Sorry to tell all the followers of this blog that Lin Hall ('Dad' to me) left us at 5:30pm on Wednesday, the 10th of October, 2012.
There will be a cremation service at Mt Gravatt Crematorium at noon on Tuesday the 16th Of October for those who may wish to attend.
A few short hours after his death, but many weeks since our last rainfall, there was a clap of thunder and the rain has been falling steadily ever since. We assume this is an indication that he got there OK and has already started to run the place as he desires. Good one, Dad.
My condolences go out to all who knew and loved him.
Haere ra, e hoa. Goodbye, my friend.
Andrew Hall.
11 October 2012
29 September 2012
Sorry people this story has ended
Most of you will have not seen posts from me for a while now.
There's a good reason and that is that before the next round of council meetings I will be dead from bone marrow cancer.
I know that this is blunt, but I believe in straight information.
If you have relied on me and will miss these posts, I thank you for those sentiments and am glad that I was able to provide that sort of service.
No tears please. Please do not deluge Mo with sympathy messages either. We are not that sort of family and she will have a week of trying to cope with me for those few days. I'm sure that she and the kids will, later, be pleased to talk to anyone from our community.
For each of you readers, I wish you all well. This blog will say open for comments until Andrew, my son, decides what to do about it. I'd say, "talk to each-other in the comments" and when you stop he'll be nice and archive everything for the millennium!
Bye
Lin
There's a good reason and that is that before the next round of council meetings I will be dead from bone marrow cancer.
I know that this is blunt, but I believe in straight information.
If you have relied on me and will miss these posts, I thank you for those sentiments and am glad that I was able to provide that sort of service.
No tears please. Please do not deluge Mo with sympathy messages either. We are not that sort of family and she will have a week of trying to cope with me for those few days. I'm sure that she and the kids will, later, be pleased to talk to anyone from our community.
For each of you readers, I wish you all well. This blog will say open for comments until Andrew, my son, decides what to do about it. I'd say, "talk to each-other in the comments" and when you stop he'll be nice and archive everything for the millennium!
Bye
Lin
17 September 2012
Meeting flash
Sorry this is so late. Should have been out on Thursday.
At Tuesday's Ordinary council meeting there will be a break at 10.30 am to congratulate Logan's Olympians and Para Olympians on their successes. The congratulations will be in the form of a morning tea to which we are all invited and will be held during an adjournment of the meeting for an indeterminate time.
The last one they had, 2008, was worth the effort to go. It is impossible to say who will be there, other than councillors, you may be lucky for autographs or you may not.
Most visitors go home when the meeting recommences.
At Tuesday's Ordinary council meeting there will be a break at 10.30 am to congratulate Logan's Olympians and Para Olympians on their successes. The congratulations will be in the form of a morning tea to which we are all invited and will be held during an adjournment of the meeting for an indeterminate time.
The last one they had, 2008, was worth the effort to go. It is impossible to say who will be there, other than councillors, you may be lucky for autographs or you may not.
Most visitors go home when the meeting recommences.
13 September 2012
Breene holds her own chairing meeting
This series of reports is coming to you just a little late in the week because of health reasons. And I'm not the only one with issues, there are a couple of others of us who as so afflicted. There's no need to be too concerned about me, particularly, but it just shows us that there is a issue with who can manage to get to council meetings.
On Tuesday I managed to go to the Health, Environment & Sustainability committee meeting and the Planning & Development committee meeting. For the latter the deputy-chair, Jennie Breene, was in Cr Dalley's chair. While it was a short meeting, I thought that Breene did a competent job.
The report for HS1*, the powerline to Jimboomba, does not seem to be getting anywhere very quickly. It looks like the, our, community is getting the run-around. The Minister, the new one, doesn't want to make up his mind. I figure that Energex will wait as long as possible to spend any money and we'll all wait for the axe to fall one day when supply doesn't meet demand.
The saving grace, so far, is that Jimboomba is where there has been one of the largest take-ups of solar energy. We're getting enough PV energy to delay upgrading the substation for local supplies. The issue for Energex is that they intended our sub-station to be on standby to power the one in Beaudesert, if and when necessary—emergencies, overloads or otherwise. There will come the day when everything will fall over and Energex will sit back and try to say—your fault for preventing us from our planning and work. Unfortunately, it may be the Beaudesert people who come off worst. This is the way that governments have traditionally coped with community intransigence, sit back and wait.
Bringing us nicely to the report at HS2*, where the council tells us that they are on a slow winner. It details pay-back periods too. Something that few PV suppliers are willing to expose. You can see that the council's administrative building has not been a great foundation for the panels, the flat-cluttered roofspace being unsuitable. A cost that I see missing from the analysis is the cleaning cost for the panels. Maybe some homeowners reading this might like to comment?
