By: Darlene Irvine, Executive Officer...

What an exciting time of the year!  Everyone is in full swing, the new Councils are finding their feet and enthusiasm is high.  What a great opportunity for Councils to show their innovation. This is certainly what I felt when I spent the day working from Mossman (Douglas Shire Council). I plan on stepping up my visits to Councils and working in your environment so I can get a better feel for how I and the FNQROC team can better assist you.  I also visited Cassowary Coast in March and will visit Mareeba in April.

The team has been in full swing this past month with loads of work. Amanda is slowly taking the reins from Steve in procurement (although his grasp is pretty tight – it has been his baby!) Steve is getting his head around asset management and we have a tidy little project looking at the useful life and residual value of road and water and waste assets.  We can already see some opportunities for Councils to perhaps make some modifications which will have a positive impact on your reportable depreciation.

I am currently working on a number of programs in addition (or to support the coordinators).  These include:

• Review of the FNQROC Regional Development Manual

• Advance Cairns MOU

• Urban Stormwater Quality Improvement

• Meeting with the Australian Energy Regulator

Two events are coming up for the mountain bike enthusiasts:

• the Tablelands Classic XCM Series (race 4) will be held on the Tablelands 25 April 2014.  

• the UCI MTB World Cup will be held at Smithfield over the ANZAC Day weekend – 25 to 27 April.  Tickets are on sale now.

• Volunteers are being sought to assist at the UCI MTB World Cup, if anyone would like to get involved sign up at www.worldcupcairns.com.au, and if you have any questions please email email/volunteer)(cycling.org.au.

On a final note ... I don't know what my family thinks of me however, for my birthday they gave me an entry into Spartan Beast (21km of torture which I am thinking of downgrading to 10+ km of torture) – if there is anyone interested in doing this with me in September, please let me know – I need someone to help me over the wall.  I envisage lots of burpees as penalties.

By: Regional Infrastructure Projects Coordinator, Steve Cosatto...

Regional Asset Management Group

Within the next fortnight I expect to provide members of the FNQROC Regional Asset Management Group (RAMG) with an initial draft of the Regional Asset Register for roads, bridges and water assets. The Regional Asset Register has easily identified variances between Councils in useful life and residual value. In light of the QAO's current focus on long term financial sustainability I expect the Regional Asset Register to be a standing agenda item, and that it will evolve over time as Council officers utilise the regional data for their Council's own asset registers and valuations.

Regional Waste Management Group

At the last FNQROC Regional Waste Management Group (RWMG) meeting I was asked by a Council officer what the catalyst was for forming this group. I thought it appropriate I provide some background to the technical committee, especially for those staff from newly formed (deamalgamated) Councils.

In October 2012 the then General Manager of Cairns Water (Bruce Gardiner) gave a presentation to the FNQROC Board entitled "Regional Recycling Opportunities".  The presentation provided an overview of recycling in Cairns, projected growth, increasing costs (landfill/transport), estimated regional volumes, the increase in public awareness and the benefits of a regional approach.

From that meeting the FNQROC Board recommended that a technical committee be convened to further investigate the possibility and options of regional waste solutions.

As this was a new technical group, there is a need to build the relationships between the council staff before embarking on any significant venture.  Through discussions, the technical committee identified a number of service quality issues which they all faced.  As a result, the group’s inaugural project is to review member Councils' scrap metal arrangements and identify collective opportunities to assist in the management of their scrap metal.  The disposal of scrap metal has been an issue for Council waste officers for a number of years.  Some of the issues relate to the fluctuating global market price, service quality and of course the cyclone season (risk of flying debris). 

Asset Management

On 26 March I attended the Local Government Tropical Workshop facilitated by the Department of Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience (DLGCRR).

Each year the DLGCRR conducts a regional road show to local governments to assist Councils in the preparation of their annual financial statements.

The department provides examples of annual financial statements based on a fictitious Council referred to as "Tropical". These Tropical statements are updated each year to reflect new and amended Australian Accounting Standards and other relevant legislative requirements.  These statements are to be used as a guide for Councils to follow when preparing their own financial statements.

