Clarence Valley Council held its monthly Ordinary Council Meeting on Tuesday, 23 May 2023 at Grafton Council Chambers. Two Mayoral Minutes and twos Notice of Motion were discussed, followed by ten of 21 items debated, including one in confidential business, and the other 11 adopted by consent, in a meeting which lasted two hours 45 minutes.
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⬛️ Support for Mayor’s push to request reversal of ESL decision
A Mayoral Minute to express opposition to the NSW Government’s decision to scrap the Emergency Services Levy (ESL) subsidy for councils in 2023/204 received unanimous support from the nine councillors.
“The State Government’s last-minute decision to scrap the Emergency Services Levy subsidy to councils is yet another example of cost shifting, effectively slashing $77 million from councils’ budgets across the state,” Mayor Tiley said in an earlier statement.
“In the Clarence Valley, this removes an additional $134,000 from our budget to deliver services to ratepayers. Our contribution to emergency services now sits at $1.765 million for 2023/2024.”
Mayor Ian Tiley’s motion called on the NSW Government to restore the ESL subsidy in 2023/2024 and develop a fairer, more transparent and financially sustainable method of funding emergency services.
⬛️ Clarence Valley declared a Nuclear Free Zone
Clarence Valley will be declared a Nuclear Free Zone after councillors voted
5-4 in favour of a recommendation from the Climate Change Advisory Committee.
A Nuclear Free Zone is a statement of principle that the local government area does not support the development of nuclear power plants or the use, storage, or transportation of nuclear weapons, radioactive waste or material, excepting low level applications in medical and research facilities.
Interestingly Cr Steve Pickering, who put forward the motion, recounted his first political foray as a teenager in New Zealand when he made an impassioned plea to the community on talkback radio to support New Zealand becoming a Nuclear Free Zone after Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French authorities at Auckland in 1985.
“My understanding was the carbon emissions generated during power production are actually less from a nuclear-fuelled power source than coal, so it seems strange we’re being asked to declare the Clarence Valley a nuclear free zone but not a coal free zone, or a gas free zone.
“But if this was something I was pushing for as barely a teenager, when it’s come back again in 2023 … I felt wrong opposing it,” he said.
⬛️ Councillor Listening Tours
Councillor Listening Tours have continued and a report on the tour of Coutts Crossing and Braunstone on 27 April was noted.
“(These tours are) an opportunity to educate our community as well as to listen to the community,” Cr Karen Toms said.
Approximately 35 people attended the Coutts Crossing meeting and about ten at Braunstone. Discussion centres around use of local facilities, road conditions, and DA approval timeframes.
A subsequent tour of Iluka, Woombah and Chatsworth Island was held on 16 May and councillors visit Ashby and Tullymorgan today (25 May).
⬛️ Naming of Iluka Memorial Park
Council will lodge a request to the Geographical Names Board of NSW to have the reserve in Iluka adjacent to Soldiers Memorial Hall officially named Iluka Memorial Park.
It is hoped the naming of the park will be finalised in time for centenary celebrations of the hall – which is the current location of Iluka Museum – planned to take place in September 2023.
The original request came from Maclean RSL Sub-Branch and Iluka History Group Inc. Council will also investigate the dual naming of this reserve, to include the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation recommendation of ‘Iluga’.
⬛️ Policies adopted and placed on exhibition
Two updated policies were adopted and another five draft policies placed on public exhibition.
Adopted policies:
Draft policies placed on exhibition:
Meanwhile the draft Borrowing Policy V8.0 was referred to a councillor workshop.
Click to view the latest policies on exhibition on the CVC website.