Item HS3, about the new Sustainability Service Delivery Coordination Team, lists the team members. We'll be told, as time goes on, results from this co-ordinating group that are intending to shield council from green-house gas charging in whatever form it comes.
The Peaks to Point Festival, HS4, is about the flagship community event of the Oxley Creek Catchment Association. The purpose of the festival is to celebrate the diverse natural environment of greater Brisbane’s southern region from Flinders Peak near Ipswich through Logan City and east to Moreton Bay. Council wants to be a sponsor, to the level of $2500, for the event. Item HS5, is where Griffith University wants funding for catchment research on the Logan and Albert rivers. Item HS6 is to inform Council of the success of the 2011-12 Climate-Smart Business Cluster program and to request support for a further Council led program. You won't find out exactly what money is dedicated because the Logan Office of Economic Development is not council. This is a report for information, not reality.
Item HS7, Flying Fox Submission—Land Protection (Flying-fox Control) Amendment Bill 2012 and Council Submission, caused difficulty with some councillors. Take care! That link will download the Bill directly!
The difficulty seemed to be that some councillors don't want to know about the issue, others realise it is almost intractable and a third lot are less than forthcoming until it comes to a final vote. You can read the background paper and the submission for yourselves. Pages 42 to 47.
Item HS8 wants to add a motion to the Local Government Conference to ensure support for Free Whooping-cough (DTPA) Vaccine to be added to the National Immunisation Program in Queensland. I think that the real issue is the scurrilous Internet propaganda that goes around in response to these initiatives.
The meeting closed at 9.07 am and the following was under way at 9.20. Seven Items is very short for a Planning & Development committee. The first two were handed-off quickly. I was surprised that Cr Petersen was missing for HS1, an item in his Division and we normally expect to hear at least a twitter from a local councillor. Both PD3 and PD4, appeals against Conditions, were closed to the public. Both were recommended to be resolved by the manager, if possible.
Item PD5, the Logan Renewal Board, is about the issue where the Housing Corporation is holding a lot of very old housing stock for rentals that are climbing while the attractiveness and appropriateness of the stock is diminishing. An example of the last issue is that families needing accommodation are now very small and the houses are three or more bedrooms. You can read the report. Suffice to say, council wants to keep its finger on the pulse because of economic advantages.
Item PD6, a request to provide a bond, in lieu of the payment of infrastructure charges, for a staged development application, was recommended. It was said that the bond would be wholly in council's bank and that it was considered to represent 150 percent of what might be owed at the end. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
Item PD7, The South East Queensland Regional Plan, (the regional plan) is the pre-eminent plan for the South East Queensland region. It takes precedence over all other planning instruments. The regional plan provides a planning framework to guide growth in South East Queensland over the next 20 years. It starts on page 137 and goes on to page 165. I'm not even going to try to summarise it for you. Sorry.
The meeting concluded at 9.55 am. Much of that happened because councillors were willing to work together and to not talk off-topic constantly.
On Tuesday I managed to go to the Health, Environment & Sustainability committee meeting and the Planning & Development committee meeting. For the latter the deputy-chair, Jennie Breene, was in Cr Dalley's chair. While it was a short meeting, I thought that Breene did a competent job.
The report for HS1*, the powerline to Jimboomba, does not seem to be getting anywhere very quickly. It looks like the, our, community is getting the run-around. The Minister, the new one, doesn't want to make up his mind. I figure that Energex will wait as long as possible to spend any money and we'll all wait for the axe to fall one day when supply doesn't meet demand.
The saving grace, so far, is that Jimboomba is where there has been one of the largest take-ups of solar energy. We're getting enough PV energy to delay upgrading the substation for local supplies. The issue for Energex is that they intended our sub-station to be on standby to power the one in Beaudesert, if and when necessary—emergencies, overloads or otherwise. There will come the day when everything will fall over and Energex will sit back and try to say—your fault for preventing us from our planning and work. Unfortunately, it may be the Beaudesert people who come off worst. This is the way that governments have traditionally coped with community intransigence, sit back and wait.
Bringing us nicely to the report at HS2*, where the council tells us that they are on a slow winner. It details pay-back periods too. Something that few PV suppliers are willing to expose. You can see that the council's administrative building has not been a great foundation for the panels, the flat-cluttered roofspace being unsuitable. A cost that I see missing from the analysis is the cleaning cost for the panels. Maybe some homeowners reading this might like to comment?
Item HS3, about the new Sustainability Service Delivery Coordination Team, lists the team members. We'll be told, as time goes on, results from this co-ordinating group that are intending to shield council from green-house gas charging in whatever form it comes.
