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Supplementary AGENDA 1R |
Distributed on 26 February 2019
Council Meeting
TUESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2019
6.30pm
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Supplementary AGENDA 1R |
Distributed on 26 February 2019
Council Meeting
TUESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2019
6.30pm
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Council Meeting 26 February 2019 |
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MEETING AGENDA – PRECIS SUPPLEMENTARY ITEMS |
The following report/s appear as late item/s with Mayoral approval as information required for the preparation of the report/s was not available at the time of distribution of the Business Paper.
1 Mayoral Minutes
ITEM Page
C0219(3) Item 25 Mayoral Minute: Condolences to Dominic Goffredo and family 3
C0219(3) Item 26 Mayoral Minute: Thank You to Outgoing General Manager Rik Hart 4
C0219(3) Item 27 Mayoral Minute: Globe Wilkins Preschool 6
C0219(3) Item 28 Mayoral Minute: Lewis Herman Reserve 11
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Council Meeting 26 February 2019 |
Subject: Mayoral Minute: Condolences to Dominic Goffredo and family
From: The Mayor, Councillor Darcy Byrne
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Motion:
THAT Council write a letter of condolence to the family of Susan Goffredo, expressing our sadness at her passing and thanking them for her many years of service to Council and the inner west community. |
Background
On Sunday 16 December Council lost a valued officer and much loved member of our local community, Susan Goffredo.
Sue was a library assistant, and had worked in the Leichhardt branch library since March 1984.
She decided on a career in libraries many years ago and enrolled to undertake a related degree.
As fate would have it she met her husband and put her career and studies to the side to have a family.
Sue worked her way back into library work by doing night shifts at Leichhardt and gradually returned to day shifts as her children grew up
She later on returned to her studies, completed a four year Diploma in Information Studies and achieved Library Technician status
During this time she topped the state in her cataloguing subject and eventually started working as a library technician where she excelled.
She was well known for delivering tremendous customer service and was much loved and respected for it.
Sue was an amazing team player and was highly valued and respected by her colleagues.
Sadly, whilst working tirelessly for the community in our library system, Sue had to deal with a serious illness over a number of years. She faced this adversity with strength and positivity.
A number of staff from the library and senior managers including Caroline McLeod and John Warburton continued to visit her whilst in hospital in more recent times
Sue is survived by her husband Dominic, five children and their grandchildren.
She was much loved, respected and is very sadly missed.
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Council Meeting 26 February 2019 |
Subject: Mayoral Minute: Thank You to Outgoing General Manager Rik Hart
From: The Mayor, Councillor Darcy Byrne
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Motion:
THAT Council note the contributions of General Manager Mr Rik Hart during a challenging period in the history and formation of the Inner West Council and thank Mr Hart for his guidance and support during the two and a half years he has served as General Manager of Inner West Council.
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Background
Tonight we say farewell to Mr Rik Hart, as of Friday 1 March Mr Hart will complete his two and a half year appointment as the interim General Manager of Inner West Council.
On the occasion of his final Council Meeting, I would like to extend the thanks of Councillors, staff and the community for the service Mr Hart has offered.
Rik joined Council at a very challenging period, just four months after the amalgamation of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils into the new Inner West Council.
In the intervening years, he has seen Council through a particularly difficult and challenging time. He has displayed a remarkable commitment and determination to ensure that a strong foundation was established to give the new Council the best possible chance of a successful future.
Mr Hart has overseen the introduction of an entire new suite of management tools and systems, covering the areas of Information Technology, Customer Request Management, Finance and Project management. This integrated management suite places Council in a strong position to deliver higher quality services and infrastructure.
He has instituted a clear and transparent online reporting method that makes Council finances easily accessible to the community.
He has also worked tirelessly with the senior executive staff to create a new leadership team and overseen the implementation of the new Council structure.
Mr Hart has had a long and illustrious career, beginning in the private sector in the 70s in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe, before moving into the government sphere in the early 90s in both New Zealand and Australia.
It was a wealth of experience that uniquely positioned him to step into the role at such a challenging period of change and growth.
We have been fortunate to have had the expertise and experience of Mr Hart at the helm of Council for the last 30 months.
On behalf of everyone at Council I would like to wish him the very best in his future endeavours.
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Council Meeting 26 February 2019 |
Subject: Mayoral Minute: Globe Wilkins Preschool
From: The Mayor, Councillor Darcy Byrne
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Motion:
THAT Council:
1. Submit a tender for Globe Wilkins Preschool on the same terms as previously committed to through the EOI process; and 2. Write to the relevant Minister and Department Secretary requesting that the tender process not be rushed through for political reasons prior to the State election and seeking clarification about the timeline.