The day included:

By: Regional Projects Officer, Daniela Gambotto...

Street Lighting and Sustainability

We were fortunate to secure another face-to-face meeting with Ergon Energy's Meter Strategy Manager this month. Some of the key highlights which came out of our meeting include the following:

1. The street light audit is very close to completion and will finalise how many street lights there are in each Council area and who is responsible for what.  This will ensure that billing for both Councils and DTMR will be much more accurate in the future.  As part of this project, Councils will have access to a new software package which will enable clear viewing of their street lighting asset base and allow Councils to query any billing in the future.

2. As mentioned last month, the QCA is preparing its draft retail tariffs for 2014-15 and the new figures will be released by the end of May.  We will look at a potential 13.6% increase on power bills in the coming financial year (less if the Carbon Bill is repealed).  Either way, prices will be going up again – yet another reason to push forward with an energy saving street light retrofit... more on that below.

3. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) which we have been sweating on has unfortunately been put on the back burner until the audit is finalised. The FNQROC street lighting group have refined their comments on the SLA and will continue to work with Ergon as this process unfolds.

4. The 10% pass through of the Alternative Control Service Charge (ACS) has been approved to come into effect from 1 July 2014. Essentially this means Councils will again be paying for part of the maintenance charges which have been subsidised by the Queensland government for the last 2 years. LGAQ are working with Ergon and the Department of Energy and Water Supply so Councils can gain an understanding of what the 10% will look like and how the remaining 90% will be passed through in coming years. In the meantime, without knowing what the figures are, it makes it very difficult for Councils to plan their upcoming financial year budgets. However, based on the information I have access to, I have been able to prepare some rudimentary estimates of the 10% pass through for FNQROC Councils. This has been passed on to relevant officers as a guide to assist Councils budget for this change.

By: Regional Procurement Coordinator, Amanda Hancock...

Wow – what a busy first month!

I am pleased to have had the opportunity to meet a number of our member Council representatives during the month, together with some of our suppliers.  I am now putting some faces to names and whilst I am conscious that there are still a number of people I have not yet met, I am sure there will be plenty of opportunity in the coming months.  Thank you to those of you who I have met for making me feel so welcome!

Scrap Metal Recycling

You may recall that the Regional Waste Management Group (RWMG) previously identified scrap metal recycling as an area where there may be a potential opportunity for a collective arrangement.  At the beginning of the month I delivered a presentation to the group, summarising the market research and analysis conducted by FNQROC so far.  This research included feedback from our member Councils together with the experience of other Local Governments and suppliers and it focused on the identification of barriers to an effective scrap metal management program together with potential opportunities.  The presentation was very well-received and it certainly stimulated much debate amongst the group, with everyone in agreement that further investigation was warranted.  A Project Steering Committee (PSC) has since been nominated by the group, with the first meeting taking place in early April.  The group will first look to complete the research analysis and thereafter begin to develop an appropriate strategy for the management of scrap metal in our region.

As part of our research, Steve and I were kindly welcomed to Mareeba Shire Council's Transfer Station by Rex Russell, Waste Supervisor, where we were able to see the scrap metal operation first hand.  Thank you to Rex for facilitating this visit which was very informative.

Rex Russell of Mareeba Shire Council (left) and Steven Cosatto of FNQROC inspect Mareeba's transfer station 

Bitumen Reseals/Asphalt Overlay

As is no doubt the case with other works programs, the Bitumen Reseal program is currently being affected by the adverse weather across the region.  A scheduled contract meeting took place on Friday 28 March where progress was discussed and the supplier provided assurances they will be back on track fairly promptly as soon as the dry weather returns.

Following the Bitumen Reseal contract review meeting there was a Reseal/Asphalt Steering Committee meeting wherein options for the second year of the Bitumen Reseal program were discussed together with the possible development of a collective Asphalt Overlay program.