The Peaks to Point Festival, HS4, is about the flagship community event of the Oxley Creek Catchment Association. The purpose of the festival is to celebrate the diverse natural environment of greater Brisbane’s southern region from Flinders Peak near Ipswich through Logan City and east to Moreton Bay. Council wants to be a sponsor, to the level of $2500, for the event. Item HS5, is where Griffith University wants funding for catchment research on the Logan and Albert rivers. Item HS6 is to inform Council of the success of the 2011-12 Climate-Smart Business Cluster program and to request support for a further Council led program. You won't find out exactly what money is dedicated because the Logan Office of Economic Development is not council. This is a report for information, not reality.
Item HS7, Flying Fox Submission—Land Protection (Flying-fox Control) Amendment Bill 2012 and Council Submission, caused difficulty with some councillors. Take care! That link will download the Bill directly!
The difficulty seemed to be that some councillors don't want to know about the issue, others realise it is almost intractable and a third lot are less than forthcoming until it comes to a final vote. You can read the background paper and the submission for yourselves. Pages 42 to 47.
Item HS8 wants to add a motion to the Local Government Conference to ensure support for Free Whooping-cough (DTPA) Vaccine to be added to the National Immunisation Program in Queensland. I think that the real issue is the scurrilous Internet propaganda that goes around in response to these initiatives.
The meeting closed at 9.07 am and the following was under way at 9.20. Seven Items is very short for a Planning & Development committee. The first two were handed-off quickly. I was surprised that Cr Petersen was missing for HS1, an item in his Division and we normally expect to hear at least a twitter from a local councillor. Both PD3 and PD4, appeals against Conditions, were closed to the public. Both were recommended to be resolved by the manager, if possible.
Item PD5, the Logan Renewal Board, is about the issue where the Housing Corporation is holding a lot of very old housing stock for rentals that are climbing while the attractiveness and appropriateness of the stock is diminishing. An example of the last issue is that families needing accommodation are now very small and the houses are three or more bedrooms. You can read the report. Suffice to say, council wants to keep its finger on the pulse because of economic advantages.
Item PD6, a request to provide a bond, in lieu of the payment of infrastructure charges, for a staged development application, was recommended. It was said that the bond would be wholly in council's bank and that it was considered to represent 150 percent of what might be owed at the end. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
Item PD7, The South East Queensland Regional Plan, (the regional plan) is the pre-eminent plan for the South East Queensland region. It takes precedence over all other planning instruments. The regional plan provides a planning framework to guide growth in South East Queensland over the next 20 years. It starts on page 137 and goes on to page 165. I'm not even going to try to summarise it for you. Sorry.
The meeting concluded at 9.55 am. Much of that happened because councillors were willing to work together and to not talk off-topic constantly.
10 September 2012
Monday turns out messy
There were Water Infrastructure staff at the meeting early to talk about their reports. As it happened not much was said for Items RW1 and RW2.
But today's Roads & Water Infrastructure committee meeting wasn't going to be easy. Item RW1, Annual Performance Plan for Water and Wastewater Services, does not come right out and tell us everything in plain language, but some of what it does not say is good news. There will definitely be a review of water access charges and they all know that there is a lot of potential angst about the amount of the annual charge for the old BSC areas of the system. I understand that the financial wizards are currently working through the issues.
Another thing that isn't in the agenda item is that it is likely to be about 20 years before they get around to build the sewage treatment plant at the bend in the Logan opposite River Bend. Yes, that means right at the west end of Cedar Grove Road. If anyone knows the Rocketing people you could tell them that they have a good number of years before having to find new launching sites.
Oh, and a minor thing. On page 10 for this Item, under the table, there is a heading, Customer Service Standards. Under that it says the you can see Appendix A outlines the Customer Service Standards to which the three Water Branches will abide— but there is no Appendix A. However, Appendix 1 on page 18 stands in for it. Not one councillor noticed the mistake! The Standard is worth reading and squirreling away for the day when services deteriorate.
Items RW3*, and RW4 were kissed off quickly. Item RW5, Reconcilliation of the 2011/12 Capital Roadwork and Drainage Program, needed an amount of explanation because of the budgetary effort to get over the weather delays. The officer explained that they could not achieve about $17.5 million of the grant-funded work and that re-drawing the grants was a lengthy process. In the meantime they had drawn-forward on this year's budget to be able to do the work. This was explained much earlier in the fiscal year but before the recent elections and there are councillors who needed to know and understand. There were few questions for the officer.
Item RW6, about the impact of the Gateway upgrade on Eight Mile Plains roads caused some dispute about whether Transport and Main Roads were coming clean with details they were passing to the council. Some of the issue was about bus movements, but the area councillor speaks so quietly that I have trouble hearing her. Part of the problem is that it is also a Translink problem. We're going to write to the Minister seeking clarification.
