Condolences, community land and creating a tribute

Published on 20 September 2022

Condolences, community land for Wittitrin and a memorial for Dave Sands were just some of the items on the agenda for the September ordinary meeting of Kempsey Shire Council. 

Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

Mayor Leo Hauville delivered a tribute to Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II outlining her role in the Commonwealth and recounting her visits and changes to Australia.

Before observing one minute of silence to honour The Queen, Council unanimously adopted the following condolence message:

"On behalf of the Kempsey Shire community, we express our deep and heartfelt sorrow at the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. We therefore convey this sadness and condolence to the Royal Family and King Charles III."

Vale Mr Alwyn Saul

Council also passed a motion of condolence and Mayor Leo Hauville and Councillor Patterson spoke to acknowledge the passing of Councillor Dean Saul’s father, Alwyn Syvlan Saul.

Local Traffic

Councillors noted the minutes and adopted the minutes from the Local Traffic Committee meeting held on 6 September 2022.

While the Local Traffic Committee, a state government committee, has no decision-making power, it can propose changes to be made within its delegation or refer these to the state government for consent.

When is a shed a detached dwelling?

Councillors approved a development application to turn a shed into a detached dwelling on Barbers Lane Yarrahapinni proceed.

As this development does not comply with the Kempsey Local Environmental Plan, the applicant asked for special consent. The shed is 136 metres from the primary dwelling and to comply normally it had to be within 100 metres.

Community land for emergency use in Wittitrin

Council agreed to acquire a lot of land in Wittitrin for the community to meet in times of natural disasters. Council will classify this as community land and enter into a lease agreement with the Wittitrin Progress Association

Wittitrin Progress Association has received an Australian Government Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Community Grant to buy the land.

A new Code of Meeting Practice

A new draft Code of Meeting Practice was workshopped with Councillors before being put forward for review.

The changes put forward include:

• The number of signatures required for a petition to be reported to Council be reduced from 500 to 200

• Adding an acknowledgement of Service Men, Women and Families at the start of meetings

• Removing the prescribed text for the Opening Prayer

Councillors agreed to place the draft Code of Meeting Practice on public exhibition.

Discussion points for the Local Government Conference

Councillors agreed to propose three discussion points for the 2022 Local Government New South Wales Annual Conference:

• Accounting treatment of Rural Fire Service Assets

• Development Consent to lapse where work has not been completed

• What is your role and what is your opportunity? 

Electing committee and working group members

Elected by open voting, Councillors and community members joined the following committees:

Locking in a more sustainable and resilient Kempsey Shire

Councillors adopted the draft Sustainability and Resilience Strategy Strategy for the Kempsey Shire, developed to help residents and businesses be more sustainable.

More location options for South West Rocks Library and Community Hub

Councillors agreed to receive nonbinding expressions of interest from private landholders, within the South West Rocks Structure Plan footprint, to help find a suitable location for the South West Rocks Library and Community Hub.

This allows options to be explored such as:

• Council purchasing and developing a land site;
• Council leasing a developed site
• Council receiving land or an asset from a developer in place of a developer contribution.

Council has researched publicly owned locations for the construction of the South West Rocks Library and Community Hub. It found that no Council or Crown Land site is suitable when considering criteria such as environmental impacts, planning constraints and community value. 

Council will open expressions of interest from private landowners, to be assessed using the same model as the public sites.

You can view the assessments of public sites in the September 2022 Council Agenda papers.

Dave Sands memorial moving forward

Council has agreed to establish a memorial for Dave Sands. Dave Sands and his family helped put Kempsey on the map with their boxing achievements. 

With Dave Sands' family, Mayor Leo Hauville and General Manager Craig Milburn reported that Archibald Prize winning Dunghutti artist, Blak Douglas is working to create some concepts for the project. 

Site selection is still being undertaken and is expected to be finalised this year. 

Annual Financial Statements

Councillors voted to refer the draft Annual Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2022 to audit as required under the Local Government Act. 

The audited 2021-22 financial statements will be presented to the November 2022 Council meeting.

Mayor and Councillor expenses

Councillors discussed the Councillors Expenses and Facilities Policy.

The document outlines what expenses Councillors can be reimbursed for and the capped amounts. This includes uniform, travel, devices, professional development and meal allowances.

Council will place the draft policy on public exhibition for at least 28 days.

Correcting cemetery reservation fees

When Council's full set of 2022-23 Fees and Charges was adopted at the June 2022 meeting, they included an omission where the cemeteries and burial fees did not clearly reflect the new strategy adopted earlier in 2022.

Amended proposed cemetery reservation fees that remedied this oversight were placed on public exhibition in the last two months. No submissions were received.Councillors discussed the fees before adopting them.

Statement of cash and investments - August 2022

Council noted the August statement.

Order of Business considered in open session includes:

8.1 Local Traffic Committee - Minutes 6 September 2022

9.1. DA2200380 - Continued Use Of An Existing Shed As A Detached Dual Occupancy - Yarrahapinni

9.2. Compulsory Acquisition of Land for Community Purposes - Lot 20 DP1286858 (12 Davis Road, Wittitrin)

9.3. Code of Meeting Practice

9.4. Motions for 2022 LGNSW Annual Conference

9.5. Review of Committees and Appointment of Delegates

9.6. Sustainability and Resilience Strategy

9.7. South West Rocks Library - Site Selection Analysis

9.8. Dave Sands Memorial Update

9.9. 2021-2022 Annual Financial Statements

9.10. Councillor Expenses and Facilities Policy

9.11. Amendment to 2022-2023 Cemeteries Reservation Fees

9.12. Statement of Cash and Investments - August 2022

More information

The September Ordinary Council meeting was held in Council Chambers from 9am on Tuesday 20 September.

A video of the entire meeting can be viewed on Council's YouTube page and on the Kempsey Shire Council website.

For a full outline of the meeting and the discussion points, please refer to the Agenda and Business Papers.