Horsham Rural City Council June meeting: LIVE COVERAGE

Journalist Carly Werner will be tweeting via @CarlyWerner and reporting live from the council meeting from 5.30pm.

7.21pm

And that’s a wrap! Councillors will now move into confidential reports.

Read more about items discussed at the meeting at mailtimes.com.au and in print during the week. You can see the full council agenda here.

Thanks for following our coverage.

7.20pm

Councillors move swiftly through reports about a Victorian public libraries review, and changes to the Victorian Tobacco Act, without any discussion on either item.

Council’s community services director Kevin O’Brien provided reports on both topics for information only, meaning there were no recommendations attached that councillors needed to vote on for either item.

7.18pm

Councillors unanimously support the recommendation to extend the contract for two years, but not without some debate.

Cr Exell believes council needs to support builders better.

“It’s a lose-lose at the moment with the amount of money council is missing out on with a lot of building permits going through private inspectors,” she said.

“I’m going to support this recommendation, but I’m not happy to support it.”

7.16pm

A report in the council agenda states council staff are working on initiatives to improve council’s building permit approval process and community engagement.

Part of this is a new system that will allow applications to be lodged, tracked, and processed online.

7.12pm

Council’s current contract is with MBS Services Australia. It was initially for a three-year period, finishing on June 30, 2016, with an option to extend the contract for a further two years.

Councillors are discussing a recommendation to extend the contract until June 2018.

The contract includes services such as issuing building permits for private and council-sponsored projects, field work and building inspections.

7.11pm

Councillors are now discussing extending a municipal building surveying services contract.

7.08pm

7.07pm

​Cr Mark Radford supports the recommendation.

“I realise the applicant might not be too excited about the timing, but the community needs to be aware of the incredible commitment and time committed to this project,” he said.

7.05pm

Iluka Resources’ planning permit application to continue disposing of mineral sands waste at Douglas is the next agenda item.

The recommendation is for a special meeting on June 27 to assess the application.

7.03pm

The recommendation is rejected, five votes to two.

Cr Grimble believes it is a good outcome to give councillors more time to get their heads around the issue before voting on it. The issue will be deferred to a future council meeting.

7.01pm

Ms Murphy points out the amendment is already a public document and is on the Victorian planning department’s website.

6.58pm

The discussion about the planning scheme amendment and Municipal Strategic Statement continues.

Crs Phillips, Radford and Exell think councillors need to discuss the issue more before accepting a recommendation.

6.51pm

Cr Grimble speaks against the recommendation.

He says delaying adopting the recommendation for a week or two will not affect anything process-wise, and would give councillors a chance to better understand the changes to the scheme and what the recommendation is proposing.

6.50pm

Cr Clarke says council has got to the point where it has to pass the recommendation.

“We’ve had discussions since 2012 about this,” she said.

“We’ve had a panel, community consultation, done everything we needed to do legally.

“We’re going to look like idiots if we have to go back to a panel hearing again. There’s no reason we cannot pass this tonight.

“We’ve really got to think about this councillors.

“This has taken years to get to this point.

“We can’t wait until the next strategic thing comes up to pass it, because we are constantly developing strategic processes through our planning scheme.

“This is a living document. If we pass it tonight, it does not mean it’s closed off and that’s the end of it.”

6.45pm

Horsham Planning Scheme Amendment C75 was on public display in August and September last year.

Council’s planning and economic director Angela Murphy advises community information drop-in sessions ran in February last year.

6.43pm

The next agenda item is a recommendation to adopt an amendment to Horsham’s planning scheme, as recommended by council’s planning committee.

There is quite a bit of discussion between councillors about this.

The Horsham Planning Scheme Amendment C75 will replace the existing Municipal Strategic Statement with a new one.

The new statement is informed by a range of council documents and ones from other agencies.

A planning committee has considered multiple reports on the new statement since June 2012.

6.35pm

Councillors have approved an updated council procurement policy.

One of the approved changes is to increase thresholds for when quotes are required for council work. Previously council was required to obtain three written quotes for work between $30,001 and $75,000. The new threshold for three written quotes is work valued between $40,001 and $80,000.

The Local Government Act 1989 states councils must review their procurement policies at least once in each financial year.

6.31pm

Council’s corporate services director Graeme Harrison will meet with Essential Services Commission representatives on Tuesday to talk more about their decision.

6.26pm

Cr Phelan on the rate cap increase being approved: “We need this sort of money to keep our municipality running and advance conditions for our community.”

6.24pm

Councillors move on to discussing the Essential Service Commission’s approval for council to increase rates by 3.5 per cent in 2016-17.

6.22pm

Cr Phillips believes completing census forms online is easier than completing paper-based forms.

“I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised by how smoothly it will run,” she said.

6.21pm

Cr Exell thinks it is ridiculous the Australian Bureau of Statistics expects two thirds of Australian residents to complete the census online.

“I know every time I try to do a survey online I pretty much end up throwing the computer off the table,” she said.

6.17pm

Cr Grimble asks Mr Brown to clarify if people have an alternative to completing the census online.

Mr Brown responds that there is an option to do paper-based forms for the census.

6.15pm

Cr Clarke is worried about how people who don’t have computers will be able to complete the census.

“Not everyone has a computer, and not everyone knows how to use a computer,” she said.

“I believe there will be groups of people who will not be able to get out and do the census.

“I think it will be quite a difficult process for a lot of people.”

6.13pm

Cr Mark Radford on the census: 

“I remember in the 1990s we happened to be camped on the side of the road near Alice Springs, and a guy came through with a torch to do the census,” he said.

"That actually happened.

“It’s important we make as many opportunities as possible to help our residents complete the census this year.”

6.12pm

Councillor reports have finished, so we move on to officer reports, starting with chief executive Peter Brown. The first agenda item is about the 2016 national census, and how council will support residents to complete the census online.

6.09pm

Mayor Heather Phillips talks about the opening of the Art is… festival last week.

“What’s really interesting with Art is… is how they use empty spaces in town,” she said.

“The opening was in the old Clark Rubber building, and it was a really good use of space.”

6pm

Cr Exell speaks about attending the launch of the Communities of Equality and Respect plan to tackle family violence.

5.58pm

A couple more people have joined the gallery for the meeting.

5.55pm

Cr Sue Exell praises the work of the schools involved in a new community garden at Horsham Showground.

5.48pm

Cr David Grimble is pleased with how things are looking in the farming sector.

“Crops have germinated well this year, probably as good as we’ve seen them, and they’re looking relatively healthy,” he said.

5.46pm

Cr Mark Radford thanks people who worked on council’s National Reconciliation Week activities, and also talks about the opening night of the city’s Art is… festival on Friday.

5.44pm

Cr Phelan recognises the Art Matters project, which involves artists with a disability and focuses on interdisciplinary visual and performing arts practices. The project is officially opening tonight in Horsham’s Jubilee Hall.

5.39pm

Cr Tony Phelan speaks about the master plan for Horsham Aerodrome, and how it is is progressing.

“The issues at this stage revolve around the types of planes we need to service, as that then sets the aerodrome requirements,” he said.

5.36pm

We’re on to councillor reports, starting with Cr Pam Clarke.

5.34pm

No questions for public question time at this meeting, so we’re straight into the sealing of council documents.

5.32pm

A small gallery of one at tonight’s meeting. Councillors are confirming minutes of previous meetings.

5.28pm

Welcome to our live coverage of Horsham Rural City Council’s meeting. Things are just about to get underway.