Item RW7 is about a 10 tonne load limit on the Edward O'Neill bridge that crosses Teviot Brook at the north end of Kilmoylar Road, to the south of the Wyatt Road intersection. We are told that the replacement will be an unrestricted concrete bridge that might be able to be started before the end of this financial year. Cr Schwarz questioned the officer closely about some details and also was at pains to point out that using a number of alternate bridges in place of this one did nothing for the life-span of every one of the others. Especially when some vehicles were hardly within the allowed load limit even as it is now
There was considerable discussion about Item RW8, Black Spot funding. Much to little effect. The officer was looking for a simple agreement to his proposed submission-list. Councillors were looking to add their favourites to the list. Most will little forethought or idea of the limits of the program.
General Business was another round of Divisional squawks. The only issue I thought was worth the trouble was Cr Lutton's concern that the new Wembley Road bus station road markings and traffic lights are a complex danger to vehicular traffic. I've driven in the area and experienced exactly the same danger that he was speaking about. It needs fixing quickly, but it is not a city-funded project.
Item RW9, the Terms of Reference for the Bicycle Advisory Committee were agreed in a flash and the meeting closed at 10.58 am.
But today's Roads & Water Infrastructure committee meeting wasn't going to be easy. Item RW1, Annual Performance Plan for Water and Wastewater Services, does not come right out and tell us everything in plain language, but some of what it does not say is good news. There will definitely be a review of water access charges and they all know that there is a lot of potential angst about the amount of the annual charge for the old BSC areas of the system. I understand that the financial wizards are currently working through the issues.
Another thing that isn't in the agenda item is that it is likely to be about 20 years before they get around to build the sewage treatment plant at the bend in the Logan opposite River Bend. Yes, that means right at the west end of Cedar Grove Road. If anyone knows the Rocketing people you could tell them that they have a good number of years before having to find new launching sites.
Oh, and a minor thing. On page 10 for this Item, under the table, there is a heading, Customer Service Standards. Under that it says the you can see Appendix A outlines the Customer Service Standards to which the three Water Branches will abide— but there is no Appendix A. However, Appendix 1 on page 18 stands in for it. Not one councillor noticed the mistake! The Standard is worth reading and squirreling away for the day when services deteriorate.
Items RW3*, and RW4 were kissed off quickly. Item RW5, Reconcilliation of the 2011/12 Capital Roadwork and Drainage Program, needed an amount of explanation because of the budgetary effort to get over the weather delays. The officer explained that they could not achieve about $17.5 million of the grant-funded work and that re-drawing the grants was a lengthy process. In the meantime they had drawn-forward on this year's budget to be able to do the work. This was explained much earlier in the fiscal year but before the recent elections and there are councillors who needed to know and understand. There were few questions for the officer.
Item RW6, about the impact of the Gateway upgrade on Eight Mile Plains roads caused some dispute about whether Transport and Main Roads were coming clean with details they were passing to the council. Some of the issue was about bus movements, but the area councillor speaks so quietly that I have trouble hearing her. Part of the problem is that it is also a Translink problem. We're going to write to the Minister seeking clarification.
Item RW7 is about a 10 tonne load limit on the Edward O'Neill bridge that crosses Teviot Brook at the north end of Kilmoylar Road, to the south of the Wyatt Road intersection. We are told that the replacement will be an unrestricted concrete bridge that might be able to be started before the end of this financial year. Cr Schwarz questioned the officer closely about some details and also was at pains to point out that using a number of alternate bridges in place of this one did nothing for the life-span of every one of the others. Especially when some vehicles were hardly within the allowed load limit even as it is now
There was considerable discussion about Item RW8, Black Spot funding. Much to little effect. The officer was looking for a simple agreement to his proposed submission-list. Councillors were looking to add their favourites to the list. Most will little forethought or idea of the limits of the program.
General Business was another round of Divisional squawks. The only issue I thought was worth the trouble was Cr Lutton's concern that the new Wembley Road bus station road markings and traffic lights are a complex danger to vehicular traffic. I've driven in the area and experienced exactly the same danger that he was speaking about. It needs fixing quickly, but it is not a city-funded project.
Item RW9, the Terms of Reference for the Bicycle Advisory Committee were agreed in a flash and the meeting closed at 10.58 am.
09 September 2012
Consultation about Park Ridge Connector
I'm sure that Anne won't mind me repeating her notice of a community meeting. I didn't ask her if I could but the time-scale is very short and I figured you need to read this soon if you need to plan to go—
The NO PRC Group would like to invite people to attend their Community meeting on Wed 12 Sept at 7 pm at the Park Ridge Baptist Church Hall at 3922 Mt Lindesay Highway , so if you are free , please feel free to come along.
I am not sure if you have been following the latest information in the Jimb Times, but there is a 2nd round of consultation out for the Park Ridge connector Rd that closes on 30 Sept ( in the school holidays) . See this link below to open the map with the pink corridor marked on it . According to other LCC and state govt documents, about 40 local LCC roads would need to be upgraded from 2 lanes to 4 lanes as a flow on effect of the PRC - but of course there has been no information given to people about this . Main Roads is just focusing on the Park Ridge connector Rd.
