CITIZENS' JURY FOR GEELONG COUNCIL

Sandra Edmunds | 18 July 2016 ... http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/business/government/victoria-engages-citizens-jury-to-design-new-geelong-council/83375?platform=hootsuite

The people of Geelong will have the opportunity to design a new governance structure for their local council through a citizens’ jury – in what is being hailed as a ground-breaking, internationally significant approach to democracy. ........... Iain Walker, executive director of the independent newDemocracy Foundation, which will select the jurors and oversee the process, said the foundation had convened many citizens’ juries across Australia for state and local governments on topics are varied as alcohol reform, the nuclear fuel cycle and infrastructure but never like this one. ........... “Absolutely, this is a bold project,” he said. “This is a pure democracy project so it is a first. “I dare say there haven’t been that many of these done around the world. It’s not often something that gets put on the table. ........... “There are people working in this field all around the world; what Geelong is doing will turn heads.” The Victorian government dismissed the Greater Geelong City Council in April this year after a Commission of Inquiry found it was dysfunctional, unable to provide long-term vision for the city, and riddled with internal conflict and a culture of bullying. The government committed to consulting the community about its local governance model before the next council election in October 2017. ........... Mr Walker said the foundation was approached in May to oversee a citizens’ jury for Geelong. newDemocracy will select a random sample of 100 citizens to recommend a future representative structure for the council. The jurors will be selected in September with the process taking place in November. “There is a recognition among people who are in government, who are in politics, that if it’s not sailing sweetly along there is a need to innovate in how we make trusted public decisions,” Mr Walker said. “The Geelong project is why we exist.”........... The Minister for Local Government Natalie Hutchins will be asking the citizens’ jury to make two recommendations. One needs to comply with the existing local government legislative framework – a practical solution that the government can act on before the next council election............ The citizens’ jury will be asked to consider:........... how the mayor is elected if a deputy mayor is needed and how they are elected the number of councillors required representative structures (such as whether the municipality is unsubdivided or divided into wards and if they are multi-member wards) Interestingly, the second recommendation is free to draw on all new ideas in representation and public decision-making emerging around the world. The minister cannot grant authority to act on this – it’s a matter for cabinet and ultimately state parliament – but she will take this aspirational recommendation to the parliament for consideration. ........... “That for me is the amazing part of this project,” Mr Walker said. “Everyone who just watched a federal election that wasn’t particularly compelling in places … a lot of people would have thought we must be able to do it better. This is the first attempt to say, ‘Let’s take all the rules away. What does better look like?’ ........... “This project is very much a ‘what?’ and a ‘how?’ We say, ‘What does your representative body look like?’ The interesting starting point is to get people to think about what a community looks like that they can trust even though the temptation is to jump straight to the ‘how’ of voting structures and number of wards. We’ll do both pieces but it’s the fact that the ‘what’ is on the table, which is what makes this potentially really interesting. ........... “You have to appreciate the wonderful risk in this. That blank sheet of paper the minister is going to have to respond to – no one knows what that will look like.” Ms Hutchins said the new approach would strike a balance between experts and the views of the community in recommending a future representative structure for the council. “The last council failed to deliver good governance – and a citizens’ jury will help ensure that does not happen again,” she said............ “The Andrews Labor Government wants to know what the people of Geelong think is best for their future council and to help design it.” The process will give all members of the Geelong community the opportunity to have their say so that the jury is fully informed about community views when it deliberates. ........... Vicky Gower, secretary of the Geelong One Fire Reconciliation Group, attended the launch of the citizens’ jury along with a number of other community organisation representatives this week. ........... “We all agreed that it sounds so exciting because for the first time we’re actually going to be ourselves, like our community, deciding what our future governance is about,” she said. ........... “We’re all aware that things have not been good here for quite a while and we want to be able to do something that supports the community, that creates a stronger governance process and that also includes things like training for staff on how to engage more with the community, how to work more with us and be more open to partnerships.” ........... Ms Gower said there were a lot of questions about how the process could be more diverse and inclusive to consider people whose first language is not English, those with literacy issues, and young people. “There was quite a lot (of talk) about young adults and how they and even people younger than voting age could be part of the process, which is very exciting. And certainly there was interest too in making sure that the local Aboriginal community is a part of the process and representation is there for the local Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.” ........... Ms Gower said there were many people in the Geelong community with strong skills and awareness who want to support a good outcome for all. “Generally everyone sounded very pleased that there is something like this happening that could be quite a model for the rest of Victoria on reviewing our political processes,” she said. “We feel this is giving us a real chance of being part of political change.” The jury will produce a publicly available report in November with recommendations for the government to consider. The minister will report back to the jury in person once the government has considered their ideas. ........... The Victorian government is currently reviewing the Local Government Act 1989, which governs the state’s 79 councils. This review covers governance processes, council structures and electoral procedures. ........... According to Local Government Victoria, the government intends to require councils to routinely employ deliberative engagement methods as a means of informing council plans. Citizens’ juries are seen as a way of achieving greater community ownership of and support for councils’ priorities and strategic direction. Citizens’ juries could be applied to all aspects of council engagement not simply to dealing with governance failures. ........... An independent evaluation of the Geelong citizens’ jury process will identify what worked well and what didn’t, said Local Government Victoria. This will provide more clarity about the value and impact of citizens’ juries in designing council electoral structures.

