy were given a temporary approval to use Campsite 16 as an overflow camping area as part of the annual Legacy Ward Camp. Legacy has indicated that their use of Campsite 16 will be for tent camping in the proposed area with guests utilising Legacy’s current building assets including ablution block, kitchen utilities and check in office (all located on campsite 15).

The benefits of offering the lease of Campsite 16 to Legacy are:

1. Legacy will be able to leverage off the existing infrastructure on campsite 15 reducing the development cost and burden otherwise associated with the constrained campsite; and

2. All Locke Estate campsites will be leased reducing the City’s management costs and responsibility.

Legacy have been provided with a draft lease for Campsite 16 and understand the constraints of the campsite. They have indicated a willingness to enter into a lease on the proposed lease terms and conditions.

Proposed Lease terms and conditions

The proposed lease terms and conditions are consistent with the City’s standard Locke Estate Lease Agreement and include the following:

· a term of approximately 10 years expiring on the 30 November 2032;

· an annual rent to commence at $2,500.00 plus GST with annual rent increase of CPI or 3% whichever is greater;

· a requirement to pay an annual coastal protection contribution of $4,000 for up to the first 6 years or a lesser amount if determined by the City.

Consideration of alternatives

As an alternative to leasing to Legacy the City could seek EoI’s. Since early 2021 the City has conducted three EoI’s for campsite 7 and received a limited number of proposals. Campsite 16 is significantly more constrained from a development perspective than campsite 7. Unless development constraints are removed it is unlikely that seeking EoI’s will receive viable development proposals.

Similarly retaining Campsite 16 for community use is not viable because it is not consistent with the reserve purpose being “Recreational Camp Sites and Group Holiday Accommodation”. Furthermore if retained by the City there is no budget for any capital works and the City would continue to incur ongoing costs associated with the maintenance of the campsite.

Statutory Environment

Section 3.58 of the Local Government Act 1995 (LGA) sets out the process for how a local government can dispose of property.

Exemptions exist to the processes outlined in s 3.58 of the LGA. Relevantly reg 30(2)(b) of the Local Government (Functions & General) Regulations 1996 states that if land is disposed to a body (incorporated or not) with the objects that are of a charitable, benevolent, religious, cultural, educational, recreational, sporting or other like nature and where the members of which are not entitled or permitted to receive any pecuniary profit from the body’s transactions it will be excluded from the application of s 3.58 of the LGA.

Section 18 of the Land Administration Act 1997 requires the approval of the Minister for Lands for a lease on a crown reserve.

Relevant Plans and Policies

There are no relevant plans or policies to consider in relation to this matter.

Financial Implications

Rent will commence at $2,500 per annum plus GST with annual rent increases of CPI or 3%, whichever is greater. A contribution of $4,000 per annum from the Lessee for coastal protection works for up to a maximum of 6 years is also required and will be transferred to the Locke Estate Reserve.

Stakeholder Consultation

No external stakeholder consultation was required or undertaken in relation to this matter.

Risk Assessment

Options

As an alternative to the proposed recommendation the Council could:

1. Resolve to retain Campsite 16.

2. Resolve to seek expressions of interest for Campsite 16.

CONCLUSION

Legacy have agreed to enter into the terms of the lease as outlined in the Officer Recommendation and be able to development the campsite in a short period of time.

TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

It is anticipated that the lease will commence on or before 1 October 2022. Legacy would be required to submit a development application within 12 months of the commencement date and commence any significant building works within 3 years.

a) Prior to 30 June 2022, prepare an annual report detailing the economic development initiatives progressed in the previous twelve months and outline the projected economic development initiatives to be pursued in the forthcoming financial year, how they will be delivered, who will be involved (which other stakeholders), what role will the City play and who will it partner with.

b) Update on initiatives to be provided to Council via quarterly briefings to facilitate the inclusion of budget requirements into the next year’s annual budget.

Council has received quarterly briefings in relation to economic development on the following dates:

· 15 June 2022 - Quarter 4

· 6 April 2022 – Quarter 3 & Economic Development Strategy presentation

· 2 March 2022 - Quarter 2

· 27 October 2021 - Quarter

· A Council workshop was also run in December 2021 by the EBD business unit to facilitate the identification of Council’s objectives and priorities for achieving economic development growth. The workshop presented the definition and principles of economic development as well as the trends, metrics and roles of stakeholders and the three levels of government – Federal, State and Local. The table below identifies the key role of local government in economic development.