DETAILS ABOUT DTMR & FEEDBACK FORMS
Public consultation on the proposed corridor location will occur during September 2012 with:
- information about the proposed corridor location on the project website at www.tmr.qld.gov.au/prc
- a telephone survey of residents and businesses
- static displays at Logan Central, Logan West and Marsden libraries and the Logan City Council administration centre and
- community information sessions:
- Saturday 15 September 2012, 11am to 3pm at the Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre (Crestmead Room), 357 Browns Plains Road, Crestmead
- Saturday 22 September 2012, 11am to 3pm at the Chambers Flat Community Centre, 49-65 Kenny Road, Chambers Flat.
The community can obtain more information about the proposed corridor location or provide feedback by contacting the PRC project team:
Hotline: 1800 799 824
Mail: Department of Transport and Main Roads
Consultation closes on 30 September 2012. If you have any further questions or would like a briefing on the proposed corridor location, please call the planning team on 1800 799 824 (freecall). The hotline is open between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Other people in the community have already shared their concerns about this current consultation round.
Please support your community and protect your local environment and neighbourhood by attending this meeting if you can.
thanks,
Anne Page
( LACA)
Ph 3297 0624
Meetings on Tuesday
The two meetings on Tuesday, the Health, Environment & Sustainability committee and the Planning & Development committee ones are much what one would expect for this time of the year, this is the third month of the first quarter and Branches are still catching up with their budget and task demands.
The former committee will consider eight Items. While two are starred reports, kiss-off items, the first HS1, September 2012 Update—Energex Loganlea to Jimboomba Powerline, will be worth you downloading as an agenda item and reading carefully. Whichever side of the debate you support, I think that you need to be aware that in the last ten years we have had two of the kinds of floods in the river that could cripple our power supplies. You might also consider that our council has proved that Energex has lied to their Minister. And we expect the Minister to make a knowledge-based decision on that advice. That is about as corrupt as you can believe and there will be no inquiry into the facts. It is just another one of the low-grade crappy things that Queensland State governments do to us without recourse to legal liability.
Much of the rest of the meting will be routine decision-making with the recommendations to guide the councillors. You can expect this meeting to end by 9.15 at the latest.
The latter meeting is seven Items, two closed to the public and one kiss-and-run. Item PD7, Future Intentions for the State Planning Regulatory Provisions within the South East Queensland Regional Plan, is likely to be the sort of sleeper issue that will creep up on us in a few years, more or less. I'll try to be more specific later but I'm thinking that this is to do with who pays for infrastructure in new developments. The councils certainly do not want to load current ratepayers with that cost that developers have had to fund in the past. Again, most of the other things, including the closed Items, will be open-and-shut cases.
The former committee will consider eight Items. While two are starred reports, kiss-off items, the first HS1, September 2012 Update—Energex Loganlea to Jimboomba Powerline, will be worth you downloading as an agenda item and reading carefully. Whichever side of the debate you support, I think that you need to be aware that in the last ten years we have had two of the kinds of floods in the river that could cripple our power supplies. You might also consider that our council has proved that Energex has lied to their Minister. And we expect the Minister to make a knowledge-based decision on that advice. That is about as corrupt as you can believe and there will be no inquiry into the facts. It is just another one of the low-grade crappy things that Queensland State governments do to us without recourse to legal liability.
Much of the rest of the meting will be routine decision-making with the recommendations to guide the councillors. You can expect this meeting to end by 9.15 at the latest.
The latter meeting is seven Items, two closed to the public and one kiss-and-run. Item PD7, Future Intentions for the State Planning Regulatory Provisions within the South East Queensland Regional Plan, is likely to be the sort of sleeper issue that will creep up on us in a few years, more or less. I'll try to be more specific later but I'm thinking that this is to do with who pays for infrastructure in new developments. The councils certainly do not want to load current ratepayers with that cost that developers have had to fund in the past. Again, most of the other things, including the closed Items, will be open-and-shut cases.
08 September 2012
Friday was news Monday will be
The Supreme Court, yesterday, found that Hajnal Ban was only entitled to $40 thousand. You'd expect that there will be considerable difficulties sorting out Russell Tacon's estate.
On Monday, 10 September at 10 am there will be the next Roads & Water Infrastructure committee meeting. There are nine Items, three are kiss-and-run reports. Because councillors like to argue about road funding it is likely that the meeting will run for about 75 minutes.
Item RW3*, Roads Maintenance Budget, could take much more time than expected. It is sometimes the most innocuous Items that attract attention. The other budget Items are RW4, RW5 and RW8. There could be considerable discussion about all three. To some extent it will depend on how well the chairperson performs and the indications so far are not good.