Is This Green Spin With A Sting?

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SOURCE

The Launceston Council has approved the introduction of a voluntary food and garden organics fortnightly collection service for the urban residential area of Launceston and Lilydale. ................. Residents who sign up to the service will receive a third, 240-litre wheelie bin for a one-off registration fee of $65. The motion was moved by Alderman Janie Finlay, who said it was an item which had been before council for some time and council had had some great conversation about it. “I think through those conversation we have got to an improved position,” she said.................. “I think this is a fantastic complementary service to the waste management that we already offer at the kerbside. With the consultation that occurred, the number of people that have indicated that they will participate is a wonderful indication of the success [it will have].” .................Alderman Danny Gibson said it was important to promote that the new bin will be optional, and resident do not have to sign up. ................. “I think this adds further weight to the great things we are doing holistically to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill,” he said. ................. The cost of landfill was one of the biggest surprise for Alderman Soward when he joined council, and he agreed it was exciting to be doing something to reduce landfill. ................. I think this is a fantastic complementary service to the waste management that we already offer at the kerbside.- Alderman Janie Finlay ................. It is expected the bins will help divert 32 per cent of City of Launceston waste to landfill. Alderman Soward also highlighted the importance of residents receiving a standard size bin. ................. “It might sound like a small thing, but it means that we are the same and that we don’t have someone who ends up with a Rolls Royce bin and someone who ends up with a clapped-out bin… and I can imagine it would make it difficult for collection,” he said. ................. Residents who opt in for a new bin will receive a registration pack which includes a kitchen caddy and educational material. 

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Ratepayers who have been around for a while might well smell a rat here but they need to be very careful of being accused of criticising motherhood. On the face of it this initiative ticks some of the 'high moral ground boxes'.

Yet here we are again growing the 'bureaucratic empire' and using ratepayers conscripted funds to do so. Launceston already has a private enterprise green waste processor and it will now have to compete with ‘the council’. SO, what’s so very wrong with that? But they're not offering this servicer. Has anyone, alderman or bureaucrat, engaged with this proprietor?

Consider this, if ratepayers setting out to build a business could conscript their capital requirements, and once they had the cash in their hands, have to pay no interest or tax, they’d probably think that they’d died and gone to heaven. Or they might well think that they were somewhere like the Cayman Islands and sipping champers at breakfast.

If this is not unfair competition demonstrate it aldermen! Some of the aldermen around the table have been here before in the service of the operational component of council’s aspirations to grow the pie. It's a process where the ratepayers typically loose!

But this 'Green Waste Scheme' is a voluntary scheme! Yes, but that’s only to do with buying the bins etc. The composting plant has yet to be purchased it seems and nobody is saying just what that plant and equipment is going to cost. To be fair no one is asking it seems – and probably not even the aldermen.

Have the aldermen seen the business plan?  Anyway, why not work with a private enterprise service provider?  Why not smooth the way towards win-win outcomes? Why not buy your bins a Bunnings?  Why not think again?

There’re are enormous opportunities here and ratepayers need to be given the chance to reap the dividends rather grow their investment in  a cash hungry cost centre that is headed towards demanding more and more cash from ratepayers. When is 'the community' going to be included in the loop in order that some of the follies of the past are not repeated.

Here is ‘the marketing video’ [click here] and see if you can spot the ‘spin and the sting’. This looks a lot like an unfolding story!