Advocate	· A voice for the local community · Promoting local community interests to other levels of government.
Facilitate	· Networking and information dissemination · Marketing and promotion of the local area including tourism and events · Ensuring availability of appropriate land for business and industry and residential development.
Fund	· Organisations to deliver essential community services · Seed funding of ventures where private sector funding is not available.
Partner	· Form strategic alliances with others in the interests of the community and commercial partnerships
Provide	· Leadership, through setting the framework to allow economic development · Community infrastructure and services e.g. roads, public spaces and amenities · Hard infrastructure to support economic development and enable investment · Ensure appropriate local procurement policy

The workshop also presented an economic and demographic snapshot for the City of Busselton Indicating the growth in population, economic growth as measured by GRP, unemployment data, average incomes and building approvals data for the 2021-22 period. The table below is a snapshot taken from the REMPLAN Economic Performance Indicators (2121 Update) provided by Regional Development Australia South West (RDASW) (Attachment A).

OFFICER COMMENT

The past decade has seen significant public and private investment in developing community and economic infrastructure, focussing on revitalising our town centres and foreshore areas, creating new hospitality and retail centres, significant upgrades to the regional airport, and the start of construction for the Busselton Performing Arts & Convention Centre. The Economic Development Strategy (2016-36) and Implementation plan, along with the Economic Development Taskforce and working groups were key in guiding the delivery of economic development initiatives for the City.

The table below outlines the progress of key economic development projects, programs and initiatives undertaken by the EBD business unit during 2021-22.

It should be noted that the business unit has achieved the outcomes below without having a full team to enable delivery of all forecast activities. The Coordinator and Officer roles were both advertised in March 2021, with the Coordinator role remaining vacant for the remainder of the 2021/22 financial year. The Economic Development Officer was re-advertised and filled in February 2022. In order to facilitate the preparation, stakeholder consultation and delivery of the Economic Development Strategy a 10 month contract for an Economic Development Project Officer role was recruited.

EBD initiatives undertaken in 2021/22:

Service	Improvement Actions / Projects	Customer / Stakeholder	Progress
Service	Improvement Actions / Projects	Customer / Stakeholder	Progress
COVID 19 – Economic Recovery	Implementing actions / initiatives in COVID-19 Recovery Plan including the Small Business Support Grants Program and support funding for key stakeholders such as Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association, Margaret River Wine Association and the Busselton and Dunsborough, Yallingup Chamber of Commerce.	BCCI, DYCCI, SWDC, MRBTA, Town Teams, ASW, Staff and Councillors	Delivered
Dunsborough Foreshore Café	Private commercial investment in a café and kiosk on ‘A Class’ Reserve Crown land Dunsborough Foreshore. - Facilitated land excision process with the DPLH and Parliamentary process. - Liaison with preferred proponent to negotiate the terms of agreement and sub-lease.	Dept Planning, Lands and Heritage, City Staff Preferred Proponent (Margaret River Hospitality Group)	Headlease to be entered into with State Govt drafted; Sub-lease to be entered into with proponent drafted; Agreement to sublease with proponent drafted and with proponent.
Busselton Foreshore Commercial Services	Commercial private investment into the Busselton foreshore redevelopment including: - Hotel site - Site 2 (4.5 star): Hilton Garden View, lead internal Project Team to progress Heads of Agreement and Sub-lease signing. - Old Tennis Club EOI advertised and preferred proponent (Geographe Bay Brewing Co) endorsed by Council. - 38 Peel Terrace EOI advertised and preferred proponent (Edith Cowen University) endorsed by Council. - Busselton Foreshore kiosks advertised including an EOI for Foreshore East kiosk.	Private developer, Dept Planning, Lands and Heritage, City Staff	Hotel Site 2 – Hilton Garden inn under construction and expected to open in 2023; Old Tennis Club - Headlease and sublease drafted, business case for DPLH consideration drafted; 38 Peel Terrace, lease drafted and final terms being negotiated.
Industry Sector analysis	Following on from Stage 1 research project, development of investment attraction strategy with the view of a targeted investment attraction campaign to support and attract key target industries. The City engaged Pracsys to complete the stakeholder consultation and deliver the strategy and action plan. Explore the potential to create an Economic and Business Development Portal which includes investment attraction and business retention and expansion opportunities to support the above initiatives.	City Staff, industry and business stakeholders.	Strategy & Action Plan completed.