One of the things that bothers me about long-term forward planning is that it can only be successful if your intelligence is good. By intelligence I don't mean brains. I mean knowledge, in this case, of the roads network. Planners make assumptions based on what they know about the network.
But councils have an operating and insurance function that operates on ignorance. If the council does not know about a road defect, issue or design fault, it cannot be held liable for the consequences. Just think of that for a moment: We make planning and expenditure decisions on what we know, but we try hard not to know anything because when we know we will be held accountable!
I, personally, also have an issue with councillors attitudes towards their communities. I know, and have seen, where councillors have driven right past a significant roading problem, on their way to work too often, and have never bothered to report it. I know that most councillors will walk the city's footpaths and never noticed that there are many footpath ramps down to a road-crossing that are far too steep for a wheelchair. Others have walked cross-ways sloping footpaths and not thought about how a wheelchair behaves when negotiating the length of the path.
How many of us have recently seen the lady who operates a red self-powered scooter along Cusack Lane? Have any of you figured out that she rides on the road because the footpath on the south side of Cusack Lane does not start at the east end of the road and, where it does start, there is no ramp from the road to the footpath. Would you ride a little red scooter 100 m along Cusack Lane in the sort of traffic that uses that road?
Do you think that council knows about this issue? It should, it was reported to BSC at least seven years ago! But it is likely to have been buried in the rejection letter pile—and that is another corporate blindness and unintelligence. We can't find it in our files: it isn't our fault.
The Commission wants your views on what councillors get paid. You have until 5 October to respond to their invitation. Please try to give them your thoughts.
On Monday, 10 September at 10 am there will be the next Roads & Water Infrastructure committee meeting. There are nine Items, three are kiss-and-run reports. Because councillors like to argue about road funding it is likely that the meeting will run for about 75 minutes.
Item RW3*, Roads Maintenance Budget, could take much more time than expected. It is sometimes the most innocuous Items that attract attention. The other budget Items are RW4, RW5 and RW8. There could be considerable discussion about all three. To some extent it will depend on how well the chairperson performs and the indications so far are not good.
One of the things that bothers me about long-term forward planning is that it can only be successful if your intelligence is good. By intelligence I don't mean brains. I mean knowledge, in this case, of the roads network. Planners make assumptions based on what they know about the network.
But councils have an operating and insurance function that operates on ignorance. If the council does not know about a road defect, issue or design fault, it cannot be held liable for the consequences. Just think of that for a moment: We make planning and expenditure decisions on what we know, but we try hard not to know anything because when we know we will be held accountable!
I, personally, also have an issue with councillors attitudes towards their communities. I know, and have seen, where councillors have driven right past a significant roading problem, on their way to work too often, and have never bothered to report it. I know that most councillors will walk the city's footpaths and never noticed that there are many footpath ramps down to a road-crossing that are far too steep for a wheelchair. Others have walked cross-ways sloping footpaths and not thought about how a wheelchair behaves when negotiating the length of the path.
How many of us have recently seen the lady who operates a red self-powered scooter along Cusack Lane? Have any of you figured out that she rides on the road because the footpath on the south side of Cusack Lane does not start at the east end of the road and, where it does start, there is no ramp from the road to the footpath. Would you ride a little red scooter 100 m along Cusack Lane in the sort of traffic that uses that road?
Do you think that council knows about this issue? It should, it was reported to BSC at least seven years ago! But it is likely to have been buried in the rejection letter pile—and that is another corporate blindness and unintelligence. We can't find it in our files: it isn't our fault.
The Commission wants your views on what councillors get paid. You have until 5 October to respond to their invitation. Please try to give them your thoughts.
04 September 2012
Main Roads communication about Park Ridge Connector
I received this email from Main Roads this morning. Sorry for the delay, I've only just seen it sitting there.
The community can obtain more information about the proposed corridor location or provide feedback by contacting the PRC project team:
Re: Park Ridge Connector
As you may be aware, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, in partnership with Logan City Council, undertook a study to identify and preserve a corridor between Wembley and Granger Roads for a future road known as the Park Ridge Connector (PRC).
It is important to note that this project is only about preserving a road corridor to cater for long-term growth in the region, including Yarrabilba and Flagstone. While the road is unlikely to be needed for another 20 years or more, it is important to preserve the corridor now so that more dense development in Park Ridge, resulting from the Logan City Council’s Structure Plan, can be catered for.
After thorough investigation and consultation, the department identified an area of interest in which the corridor could be located, which was presented to the community for feedback in late 2011.
This feedback, along with technical analysis, enabled the department to identify a proposed location for the PRC corridor. The proposed corridor runs east of the Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre and then parallel to the existing power easement south to Granger Road.
