Financial update no bore – Golden Plain Shire council meeting briefs

AT this month’s regular Golden Plains Shire council meeting, acting director corporate services Ingrid Bishop presented the financial report for the second quarter.

Ms Bishop outlined the year-to-date performance of the Shire against the budget.

“Of note is the $3.3 million favourable variance, as attributed to the factors listed in the report,” she said.

“In summary, these are the receipt of supplementary rates, receipt of operating grants, the COVID-safe grants for outdoor activation, and income received from developer contributions to the public open space.

“Contract and material costs were down, and employee costs were down.”

Cr Clayton Whitfield said the Shire’s underlying surplus is currently within one per cent of the forecast.

“There are always mid-year fluctuations as a factor on that, so it is tracking okay,” he said.

Cr Brett Cunningham noted a revised capital works budget.

“This includes works such as Three Trails Project, Bannockburn Youth Hub, and the Inverleigh Sporting Complex and Clubrooms Upgrade,” he said.

Cr Les Rowe had cost queries and made an accusation against municipal officers, while asking a question about the Napoleons bore, which was budgeted at $75,000, but cost $48,000.

“That’s a 35 per cent variance. I smell a rat,” he said.

“Officers are over budgeting this project at the time, hoping that councillors would reject the upgrade of this bore.”

Crs Cunningham, Helena Kirby, and mayor Gavin Gamble said the accusation and language were out of order.

Director infrastructure and development Phil Josipovic said the bore was considered in the 2021/2022 budget.

“When we prepare budget estimates, we have a significant amount of contingency to allow for the unexpected and unknown costs at the time, given the lack of detailed design,” he said.

“As we progressed through the project and had the detailed design and elements prepared, and put it out to the market, the market came back at a lower price, resulting in a $26,000-odd saving.”

Council Plan in action.

The work and achievements of council staff in implementing the Council Plan 2021-2025 was noted and celebrated by Cr Whitfield.

“It’s great to see the progression of mental health initiatives,” he said.

“The Mums Matter Psychology signed a memorandum of understanding with council to provide perinatal psychology services to women… from the family services centre, also the awarding of a contract to Barwon Child Youth and Family to provide generalist mental health services across the Shire.

“In other sectors, council continues to provide improved facilities for community activities through the Community Services Infrastructure Plan, and a review of community facility fees and charges, and the community subsidy policy has begun.”

Cr Whitfield noted the development of six new community plans, that funding has been secured for the Craddocks Road, Smythesdale, and Steiglitz Road Black Spot projects, the community transport trial, and renewable energy work with Federation University.

“COVID has been periodically applying the handbrake, so well done. There has been good progress made,” Cr Whitfield said.

Cr Kirby highlighted the ongoing implementation of the Active Ageing and Inclusion Plan, and the Bins for Blokes, anti-elder abuse, gender equity, accessibility, and interactive map initiatives.

Cr Cunningham said a recent community transport trial had been “positively received by the community.”

Earthen drain design change

Councillors adopted a Shire specific change around earthen drains to their design manual for civil infrastructure.

Mr Josipovic said the alterations to section 17.4 of clause 17 in the Infrastructure Design Manual meant the longitudinal slope of earthen drains for land development within the low-density residential zone would shift to 1 in 300.

“Our present IDM guidelines state a 1 in 500 as a minimum slope for earthen drains within that LDRZ. For regional and rural areas [this] standard does not consider area-specific issues,” he said.

“Golden Plains Shire has a faster rate of development in LDRZ than most other regional and rural areas. In addition, development areas within the Golden Plains Shire… have a reactive clay base which is less permeable than most other earthen bases.

“Adopting a council-specific change… from 1 in 500 to 1 in 300, consistent with engineering principles and within threshold of design standards, will likely gain operational efficiencies in… required draining, reducing risk to public health and local amenity due to water-logging and stagnant pooling.”

Cr Kirby asked if water will more often flow onto roads. Mr Josipovic said the change may impact the “speed at which the water arrives.”

“Yes, there’s some water that might stagnate and pool, but it would be minor compared to the overall flow in existing drains,” he said.

“There might be a further requirement to do some rock beaching or something like that to prevent erosion, but the difference in water volume would be marginal at best.”