Clarence Valley Council held its monthly Ordinary Council Meeting on Tuesday, 13 December 2022 at Grafton Council Chambers. Two Notices of Motion were discussed and followed by 16 of 27 items debated and the other 11 adopted by consent in a meeting which lasted two hours 48 minutes.
Flood Recovery and Resilience Update
Councillors praised the Flood Recovery and Resilience Update which provides a summary of Council’s current disaster recovery status and how additional funding is being used.
The report acknowledged that, due to the extent of damage across the region, resources have not been available to fully execute the quantum of restoration works as quickly as the broader community would like. The report illustrates, however, that the amount of road maintenance operations in 2022 is significantly higher than average years.
“Stats like 115,000 tonnes of gravel re-sheet material placed on unsealed roads – that’s about six times what Council would usually do,” said Cr Pickering, who moved the motion to note the report. “So the size of work being accomplished to repair and rebuild post floods really is remarkable.”
IMAGE: Re-sheeting works on Jackybulbin Road.
Cr Karen Toms also praised the achievements of Council staff.
“These people who work in our community on Council are part of our community, and we should stop throwing brickbats because they are doing an amazing job, on top of business as usual,” Cr Toms said. “We’ve got $2.5 billion worth of assets to look after, and when they get bashed around with six disasters in two years, it’s difficult to catch up.”
Cr Novak seconded the motion.
“It’s a great end of year Christmas gift to go out knowing our staff have done this extraordinary job for our community,” she said. “I know we have a lot of naysayers on social media knocking us for this and that, but when you read the evidence of what our staff and contractors have done for this community, it’s an extraordinary effort from everybody.”
Funding obtained to assist koala conservation
Clarence Valley Council has been successful in obtaining two NSW Government grants to assist in koala conservation in the region:
- $200,000 for LGA Koala Habitat Mapping and Population Survey: This funding has been received in addition to $100,000 received in May 2022 to develop koala habitat maps across land between Mororo, Lawrence and Banyabba. The additional funding enables other high priority areas to be included in the original project. The maps will assist in avoiding incremental impacts, such as loss of important habitat linkages, on koala population decline. It supports the NSW Government’s commitment to double the state’s koala population by 2050.
- $100,000 for Koala Vehicle Strike Funding Package: This project contributes to achieving Council’s high priority Natural Resource Management Operational Plan action to adopt traffic management that reduces threat of fauna/road kill from vehicles in identified ‘black spots’ and key corridor areas.
Both grants are part of the NSW Department of Planning and Environment NSW Koala Strategy Grant program.
Yamba Community Precinct Project update
Councillors voted 6-3 in support of a motion to investigate Option B for the Yamba Community Precinct Project and move away from the go ahead for option A.
Council held multiple community engagement drop-in sessions between 12 October and 10 November with a total of 1,758 community members engaged. 196 community members responded to an online survey, including 79 with written comments, and 40 of those specifically referenced opposition to the rezoning and sale of Wooli Street Hall to fund the construction of the Yamba Community Precinct (Option A).
Despite the design for Option A being 95 per cent complete and preferred by 105 respondents to 91 for Option B – to build a new library and conduct minor renovations to the existing Treelands Drive Community Centre – Cr Greg Clancy moved a successful motion to investigate Option B, and retain the Wooli Street Hall.
Councillors nominated to attend conferences in 2023
Council recognises the value of councillors attending conferences to enable them to be both knowledgeable and up to date on particular issues to ensure they can perform their duties and represent residents to the best of their ability.
The following councillors were nominated to attend conferences in 2023:
- Australian Local Government Women’s Association Conference (ALGWA) (Mornington Peninsula VIC, 18-20 May)
- Cr Allison Whaites
- ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ General Assembly and Regional Forum (Canberra ACT, 18-21 June)
- Mayor Ian Tiley
- Joint Coast to Coast and NSW Coastal Conference (Newcastle NSW, 30 Oct – 3 Nov)
- Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy
- 2023 LGNSW Annual Conference (Rosehill NSW, 12-14 Nov)
- Mayor Ian Tiley, Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy, Cr Karen Toms, Cr Stephen Pickering, Cr Stephen Pickering
- Crs Tiley, Clancy, Toms and Pickering were nominated as voting delegates
Sporting club and community initiative funding
Council endorsed the following allocations from the Lower Clarence and Clarence sports committees:
- $3,530.90 to Coutts Crossing Croquet Club for restoration of croquet playing surface at Wajard Park;
- $1,000.00 to Junction Hill Tennis Club for drainage works to Junction Hill tennis courts;
- $2,423.00 to Lawrence Golf and Sports Club for topdressing, drainage and access to croquet courts at Lawrence Sportsground;
- $2,490.35 to Big River Sailing Club for riverbank stabilisation at Big River Sailing Club;
- $1,011.82 to Yamba Football Club for facilities at Ngayundi Yamba Sports Complex.
Membership nominations to join the Clarence Sports Committee were also endorsed for Bush n Beach Orienteering and Big River Canoe Club.
Council also approved $15,657.80 in donations under the 2022/23 Community Initiatives Program – Round 2:
- Clarence Valley Filipino Australian Community Club – $1,000
- Clarence Valley Sports Awards Committee – $3,000
- Copmanhurst PreSchool – $1,899.90
- CWA of NSW Grafton Branch – $980
- Elevation Church Yamba – $117.90
- Glenreagh Memorial Museum – $2,000
- McAuley Catholic College – $100
- Rocky Mouth Productions – $2,500
- Rotary Club of Maclean – $2,000
- Port of Yamba Historical Society – $930
- Woombah Residents Association – $1,130
Meanwhile, Council was successful in obtaining grants for under the Sport Infrastructure Recovery Fund – Round One: 2022 Sport Priority Needs Program for the following projects:
- Rushforth Park Field Improvements – $499,796
- Barnier Park Field Improvements – $384,935
- Yamba Sports Complex, Rugby League Field Improvements – $100,596
- Hawthorne Park Arena One and Drainage Improvements – $283,798