The department is now seeking further community input on the location of the proposed corridor. The first stage of consultation began in August 2012 and focussed on direct consultation with affected property owners and key stakeholders to answer questions and obtain feedback. The department has been contacting and offering one-on-one meetings with property owners who may have a land requirement and those in close proximity to the proposed corridor location.
Public consultation on the proposed corridor location will occur during September 2012 with:
- information about the proposed corridor location on the project website at www.tmr.qld.gov.au/prc
- a telephone survey of residents and businesses
- static displays at Logan Central, Logan West and Marsden libraries and the Logan City Council administration centre and
- community information sessions:
- Saturday 15 September 2012, 11am to 3pm at the Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre (Crestmead Room), 357 Browns Plains Road, Crestmead
- Saturday 22 September 2012, 11am to 3pm at the Chambers Flat Community Centre, 49-65 Kenny Road, Chambers Flat.
Hotline: 1800 799 824
Mail: Department of Transport and Main Roads
PO Box 442 Nerang Qld 4211
If you have any further questions regarding the Park Ridge Connector, please call the planning team on 1800 799 824 (free call). The hotline is open between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
If you have any further questions regarding the Park Ridge Connector, please call the planning team on 1800 799 824 (free call). The hotline is open between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
28 August 2012
Ordinary meeting walk-in-the-park except stumbles
The Ordinary meeting today went well except for three councillors' stumbles. I've been waiting for those stumbles too but I didn't think that they would be so obvious or silly.
The issue is that during committee meetings they decide to defer difficult items—not enough detail in the briefing paper or missing data— until the Ordinary meeting for a decision. The problem is to get enough councillors in one place so that they can listen to the necessary explanations and make the decisions before this meeting. In the past they have been in the custom of having an Executive Meeting for the hour before the Ordinary meeting. Everything has to be done and dusted at the last minute and there is little time to equivocate.
The problem was that the Minutes Secretaries have almost no time to type and publish the amending Motions and the new Motions. That means that, in the past, I have bleated about councillors passing motions that they had verbally agreed to but were yet to be on paper.
This has changed recently and the final motions have been in the hands of councillors before the meeting. I don't know how this has come about but it is a welcome change that was needed four years ago. I have to point out here, too, that Logan Council is in the business of incremental improvement and working towards quality systems all of the time. And you cannot get a better working environment than that.
Today three councillors, chairpersons, got lost with their late motions. It shouldn't happen, but it was shocking that today it happened four times to the three. No names, no pack-drill!
The meeting, opened at 10.04 am, was chaired today by Cr Lutton, Cr Pidgeon had an apology for being late. I thought that Lutton was right on top of the job and gave a good welcome to the two people in the public gallery as well as was quick to point out to a couple of committee chairs that they were missing a process—or two. Generally the meeting ran smoothly and it is hard to do that if people keep getting things wrong. We saw, today, the sort of effort that a chairperson should be able to put into the smooth-running of a meeting.
The Minister gave a lengthy talk about it being Father's Day next Sunday. He trod the usual path of the need for kiddies to have both a father and a mother. Councillors added to both the listed Condolences and Congratulations.
During the discussions leading to the adoption of committee recommendations Cr Bradley told us that a number of people had recently seen (heard?) a Koala in a particular vicinity where not had ever been reported before. Cr Dalley told us of her shock to have finished a Planing & Development committee meeting in record time—I think that she's looking for the Usain Bolt medal!
Cr Able was crowing about the positive court response to council pursuing two landowners for cluttering their property with junk. Cr Schwarz spoke about how the Jimboomba RSL has got a poor deal because of planning laws and subsequently voted against council's refusal to allow their clubrooms to be built. She was speaking to what is a confidential Item and had to stay away from exposing material that was closed to the public, it is hard to justify what one is thinking because of that and my usual criticism about voting against a council-supported motion and wanting your vote recorded cannot be held against her in this case.
Cr Petersen thanked the Parks manager for her cooperation in seeing a way to allow the aged-living facilities have their 50 trees each year. Cr Luke Smith, introducing the Governance & Finance committee recommendations, made a joke about the five-hour meeting. He said that the Regional Events Strategy, the Logan Listens Survey and the Global Connections Strategy were big contributors to the time taken but that he was pleased that those important items were no in the bag. He said that the presentation by the NBN people was very disappointing for Logan businesses and people.
During the General Business Cr Able, the first speaker, said how annoyed he was that the Electoral Commissioner was sending threatening letters to people who, the commissioner said, had not voted at the Local Government Elections. Able said that the letter offered a $50 fine if voters responded but a $100 fine if they were prosecuted. However, Able said, people who were in electorates with unopposed candidates were getting those letters. He wanted the CEO to write to the Electoral Commissioner and the Minister of Local Government about the situation, and that will be done. There was a small hew-and-cry that this is another reason why council should be running its own elections.