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Background
On 27 November 2018 Council unanimously resolved the following:
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C1118(2) Item 30 Mayoral Minute: Globe Wilkins Preschool EOI |
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Motion: (Byrne)
THAT Council: 1. Welcome the announcement by the Member for Summer Hill, Jo Haylen, and the NSW Opposition that if elected to Government they would fund the construction of new premises for Globe Preschool within the Wilkins Public School site, noting that this is a real solution that would save the award winning preschool, while addressing the school community's need for additional classroom space; 2. Note that: a. The EOI put out by DET for construction of a pre-school in the grounds of the Wilkins School is a blatant attempt at cost shifting of responsibility for school infrastructure from the Department of Education and Training to Inner West ratepayers; b. Preschool education is a state government responsibility; however the operation of Globe Wilkins has always been a partnership between Council and the NSW Government. This successful partnership has been based on Council funding the entirety of recurrent costs of the service, which totaled several hundred thousand dollars in 2017/18, and the Government providing premises; c. The NSW Government has established a $6 billion fund to pay for school infrastructure but that despite this not a single school in the Inner West Local Government Area has been allocated funding for a major upgrade in this year’s Budget or in the forward estimates; d. That the recently released Local Government NSW report into cost shifting found that the Inner West Council is already amongst the most detrimentally impacted by state government cost shifting, with more than $18 million in state government costs having been imposed on ratepayers in 2015/16; and e. The extraordinarily brief time limit and conditions proposed through the EOI are extremely poor practice, with the normal period for a tender process of complexity at least 21 days. 3. Write to the NSW Minister for Education calling on him to match the Opposition’s commitment to fund the construction of new premises for Globe Wilkins Preschool, and expressing our disappointment and anger that he has failed to reply at all to Council’s request for constructive negotiations over the future of Globe Wilkins; 4. Submit an expression of interest for the operation of Globe Wilkins based on the following principles: a. An ongoing commitment to operation of the award winning service, including maintenance of the high services standards, currently costing several hundred thousand dollars per annum, being Council’s contribution to project; b. The Government providing increased classroom space for the School and appropriate indoor and outdoor space for Globe Wilkins through an upgrade to be funded through the $6 billion education infrastructure fund; and c. Seeking cooperation from the Government in implementing an interim plan to maintain enrollment levels in 2019 and for the duration of the construction of the new facility. |
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Motion Carried For
Motion:
Crs Byrne, Da Cruz, Drury, Hesse, Iskandar, Kiat, Lockie, Macri, Against Motion: Nil |
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In 2018 the State Government announced their intention to evict the award-winning Globe Wilkins preschool from their long-term premises in the grounds of the Wilkins Primary School in Marrickville.
Globe Wilkins Pre School has won awards for excellence and is extremely valued by the local community. In particular it provides high quality preschool education to indigenous and disadvantaged children.
Council campaigned hard over the course of the year to get the government to back down from this reckless decision. We supported and publicised the campaign by parents at Globe Wilkins to save their Centre and writing on numerous occasions to the Minister for Education the Hon Rob Stokes to encourage a collaborative effort to save the Centre or find alternative accommodation.
In November 2018 the NSW Department of Education and Training pushed ahead with an EOI process to find a private provider to build a new Centre on the school grounds.
Any Centre beginning construction now will not be available for a number of years to come, meaning that families using the Centre will have to find alternative care and may even have moved beyond childcare requirements by the time it is complete.
Council made a submission to the EOI process stating that if the Department of Education would provide a building, Council would continue to provide the service.
Following the submission of our EOI, Council has received a second reply from the Parliamentary Secretary for Education Gareth Ward MP, with little new information and still no offer to meet and discuss this issue.
Mr Ward MP indicates that the Government is pressing on with the EOI process and will invite suitable applicants to take part in a restricted tender process.
The Tender is set to close in March, with a State Election scheduled for 23 March.
Concerning, given the current time line, it is possible that the State Government is planning to award a contract that will essentially privatise public school land during the caretaker period in the lead up to the election.
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1.⇩ |
Response to representations to the Hon Rob Stokes MP Minister for Educacation |
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Council Meeting 26 February 2019 |
Subject: Mayoral Minute: Lewis Herman Reserve
From: The Mayor, Councillor Darcy Byrne
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Motion:
THAT Council:
1. Write to the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight thanking the State government for agreeing to transfer care, control and management of Lewis Herman Reserve to Council, to allow the creation of a new public park;
2. Proceed to report the draft Plan of Management for Lewis Herman Reserve to Council; and
3. Prepare a Masterplan for Lewis Herman Reserve, in consultation with the community. |
Background
Lewis Herman Reserve is located within the suburb of Ashfield. The site is currently vacant and unused open space. The Park is an irregular shaped allotment, bound by Holden Street to the west and is zoned RE1 Public Recreation.
The former Ashfield Council at its meeting on the 24 February 2004 resolved to name the site Lewis Herman Reserve, after former Mayor of Ashfield, Mr Lewis Herman, Ashfield’s longest serving Mayor.
The Park is owned by Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and has undergone significant remediation works. The Reserve remains fenced off from the broader public by wired fencing.
RMS has recently signed a Deed of Agreement for management and control of Lewis Herman Reserve to be transferred to Council.
Officers have prepared a draft Plan of Management in anticipation of the finalisation of this Deed of Agreement. It is now proposed that this Plan of Management be reported to Council in order for it to go on public exhibition.
Appropriate uses for the Park will be facilitated by the future development of a Master Plan, which will identify proposed amenities and provide details of the design.
As the Inner West population increases, there is ongoing pressure on existing open space. Lewis Herman Reserve presents a rare opportunity to establish a new park.