Council 160 27 July 2022

17.1 COUNCILLORS' INFORMATION BULLETIN

STRATEGIC THEME	LEADERSHIP - A Council that connects with the community and is accountable in its decision making.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY	4.2 Deliver governance systems that facilitate open, ethical and transparent decision making.
SUBJECT INDEX	Councillors' Information Bulletin
BUSINESS UNIT	Executive Services
REPORTING OFFICER	Reporting Officers - Various
AUTHORISING OFFICER	Chief Executive Officer - Mike Archer
NATURE OF DECISION	Noting: The item is simply for information purposes and noting
VOTING REQUIREMENT	Simple Majority
ATTACHMENTS	Attachment a Community Assistance Program - Round Six⇩

The officer recommendation was moved and carried.

COUNCIL DECISION

C2207/187 Moved Councillor P Cronin, seconded Councillor A Ryan

That the items from the Councillors’ Information Bulletin be noted:

17.1.1 Minor Donations Program

17.1.2 Community Assistance Program

17.1.3 Current Active Tenders

CARRIED 9/0

En Bloc

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That the items from the Councillors’ Information Bulletin be noted:

17.1.1 Minor Donations Program

17.1.2 Community Assistance Program

17.1.3 Current Active Tenders

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report provides an overview of a range of information that is considered appropriate to be formally presented to the Council for its receipt and noting. The information is provided in order to ensure that each Councillor, and the Council, is being kept fully informed, while also acknowledging that these are matters that will also be of interest to the community.

Any matter that is raised in this report as a result of incoming correspondence is to be dealt with as normal business correspondence, but is presented in this bulletin for the information of the Council and the community.

INFORMATION BULLETIN

17.1.1 Minor Donations Program – June 2022

The Council allocates an annual budget allowance to the Minor Donations Program. This is provided such that the eligible groups and individuals can apply for and receive sponsorship to assist them in the pursuit of endeavors that bring direct benefit to the broader community.

Allocation of funds is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer, in accordance with the published guidelines and funding availability.

Two applications were approved in June 2022, totaling $1,400, as outlined below:

Recipient

Purpose

Amount

Dunsborough and Districts Progress Association;

and

The Lions Club of Vasse

Assistance to cover the cost of a Traffic Handling Course.

The groups formed a partnership to hold this course for their volunteers.

It will equip them with the knowledge and skills to undertake traffic handling at community events, saving the groups from having to pay traffic management companies, and allowing them to re-direct their funds to other community projects.

$700 per group

June Total

$1,400

17.1.2 Community Assistance Program

Attachment A outlines the applications received and funded in Round Six of the Community Assistance Program.

17.1.3 Current Active Tenders

Note: Information in italics has previously been provided to Council, and is provided again for completeness.

EOI 01/21 SOUTH WEST REGIONAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES

· Requirements – a waste management expert to provide solutions to participating local governments in the South West of WA for sustainable, long term management of municipal waste.

· An expression of interest on behalf of a number of South West regional local governments was advertised on 30 September 2021 and closed on 25 November 2021.

· 12 submissions were received.

· An evaluation panel has reviewed the submissions and is finalising a report to the CEOs of the South West Regional local governments.

RFT 24/21 BUSSELTON MARGARET RIVER AIRPORT – GENERAL AVIATION HANGARS

· Requirements – a suitable Contractor to design and construct four general aviation hangar sheds at the Busselton Margaret River Airport.

· A request for tender was advertised on 22 December 2021 and closed on 25 January 2022.

· 3 submissions were received.

· An evaluation panel is reviewing the submissions.

· The value of the contract falls within the CEO’s delegated power for accepting tenders.

RFT 04/22 DIGITAL BILLBOARD

· Requirements – a suitable supplier to design and construct a digital billboard on Bussell Hwy.

· A request for tender was advertised on 23 March 2022, closing on 27 April 2022.