Launceston's Ratepayers Increasingly Holding Council To Account

Retirees were quick to celebrate a failed motion at the Launceston Council meeting on Monday, which would have seen independent living units (ILU) subjected to general rates. ............ Eight community members spoke against the motion to the crowded council chambers, which would have seen a phased reduction in the remission of general rates provided to ILUs owned by charitable organisations. ............ Alderman Hugh McKenzie moved the motion, and said while the issue was put forward in 2010, the discussion had changed after a Magistrates Court decision relating to properties in the Meander Valley municipality in 2012. ............ Should retirement village residents have to pay rates? Yes No Yes, but subsidised rates Vote View Results “This was based on the fact that there was case law which found that residential villages were found to not be used for a charitable purpose,” he said. ............ “This is about what, in my view, is right and it’s about leadership, equity and justice.” ............ Acting Mayor Rob Soward said he was worried for people who had moved into retirement villages under the assumption they would never pay general rates again. “I have brought up the idea of grandfathering, so anyone who moves in after [a certain date] knows the situation they are moving into… retrospectivity to me is a concern,” Alderman Soward said. ............ Under the Local Government Act the motion required an absolute majority of seven votes to pass, but only six Aldermen voted in favour to apply the general rates. ............ Instead, the council agreed to apply a full rates remission to ILUs to June 30, 2017. 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  NOTE FROM THE MEETING JUNE 11

• The proposal to levy fire service rates on retirement units failed to get the numbers required.

• The proposal to remove rate remissions and force retirement home residents to pay a full general rate on their properties from 2017 failed to get the numbers required.

The public gallery was filled to overflowing with residents and ratepayers attending to protest council's proposal to increase its 'rates take' from retirement village residents. Council is inc reasingly being put on notice by its constituency, as one ratepayer put it, to 'be on their metal and to be a lot more consultative, enough is enough!" ... As is often said, watch this space'.

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  ON THE AGENA JUNE 11

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SOURCE

City rates slug MATT MALONEY July 10, 2016, ............. INDEPENDENT retirement home residents could be forced to pay rates on their properties from 2017 after years of being exempt from doing so. ............ The move comes as councils statewide agreed to applying general rates and fire service levies to independent living units within retirement villages. ............ Hobart and Clarence councils have already agreed to apply the full general rate from this month. ............ City of Launceston aldermen this Monday will decide on whether the council should remove rate remissions and transition to forcing payment of a full general rate by 2024-25. ............ Under the proposal, residents would be exempt from paying rates this financial year but would start doing so in 2017-18 with a 70 per cent remission. ............ The remission rate would decrease by 10 per cent each subsequent year until a full rate is imposed. ............ The council will also decide on whether to levy fire service rates on retirement units. ............ Aldermen last month deferred a decision on that charge, prompted by concerns over a perceived lack of community consultation. ............ The move would have raised $100,000 for the 2016-17 financial year. ............ A retirement unit with a capital value of $250,000 would attract $1458 in rates if both charges are implemented. ............ A council report notes that for many years it had been standard practice to treat retirement homes as exempt from rates though this did not accord with the Local Government Act which determined when exemptions applied. ............ Glenara Lakes Residents Association president Tony McCormack said that the new charges would impact on self-funded retirees who were generally experiencing decreasing income in the current economic environment. ............ Dr McCormack submitted a petition of 60 signatures urging the council not to proceed with the changes. ............ A submission from Allan Miller states that residents were generally of the belief that council rates and taxes were included in their monthly maintenance bill.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  ON THE AGENA JUNE 11

Retirement home rates, green waste topics for council July 11, 2016, 10:54 a.m. ............ The Launceston City Council will today vote on a number of issues which could have wide reaching effects for the community. ............ Independent retirement home residents could be forced to pay rates on their properties from 2017 after years of being exempt from doing so. ............ The move comes as councils statewide agreed to applying general rates and fire service levies to independent living units within retirement villages. ............ Aldermen will decide on whether the council should remove rate remissions and transition to forcing payment of a full general rate by 2024-25. ............ The council will also decide on whether to levy fire service rates on retirement units. ............ Approving kerbside organics collection and an organics processing facility could also be on the cards at the Monday council meeting. ............ The decision could mean the introduction of a voluntary food organics and garden organics third bin fortnightly collection service for the urban residential area of Launceston and Lilydale. ............ Residents would be provided with a 240 litre wheelie bin from the council at a one-off registration fee of $65.00, a kitchen caddy, identification sticker and comprehensive educational material.

