March 2024 Oberon Council Meeting

March 28, 2024

As usual, Council considered a range of matters at this meeting, The full Agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Here is a summary of some of the discussion.

A report was provided to Council on the Town Improvement Levy (TIL). The review process was extensive and included consultation with Local Government stakeholders, Councillors, and community. The community consultation program was undertaken over 90 days with a program including surveys, in-person meetings and submissions. A report on the findings was provided to Council and it was resolved to discontinue the Town Improvement Levy and to distribute this component of rating revenue into the base rate component within the ordinary rate structure from FY24/25.

The Town Improvement Levy as it is currently, will cease to exist in the FY24/25 Operational budget and ratepayers currently in the TIL zone will no longer be paying this levy with all ratepayers in the Local Government Area to have an additional charge added into the Base Rate component of their rates, estimated at $141 per assessment and the benefit to be a more fair and equitable distribution of rates across the community and allocation of projects and resources that meet the broader community needs.

You can see the survey findings and resident submissions here.

The Related Parties Disclosures policy 2220 has been updated and will be on public exhibition for 28 days. See the policy here.

Council received a $2000 sponsorship request from Can Assist for the hosting of the Oberon Charity Golf Day. The request was successful, and the funding application will be on public exhibition for 28 days.

A Close Out Report for the Reef Amenities completed November 2023 was provided and detailed the full cost of $228,896 with a slight over-run of the budget ($7727) due to the original shed supplier going into liquidation. Variations to the original budget were required with a slight increase to the footprint of the building with a new supplier, the inclusion of a high-water indicator, installation of additional bollards, a gas cage and increased battery capacity. The Reef amenities were available for the Redfin roundup and have been very well received by locals and visitors with very positive feedback.

    

What's new at the Reef Reserve. Photos supplied

The Yarning Circle Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was presented and discussed with an endorsement to delegate to the General Manager to make necessary amendments by Council and suggested changes by Pejar Local Aboriginal Land Council and Council delegated to the GM to sign the final MOU.

The proposed Yarning Circle at the Common. Photo supplied

Preliminary investigations of the Community Energy Upgrades Fund and discussions with the grant authority revealed that Council had an opportunity to develop an application based around the building proposals highlighted in the Renewable Energy Action Plan (REAP) with a focus on solar and battery at the Water Treatment Plant. With Round 1 closing 30 April 2024 and to ensure the best opportunity an amended recommendation was proposed and endorsed to commit $21000 from the Water fund for a Consultant to undertake a thorough review of the Water Treatment Plant solar & battery grant application and also supply a report that determines the best projects in our REAP and work towards a January 2025 submission under the Community Energy Upgrades Fund (Round 2) and Council as part of its ongoing Operational Plan reserve funds to support energy initiatives as identified from our REAP analysis to help ongoing support for grant funding.

In case you haven't seen it, here's the REAP from 2021

Thank you to Councillor Lauren Trembath for her summary of the meeting.

A video recording of the meeting can be found on YouTube.

You can see the minutes of the meeting here.

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