By: Darlene Irvine, Executive Officer...

Welcome to our March e-newsletter.  Our months never seem to lose intensity.  To break this cycle of intensity I am taking annual leave to 9 Aprl 2013, so I can come back renewed, excited and continue to ride the momentum.  I have no doubt the FNQROC Coordinators and Sandra will be able to continue to support you while I am away.

This month we update your on:

1. Queensland Water Regional Alliance Project (QWRAP) - see 'read more' below.
2. Planning Reform - see the Planners Group article.
3. A regional push for the installation of energy efficient streetlighting - see the Sustainability Group article.
4. Regional Procurement initiatives (Bitumen reseal and Sodium Hypochlorite) - see the Procurement Group article and, as always
5. Roads - see the Regional Road Group article.
6. Regional Streetlighting.
7. Regional Natural Asset Management.

FNQROC's 100^th Board Meeting

The FNQROC Board will hold its 100^th meeting on 15 April 2013.  A reflection on the Board's actions and achievements will be outlined in our April newsletter.

Congratulations to FNQROC Procurement Coordinator

Steven Cosatto was awarded the Local Buy Procurement Professionals Award for Regional Collaboration at the recent Local Buy conference in Brisbane.  The award recognises Steve's outstanding achievements in the field of procurement.  Cassowary Coast Regional Council on behalf of FNQROC nominated Steve for his collective work with FNQROC member Councils to identify procurement opportunities where Councils are actively competing against each other or there are limited suppliers.   Well done Steve!

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

This month in natural asset management I write about the National Environmental Research Program (Tropical Ecosystems Hub), the QPWS pest planning workshops, and the draft Siam Weed Management Strategy. 

By: Regional Procurement Coordinator, Steven Cosatto...

FNQROC Procurement Committee

The FNQROC Procurement Committee would like to thank Mal Skipworth from MacDonnells Law for his offer to provide the committee with an update on the Local Government Legislation amendments affecting procurement at our next meeting.  Mal will cover the following topics. 

• contracting procedures, including increasing financial thresholds,
• exemptions regarding disposal of valuable non-current assets,
• publication requirements for contracts.

Sodium Hypochlorite

Recent flooding and train derailments in Queensland have impacted upon the supply of many items to the Far North. The supply of chlorine to the region’s water treatment units was one such item and required cooperation and understanding between the region’s water treatment coordinators and the supplier to manage this situation.  I have been encouraged by recent advice from the new owners of the company that they are committed to the region and are in the process of:

• Establishing additional supply arrangements for delivery from Brisbane (established this month),
• Reviewing their regional storage capacity and they envisage doubling capacity this calendar year.

They also advised they could not have considered these investments if they did not have the regional commitment from all member Councils and were appreciative of Councils' long-term support.

Bitumen Reseal

As previously advised, FNQROC on behalf of member Councils began an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) process with industry regarding the region’s bitumen resealing programs.  I should advise that for probity reasons I have been nominated by the Project Steering Committee (PSC) to be the sole contact point for suppliers and should council staff receive any enquiries regarding the process please contact me on 0428 486 447 or via email email/s.cosatto)(fnqroc.qld.gov.au.

The process began with a Supplier information meeting held at Cairns Regional Council on 7 February.  The PSC was greatly encouraged to receive registration requests from 10 suppliers. That initial information meeting has now been followed up with individual meetings with all suppliers wishing to continue involvement in the ECI process.  I have been encouraged by the amount of time and willingness that suppliers have allowed for this process with the overwhelming response being that they appreciate ouncils involving them at such an early stage of the project.  The findings from this process will be presented to the PSC for their consideration on 8 March.

By: Regional Projects Coordinator, Frederick Marchant...

The first meeting of 2013 for the Sustainability Group was held on 28 February with a focus on energy efficient streetlighting.  We were fortunate to have Andrew Mulcahy and Adrian Stephenson from Ergon Energy join us to update the group on the latest information about energy efficient streetlights.

Streetlights in most suburban streets in our region are likely to be a mercury vapour light (pictured left), which were invented in 1901 and refined over the years to become one of the most common forms of street lighting.  LED (light-emitting diode) lighting was developed in the 1960s and is becoming the streetlight of choice, offering great reliability and more importantly a 50-60% reduction in energy use.  Furthermore, LED lights can have built-in control systems to allow batches of lights to communicate remotely with each other and achieve additional energy savings by switching off alternate lights or dimming selected lights during off-peak hours.

While there has been some progress towards implementing streetlight replacement, we have a way to go before we will see the wholesale rollout of this new technology and the replacement of existing lights.

Although streetlight replacement may seem like a fairly straightforward idea there are quite a few barriers preventing immediate implementation.  Most lights are owned and managed by the energy supplier (in this case Ergon Energy) and suppliers in Queensland are governed by various regulations including restrictions in replacing functioning (in life) luminaires.  These regulations are currently under review to enable Ergon Energy to determine such things as the residual value of lights being replaced.  Councils are charged for energy use and maintenance and these tariffs are also currently under review which in turn makes future replacement planning difficult until replacement costs and tariffs are set.  Another impediment has been the Australian Standards for streetlighting, which is lagging behind with regard to considering energy efficient luminaires, in particular LEDs.  Again, this is under review and changes to the Australian Standards are expected quite soon.

One really good step has been the completion of an audit of every individual streetlight in our region by Ergon Energy. Results of the audit have been sent out to Councils over the past months.  Data obtained included the type of luminaire, size, age, purpose and a complex list of other attributes.  Each light has been located using GPS positioning, providing the opportunity to create a GIS map of all lights across our region.  The audit has been an invaluable process and provides essential tools to plan a regional approach to future streetlight replacement.

Energy efficient streetlighting is part of FNQROC's Strategic Direction and we will continue to work in partnership with Councils, Ergon Energy and other stakeholders. 

By: Gerard Read, Regional Infrastructure Projects Coordinator...

RRG Boundary Review

The Roads Alliance Board has confirmed that both Croydon and Etheridge will join FNQRRG as of 1 July 2013. We welcome them onboard!

By: Darlene Irvine, Executive Officer...

State Planning Tongue Twisters!

I would be surprised if you were not aware of the planning reforms in 2012 and 2013.  February and March sees a number of public consultations on planning policies which will include the Single State Planning Policy (SPP).  We expect a SPP team road show around March.

In my 'read more' section I will explain the following topics and acronyms that have been used of late:

Economic Development Act

1. MEDQ
2. EDQ
3. PDA

• Green Tape Reduction
• SPP
• SPOLA
• SARA
• SPA
• Draft Coastal Protection State Planning Regulatory Provision
• FNQ SPRP
• MALPI
• IDAS

Economic Development Act

The Economic Development Act became effective on 1 February 2013.  The purpose is to facilitate economic development and development for community purposes.  It establishes a corporation referred to as Minister for Economic Development Queensland (MEDQ).  The Act allows for functions and powers to be delegated to the new MEDQ Board and commercialised business unit “Economic Development Queensland” (EDQ).  The Act also allows for delegation to councils to undertake planning and assessment.  The Corporation (or delegate) deals with:

• Land and Property
• Providing infrastructure and other services
• Planning for and developing and managing land in a Priority Development Area (PDA), and
• Deciding PDA applications.