WATCH THIS SPACE: There is a story evolving

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SOURCE

Community anger at general manager sacking 
Adam Langenberg July 7, 2016, 5:30 p.m. 
Dismissed Flinders Council general manager Raoul Harper 

Flinders Island residents have reacted angrily to Flinders Council general manager Raoul Harper’s sacking. ................. Mr Harper told Fairfax Tasmania he was informed his contract would be terminated on Tuesday, following a closed council meeting on Monday. r .................. A sign in the local newsagent urges concerned voters to contact Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein if they were concerned by the council’s decision, while another sign in the town calls on four councillors; Peter and Chris Rhodes, Ken Stockton and Gerald Willis; to resign. r .................. It’s understood those four councillors voted in favour of Mr Harper’s contract being terminated. r .................. Another community member is understood to have started a petition against Mr Harper’s dismissal. r .................. Newsagent Lois Ireland said she thought Mr Harper’s dismissal was “extremely unjust”. r .................. Ms Ireland said she had noticed a large amount of surprise and shock in the community following Mr Harper’s sacking. r .................. She said Mr Harper was “someone that the community respected” and said she was worried what his dismissal would cost the council and ratepayers. r .................. Mr Harper, who left the council by the close of business on Tuesday, said he had yet to be given a list of reasons as to why his contract was terminated and was seeking legal advice. r .................. Mr Gutwein said he understood the community was concerned and had written to the council for an explanation of the circumstances and timing of Mr Harper’s dismissal.

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Flinders general manager 'sacked' 
Adam Langenberg July 6, 2016, 5 p.m.

Flinders Council general manager Raoul Harper says he is yet to receive a list of reasons as to why he has been sacked from the position he held for seven years. Mr Harper says he was informed by the council that his contract would be terminated on Tuesday, and left the council by the end of that day. It’s understood councillors decided to terminate Mr Harper’s contract following a closed council meeting on Monday evening. Mayor Carol Cox, who is on leave, was not at the meeting. Mr Harper has been on personal leave following the death of his mother and said his dismissal came as a complete shock. “It’s completely out of the blue, all I can do is take legal advice about what to do from here,” Mr Harper said. ........... “In all honesty I’ve been dealing with my mother dying for some weeks now. It’s a pretty hard pill to swallow.” ........... Mr Harper said he had asked for a statement of reasons behind his dismissal, but had not been provided with one. ........... He said he had received a pay rise about a month ago following a performance review. ........... The council published a notice in The Examiner on Wednesday stating the position had become vacant as of 5pm on Tuesday. ........... Neither acting Mayor Marc Cobham or acting general manager Sophie Pitchford would comment on whether Mr Harper had been sacked or the reasons behind his departure. ........... Cr Cobham said he had been given legal advice that he was to repeat the notice lodged in The Examiner and not to provide further comment on the issue. ........... Ms Pitchford will remain in the role of acting general manager while the council undergoes the process of recruiting a permanent replacement for Mr Harper. ........... It’s understood at least one councillor in attendance at the closed council meeting opposed Mr Harper’s contract being terminated. ........... A former Break O’Day councillor, Mr Harper joined Flinders Council in 2009. ........... Cr Cox was contacted for comment.

IS THERE A BETTER WAY?

CLICK HERE TO GOOGLE THE SITE

Around the world there are examples of better ways to understand and imagine what's been traditionally imagined as waste. The Yorkshire 20th Century saying/proverb, 'Where there's muck there's brass' let's us know that recycling is not some new fangled 'hippie idea'. In England "brass" is still slang term for money. By "muck" is meant any form of dirt, manure, scrap, (waste) etc. is implied, 

Interestingly the English proverb, 1678: "Muck and money go together" resonates still. So, have we today, "lost the plot" as is often said? Whatever, there's a very good case for saying that 'we' – Western society in general –  have truly lost the ability to understand or cope with what is happening in our cultural landscapes – and nowhere so obviously as at our 'tips', 'dumps' and what bureaucrats imagine as 'wast management centres'. 

Tasmania, and Launceston specifically, is not alone in its 21st Century recalcitrance, but it is time that those who mismanage our 'tips, dumps and rubbish-heaps' must be called to book and made accountable for their environmental mismanagement and fiscal responsility.