· Nine submissions were received and are currently being assessed.

· The value of the contract falls within the CEO’s delegated power for accepting tenders.

RFT 05/22 AIRPORT – CARPARK EXPANSION

· Requirements – a suitable supplier to construct a new carpark at Busselton Margaret River Airport.

· A request for tender was advertised on 4 June 2022, closing on 28 June 2022.

· Six compliant submissions were received.

· The value of the contract exceeds the CEO’s delegated power for accepting tenders and a report to Council to decide on which tender to accept is expected to be presented at the 17 August 2022 council meeting.

PQS 01/22 TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SERVICES

· Requirements – a panel of pre-qualified suppliers to supply the City’s ongoing traffic management services.

CHEQUE PAYMENTS	119248 - 119266	92,766.44
ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER PAYMENTS	87067 - 87323 and 87327 – 87652	7,137,394.20
TRUST ACCOUNT PAYMENTS	CHQ 7589 and EFT 87324 - 87326	25,974.48
PAYROLL PAYMENTS	01.05.2022 - 31.05.2022	2,414,430.14
INTERNAL PAYMENT VOUCHERS	DD 4865 - 4893	180,691.21
TOTAL PAYMENTS		9,851,256.47

Objective	Strategies	Role	Metrics/ KPI’s
Town centre Activation and Place-making	1. Ensure best planning, design and management of our public spaces. 2. Support and grow vibrant community events program. 3. Grow the nighttime economy to provide safe and lively night activities in our urban centres a. Develop How to Guide for Business b. Develop marketing strategy and collateral	COB Planning COB Events CCI / COB / SBSC / BJI Business Sector MRBTA	· Increased community satisfaction · Increased frequency and attendance community events · Increased night time economy activity / local spend
Ensure industry-aligned skilled workforce	1. Work with industry to determine future skill labour requirements. 2. Investigate FIFO Induction Hub	Peak Bodies TAFE, ECU, Industry	· Increased stakeholder engagement · Increased public investment · Increased private investment
Invest Busselton Program	1. Develop Investment Prospectus 2. Develop Investor Concierge Service 3. Provide regular market intelligence and regional data 4. Develop International Engagement Strategy	COB, RDASW, SWDC Trade WA, Austrade, ASW, MRBTA, JTSI	· Increased public investment · Increased private investment · Increased development investment

Advance Aviation	1. Develop Airport Masterplan including feasibility studies for commercial demand, freight, best land use, supply chains 2. Develop Investment Prospectus 3. Foster private investment into freight hub including cool storage 4. Advocate for co-investment for enabling infrastructure	COB, SWDC, RDASW, Aviation industry and Airlines	· Increased public investment · Increased private investment · Increased development investment
Advance Business Tourism	1. Undertake gap analysis of supporting infrastructure 2. Develop toolkit for operators to understand market and position themselves 3. Develop destination marketing collateral 4. Develop industry database and foster relationships 5. Collaborate across region for intrastate business development of SW	COB, MRBTA, ASW, LGAs	· Increased stakeholder engagement · Increased number and spend business visitors · Increased product supplier awareness
Advance Emerging Industries	1. Foster Creatives Hub 2. Foster Technological Industries 3. Foster Research and Development	SWDC, COB, Creative Corner, Industry	· Increased clustering of Creatives · Growth in tech oriented industries
Business as usual	1. Commercial activity opportunities 2. Remplan & Spendmapp reporting 3. Stakeholder engagement & consultation	COB, Business & Industry, MRBTA, ASW, SWDC, RDASW, CCI’s

Council		23		27 July 2022
12.2	Attachment a		CPS Amendment Queen Street

Council		37		27 July 2022
12.4	Attachment a		Council policy: 185/3 Verge and Public Open Space Improvement - Subdivision (Current)

Council		58		27 July 2022
12.6	Attachment a		List of Payments - May 2022

Council		80		27 July 2022
12.7	Attachment a		Loan Schedule - May 2022

Council		119		27 July 2022
12.8	Attachment b		Example Service Statement

Council		134		27 July 2022
16.1	Attachment a		Campsite 16 Lease Plan

Council		157		27 July 2022
16.3	Attachment a		Economic Perfomance Indicators (2021 Update)