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6.53pm
Council moves into closed hearing for confidential matters. That’s all for tonight, folks. Thanks for your company.
6.52pm
RECONSTRUCTION OF LEWIS STREET, HORSHAM
Purpose To advise Council of the tender process and seek approval to award the contract to the preferred tenderer Mintern Civil of Horsham.
Cr Radford said recontructing streets was very important. Cr Clarke said the money for the project would come from the infrastructure gap fund.
Motion passed.
6.48pm
Cr Grimble and Cr Koenig are pushing for original motion to move to next step of feasibility study.
Cr Radford said sports groups needed to come together for a meeting to help make the project happen.
Carried by all councillors present.
6.47pm
Cr Grimble said Cr Robinson’s motion was a sensible way to go about meeting the needs for facilities while keeping costs down.
Cr Radford said he would back the motion as well but said he did not see the issue as an either/or situation. Cr Radford said council could explore possibilities of new and refurbished facilities.
“The need to mnimise costs- I don’t think anyone could argue against that,” Cr Radford said.
Motion passes with the support of all councillors present except Cr Les Power.
6.40pm
Cr John Robinson moves his motion for council to continue planning for new facility but also look at possible refurbishment of existing council assets.
Motion is seconded and Cr Robinson has spoken in favour of his motion.
Cr Robinson notes that the report doesn’t outline too many individual points for a facility that would meet Horsham’s needs.
Cr Robinson said council should look at expanding existing basketball courts.
“At the time of rate capping and cost control, with a government requirement to look at existing facilities, we should follow the process,” he said.
6.39pm
MULTI–USE INDOOR SPORTS STADIUM PHASE ONE - FEASIBILITY STUDY
Cr Clarke has absented herself from the chamber over a potential conflict of interest. Cr Mark Radford will chair the meeting for this motion.
Cr John Robinson said he supported the project but had some concerns, including around governannce and guiding principles for refurbishing assets ahead of building new facilities.
He also said there was an issue over which group owned what.
“The main concern is the ratepayers. This would be a $10 million project, which is a substantial chunk of our budget.”
Cr Robinson has tabled his own motion.
Cr Les Power said he supported the original motion.
“Horsham need this facility. We can’t afford to be clowning around.”
Cr Grimble said a 50 per cent contribution from Horsham council would be fair but he said 70 per cent would not be reasonable.
Horsham council technical services director John Martin said there were grants form other levels of government that offered contribution rates of 50 per cent.
All voted to receive report. Cr Robinson’s motion will now go to the floor.
6.31pm
SEPTEMBER 2016 FLOOD IMPACTS – report
Cr Clarke said when doing the same thing, you shouldn’t be surprised at the same outcome. She called for funds to be made available when repairing the roads to adopt a desig that would be more flood resilient.
Motion passed.
6.30pm
Report on Kalkee Road Children’s Hub project.
Cr Radford said works had begun on the site. Cr Josh Koenig said it would be a great facility for that part of Horsham. Cr Clarke said she hoped it would drown people across town and Horsham council hoped to organise a sod-turning ceremony.
Motion to accept report passed.
6.28pm
PLANNING PERMIT APPLICATION NUMBER 2016-123-1 – USE AND DEVELOPMENT OF A DWELLING IN THE FARMING ZONE – HORSHAM LUBECK ROAD, DRUNG
Councillors passed a motion that the Planning Committee invite the applicants to speak about their proposal.
6.17pm
Report on Iluka Resources versus Horsham Rural City Council at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal .
Cr Mark Radford said he attended some of the hearings in Melbourne. He said there was an interesting argument put forward that if council’s decision to block the mine waste site planning permission was overturned, there could be additional conditions put on on the permit.
Cr Radford said members of the Kanagulk Landcare Group also attended the hearings to represent themselves. He said they showed a lot of dedication to their cause of opposing the waste site’s expansion.
Cr David Grimble asked when a report on Horsham council’s costs at the tribunal might be presented to councillors.
Horsham council chief executive Peter Brown said the costs were still being tallied but the likely total would be $60,000, mainly in legal fees.
Cr Grimble said it was important that Horsham council maintain relations with both Kanagulk Landcare Group and Iluka resources as it was clear that mineral sands was a prominent resource in the region.