Against this background one can see why some 'council functionaries' might want to hang on to "what's always been" but we can no longer afford it – and shouldn't. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE GOOGLE-EYE-VIEW OF LAUNCESTON'S 'TIP'

When you visit the 'Lonnie tip' viaGOOGLE just take a good hard look at the landscape and take note of where the water courses run, the roads go, where the treed areas are, etc. are, and ask yourself "does this represent appropriate landscape management"?

OH NO! ... NOT ANOTHER COST CENTRE FOR LAUNCESTON?

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
CLICK HERE TO READ ONLINE

Launceston is at it again. Whilst it is both stupid  and counterproductive to argue against motherhood it is sometimes not a such bad idea to challenge what's being offered up as "motherhood". It's an old. old story that Launceston Council has a lot of expertise in the 'WASTE MANAGEMENT' BUSINESS'. You see, down there at Town Hall they manage to waste just about every opportunity that comes their way.

In fact the "WASTE MANAGEMENT CENTRE" is not as some people think a place where 'waste is managed', rather its that place where resources are sent to be wasted. More to the point, its all wasted at the expense of ratepayers! 

Here we go again the operational wing is yet again inventing yet another COST CENTRE. Now why would they want to do that? Well its exquisitely simple really. If you're a subscriber to the "JOBS AND GROWTH" mantra, new 'Cost Centres' deliver for council's operational wing's underlings and overlords alike. The Parkinson's Law adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"guides the self-serving decision making. 

Then again, Parkinson's law is also a reference to the self-satisfying uncontrolled growth of the bureaucratic apparatus in an organisation and that's clearly at work in all this. Because overlords need underlings getting a new cost centre is almost a perpetual imperative 'going forward'.

Now this is not to say that GREEN WASTE RESOURCE RECOVERY is a bad idea  – it's actually a very GOOD idea! 

Its just something that's better left in the hands of an operation/people whose business it is do more than survive (the cost centre goal) and people who wish to succeed (the enterprise principle). Cost Centres in most councils – Launceston's in particular – typically translate as places that bring on an increase in rates and not by the necessity for an increase in services or service quality.

So how is "GREEN WASTE" reimagined an 'ORGANIC RESOURCE'? You might well start by standing back and opening up the opportunity to all players – community cooperatives, community enterprises, the corporates, etc. – and get out of their way. Yes, police them to ensure that they meet community standards but mostly get out of the way. 

The trouble here is that you need 'EXPERTS' to pull of the enterprise. They are out there, just not in the employ of 'the council'. – yet or maybe never. When a bureaucracy starts 'deeming' that has either the expertise, or even the ability to recognise it, you get into deep water fiscally. 

The alarm bells are ringing with this exercise in 'bureaucratic-self-service' and where yet again another cost centre is being imagined in order to grow the bureaucratic empire for the 'rent seekers' at Town Hall.

The really worrying thing here is that 'THE GREENS' and GREEN ACTIVISTS seem to have been sidelined .. shut out? The Greens in politics are looking the other way too it seems even when they are elected to council. Have they dropped the ball? Are they interested in this issue here? Is it too small an idea? What does it take to engage with them?

If the council has anything to do here it is to energise the community and encourage those with ideas and capacity to get interested! ... NO, more than interested! ... Rather, encouraged to be active and supported in order to be so!

        

RATE INFORMATION FOR LAUNCESTON

The overall increase for the entire city will be 1.9%, but other charges will vary up and down. 

The fire levy that is collected by LCC will also be increasing.

Until the Rates Notices are issued, individual property owners will not have a definite figure to work on.

LCC are also intending to seek a $100,000 contribution from independent unit owners (retirees) for a fire levy, and if this doesn’t succeed that amount will be spread over the rest of the ratepayers who can’t claim charitable status.

Remember a great many property owners such as churches and the University, don’t pay, so again that shortfall is distributed over the rest.

Regards,

Lionel Morrell

PETITION FORMS AVAILABLE BY EMAIL NOW

PETITION FORMS are now available to be sent to you via eMAIL in a PGF format. 

This allows you to print off the forms you need to collect signatures in your street and among your friends and associates who are on the ELECTORS ROLL FOR LAUNCESTON. 

Please request an email with the form attached now!

ADDRESS: launcestonprojects@bigpond.com

SEE: http://lcc63.blogspot.com.au/p/electors-poll-petition.html