In true newsletter fashion, whilst writing this piece I was looking for an interesting fact or fun anecdote relating to procurement that I could share – I have to admit that this was a little harder than I first imagined, but I did stumble across the following definition of ‘procurement’ on ‘Investopedia’ which I thought I’d share as it made me smile…

‘To attain possession of something, usually after exerting a substantial effort to do so.’  Source: www.investopedia.com/terms/p/procurement.asp

 Too true!

By: Regional Roads & Transport Group Coordinator, Gerard Read...

It’s been a reasonably quiet month for the FNQRRTG.  The Technical Committee meeting was held in Cairns on Friday 28 March.

LGAQ Roads & Transport Advisory Group

Technical Committee Chair, David Goodman, was recently invited to join LGAQ’s Road & Transport Advisory Group comprising a broad cross section of people from across Queensland, including elected members, Council staff and road & transport professionals.  The Group had its first meeting on Friday 21 March in Brisbane and the three issues put forward from FNQ were:

1. TIDS budgets and the distribution methodology to RRTGs.
2. RMPC budget cuts
3. QRA operational and performance issues.
4. Training on the Roads Alliance Valuation Tool.

Other issues raised included the National Heavy Vehicle Law and Regulator, fatigue management, and workforce sustainability.  The focus for the next meeting will be on developing LGAQ’s 10 Point State Election (2015) Advocacy & Policy Plan.

RRTG Boundaries Review

The Roads & Transport Alliance Board emailed all RRTGs last week inviting them to review their RRTG composition and boundaries.  Basically the directive was RRTGs should consider whether current membership is enabling them to get the most benefit from regional collaboration and regionally focused transport investment.  It is a voluntary process only and responses for any proposed changes need to be submitted to the Board by 30 April 2014.

Read about the 2013/14 and the 2014/15 Works Program below...

By: Natural Asset Management Coordinator, Travis Sydes...

There has been a range of comings and goings this month with many projects now in full swing.  The consultation periods just keep coming with comment recently sought on Offsets and Green Tape Reduction (still current).

Some upcoming programs which should be of interest to Local Government include the Commonwealth's Green Army program and the related (but we’re not sure just how) 20 Million Trees program.  Although the government is still quite tight lipped in regard to detail it seems the Green Army program will follow the familiar format of the Green Corps program which equates to engaging teams of nine to 10 youths in a six month environmental works program whilst receiving training from a contracted training organisation.  There may be some opportunities for Local Governments to sponsor programs.  There are some caveats on that however (unless we hear otherwise) - that teams are limited in what they can do activity-wise and sponsors need to provide the full project materials.  Past experience tells us the success of such programs is almost entirely reliant on the team leader engaged on the project.  When we have more details we will try to make good of the opportunity.  It does seem to be the familiar mantra of everyone wants to plant trees but no one wants to manage the weeds…time will tell.

On the project front I have been busy with Terrain NRM, GBRMPA and others on the Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) and on the NRM plan.  More details on the WQIP next month.  See the bulletin following for opportunities to have your say in the upcoming NRM Plan.

Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management Planning Update (from Terrain NRM)

Terrain NRM is updating the Wet Tropics' Natural Resource Management (NRM) Plan.  The current plan has helped to highlight community priorities for funding and action in the Wet Tropics.  We want to build on this to make a plan that is up-to-date but also dynamic and useful to the Wet Tropics community.  The new NRM Plan will prioritise natural resource management activities in the Wet Tropics in the coming years, addressing social, economic and cultural issues as well as environmental management, and will be supported by more targeted operational plans such as the Wet Tropics’ Water Quality Improvement Plan. The role of the NRM Plan is to identify regional objectives and priorities based on community values and the best available knowledge, facilitate partnerships, stimulate action, attract investment and provide land managers with tools and information to help them manage what is valued in the region.

There's something to be said about a 15 minute restorative nap in the middle of the day!

Back to back meetings and workshops in Brisbane and in Cairns caught up with our fearless leader Darlene Irvine recently...

We knew there was a reason for the beanbags in the corner!   

FNQROC Board meetings and technical committee meeting dates are listed below.