Motion to accept the report is passed.
6.09pm
Mayor Pam Clarke said councillors and staff have met with Victorian Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins. Cr Clarke noted Ms Hutchins’ passion for Aboriginal affairs, which is one of her other portfolios.
Cr Clarke noted International Volunteers Day and said Horsham council could not run without volunteers.
Cr Clarke said the mobile black spot tower announcements for Wartook, Laharum and Yaapeet.were wonderful and in excess of what Horsham council had hoped for.
6.04pm
Cr Les Power said he was sorry for missing the first meeting of the new term of council. He said he attended a meeting about the future of the Horsham Aquatic Centre. He said he wanted to see a Halls Gap-style splash pool installed.
He also attended the Deadly Bikes program and he encouraged other councillors to have a look at the project.
6:00pm
Cr Alethea Sedgman congratulates teenager Kira-Ly for donating part of her Wimmera Duck Race cash prize to the Wimmera Healthcare Group Foundation.
Cr Sedgman said a lot of duck race attendees made suggestions to her about how to make better use of the river, including a cafe.
5.57pm
Cr John Robinson said it appears the state government has been misrepresenting the Wimmera CMA on the suitability of a one-in-100-year flood for the proposed Horsham bypass road.
5.55pm
Cr Josh Koenig congratulated Kanamaroo festival for their success. he said he could barely move his five-year-old’s pram because of how big the crowd was and noted the line for hot jam doughnuts stretched around the block.
5.50pm
Cr Radford mentions this Mail-Times story about next month’s power price rises. He said he is concerned, as an electrician, about the plan to shut down the Hazelwood coal-fired power station and the reliability of wind farms.
5.45pm
Cr Mark Radford updates fellow councillors on a webcast seminar to reduce alcohol use by young people. Notes the Wimmera taskforce now has 15 groups involved.
5.43pm
During his delegate’s report, Cr David Grimble said a group called ‘Animal Angels’ visited Horsham Regional Livestock exchange to evaluate animal welfare. Cr Grimble said the exchange takes the issue seriously and handled the visit well.
5.35pm
Welcome to the Mail-Times live blog of the Horsham Rural City Council meeting for December 5, 2016.
On the agenda tonight:
10.3.1 APPOINTMENT OF MEMBER TO THE DOMESTIC ANIMAL MANAGEMENT ADVISORY GROUP
Purpose To advise Council of the appointment of a member to the Horsham Rural City Council Domestic Animal Management Advisory Group.
10.3.2 ILUKA RESOURCES LTD V HORSHAM RURAL CITY COUNCIL (P1368/2016)
Purpose To provide Councillors with an update on the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal proceedings in Iluka Resources Ltd v Horsham Rural CC (P1368/2016).
10.3.3 PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES – 28 NOVEMBER 2016
Purpose To provide a summary of the minutes of the Planning Committee Meeting held on Monday, 28 November 2016 containing the recommendations provided for Council consideration.
10.3.4 PLANNING PERMIT APPLICATION NUMBER 2016-123-1 – USE AND DEVELOPMENT OF A DWELLING IN THE FARMING ZONE – HORSHAM LUBECK ROAD, DRUNG
Purpose To consider a Planning Permit for the use and development of land for a dwelling associated with rural land use.
10.4.1 KALKEE ROAD CHILDREN’S AND COMMUNITY HUB
Purpose To provide an update to Council of the Kalkee Road Children’s and Community Hub project.
10.4.2 SEPTEMBER 2016 FLOOD IMPACTS
Purpose To outline the impacts from the September 2016 floods that have been identified as part of the post impact assessment work for this emergency event.
10.5.1 MULTI–USE INDOOR SPORTS STADIUM PHASE ONE - FEASIBILITY STUDY
Purposes To seek Council’s endorsement of, the report on the Multi-Use Indoor Sports Stadium – Phase One: Feasibility Study, and to propose to proceed to Phase Two: Location and Design Study. Horsham Rural City Council Council Meeting Summary Agenda
10.5.2 RECONSTRUCTION OF LEWIS STREET, HORSHAM Purpose To advise Council of the tender process and seek approval to award the contract to the preferred tenderer Mintern Civil of Horsham.