Cr Laurie Smith spoke about the Gambling Community Fund that had recently disburse $9 million in Queensland and that only $446 thousand came to our area. He wanted clubs to try harder.
Logan Loves Volunteers Day is on Saturday 13 October at Underwood Park from 4 to 8 pm.
My assertions about the property at 4150 Pacific Highway turn out to be wrong, it is the Antique Building there. Cr Schwarz spoke about the Ball and the Auto expo in our area. She thanked the council officers for their help with the information day about ULDA at Pub Lane. Cr Bradley said that there was to be a meeting, today, between the Minister and Veto about Energex's plans for transmission lines along the Logan River.
The meeting closed at 10.58 am.
The issue is that during committee meetings they decide to defer difficult items—not enough detail in the briefing paper or missing data— until the Ordinary meeting for a decision. The problem is to get enough councillors in one place so that they can listen to the necessary explanations and make the decisions before this meeting. In the past they have been in the custom of having an Executive Meeting for the hour before the Ordinary meeting. Everything has to be done and dusted at the last minute and there is little time to equivocate.
The problem was that the Minutes Secretaries have almost no time to type and publish the amending Motions and the new Motions. That means that, in the past, I have bleated about councillors passing motions that they had verbally agreed to but were yet to be on paper.
This has changed recently and the final motions have been in the hands of councillors before the meeting. I don't know how this has come about but it is a welcome change that was needed four years ago. I have to point out here, too, that Logan Council is in the business of incremental improvement and working towards quality systems all of the time. And you cannot get a better working environment than that.
Today three councillors, chairpersons, got lost with their late motions. It shouldn't happen, but it was shocking that today it happened four times to the three. No names, no pack-drill!
The meeting, opened at 10.04 am, was chaired today by Cr Lutton, Cr Pidgeon had an apology for being late. I thought that Lutton was right on top of the job and gave a good welcome to the two people in the public gallery as well as was quick to point out to a couple of committee chairs that they were missing a process—or two. Generally the meeting ran smoothly and it is hard to do that if people keep getting things wrong. We saw, today, the sort of effort that a chairperson should be able to put into the smooth-running of a meeting.
The Minister gave a lengthy talk about it being Father's Day next Sunday. He trod the usual path of the need for kiddies to have both a father and a mother. Councillors added to both the listed Condolences and Congratulations.
During the discussions leading to the adoption of committee recommendations Cr Bradley told us that a number of people had recently seen (heard?) a Koala in a particular vicinity where not had ever been reported before. Cr Dalley told us of her shock to have finished a Planing & Development committee meeting in record time—I think that she's looking for the Usain Bolt medal!
Cr Able was crowing about the positive court response to council pursuing two landowners for cluttering their property with junk. Cr Schwarz spoke about how the Jimboomba RSL has got a poor deal because of planning laws and subsequently voted against council's refusal to allow their clubrooms to be built. She was speaking to what is a confidential Item and had to stay away from exposing material that was closed to the public, it is hard to justify what one is thinking because of that and my usual criticism about voting against a council-supported motion and wanting your vote recorded cannot be held against her in this case.
Cr Petersen thanked the Parks manager for her cooperation in seeing a way to allow the aged-living facilities have their 50 trees each year. Cr Luke Smith, introducing the Governance & Finance committee recommendations, made a joke about the five-hour meeting. He said that the Regional Events Strategy, the Logan Listens Survey and the Global Connections Strategy were big contributors to the time taken but that he was pleased that those important items were no in the bag. He said that the presentation by the NBN people was very disappointing for Logan businesses and people.
During the General Business Cr Able, the first speaker, said how annoyed he was that the Electoral Commissioner was sending threatening letters to people who, the commissioner said, had not voted at the Local Government Elections. Able said that the letter offered a $50 fine if voters responded but a $100 fine if they were prosecuted. However, Able said, people who were in electorates with unopposed candidates were getting those letters. He wanted the CEO to write to the Electoral Commissioner and the Minister of Local Government about the situation, and that will be done. There was a small hew-and-cry that this is another reason why council should be running its own elections.
Cr Laurie Smith spoke about the Gambling Community Fund that had recently disburse $9 million in Queensland and that only $446 thousand came to our area. He wanted clubs to try harder.
Logan Loves Volunteers Day is on Saturday 13 October at Underwood Park from 4 to 8 pm.
My assertions about the property at 4150 Pacific Highway turn out to be wrong, it is the Antique Building there. Cr Schwarz spoke about the Ball and the Auto expo in our area. She thanked the council officers for their help with the information day about ULDA at Pub Lane. Cr Bradley said that there was to be a meeting, today, between the Minister and Veto about Energex's plans for transmission lines along the Logan River.
The meeting closed at 10.58 am.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
