Clarence Valley Council held its monthly Ordinary Council Meeting on Tuesday, 22 October 2024 at the Grafton Council Chambers. 9 of 17 items were debated and the other 8 adopted by consent in a meeting which lasted 2 hours and 23 minutes.
Councillors Appointed to Committees
Eight committee positions were filled at the October Ordinary Council Meeting, where councillors decided who was to be appointed to the Bush Fire Management Committee, District Liaison Committee, Arts Northern Rivers, Clarence Regional Library, and the Local Traffic Committee.
Councillor Shane Causley was appointed to the Bush Fire Management Committee, which comprises of a range of stakeholders to provide input to bushfire management activities, including representatives of landholders, land managers, fire authorises and community organisations.
Councillors Debrah Novak and Allison Whaites were appointed to the District Liaison Committee.
The committee is a requirement of the Rural Fire District Service Agreement between Council and the Rural Fire Service which monitors and periodically reviews performance of the Agreement and review the budget and business plan and financial management reports prepared by the district manager.
Councillor Allison Whaites put her hand up for the Arts Northern Rivers committee which represents six local government areas in the Northern Rivers. As the peak arts organisation for the region, it delivers services and projects that foster artistic innovation and excellence as well a works to ensure access and engagement with art and cultural activity.
The Clarence Regional Library Committee was formed as part of the Clarence Regional Library Service Agreement between Clarence Valley Council and Bellingen Shire Council. The libraries of both Clarence Valley and Bellingen Shire delegate powers to each other relating to the provision, control and management of library services to their communities. Councillors Cristie Yager and Lynne Cairns were appointed to represent the Clarence Valley.
The Local Traffic Committee is made up council, NSW Police, Transport NSW and the local State Member of Parliament or their nominee. The committee is an advisory body on traffic related matters only, having no decision-making powers.
Councillor Peter Johnstone was appointed to the committee with Councillor Karen Toms appointed as the alternate.
Cultural & Sports Trust Fund
Thomas Beohm, Max Lobsey and Ruby Martini are the latest recipients of the 2024 Cultural & Sports Trust Fund, which supports individuals from the Clarence Valley to represent NSW or Australia at cultural or sporting events.
Thomas and Max each received $300 after they were both selected to compete for NSW at the Under 14 Hockey Australia Championships which was held from 29 September to 5 October in Perth.
Meanwhile, Ruby, a local martial artist, received $500 to after qualifying to compete for Australia at the Shidokan 43rd International Championships in Japan on 13 October.
To learn more about the Cultural and Sports Trust Fund, visit www.clarence.nsw.gov.au/Cultural-Sports-Trust-Fund
Northern Regional Planning Panel Members Appointed
Councillor Greg Clancy have been appointed to sit on the Northern Regional Planning Panel (NRPP) and Mayor Ray Smith and Councillor Lynne Cairns and Peter Johnstone have been appointed as alternates.
Council will also have Expression of Interests from the community to ensure Council has a suitable pool of members with sufficient expertise to be appointed to the NRPP.
If there are no EOI received, the item will come back to Council to appoint a second permanent member.
The NRPP is established under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and is the determining authority for regionally significant development applications and other defined planning matters.
The motion was carried 5 – 3 with Councillors Debrah Novak, Allison Whaites and Karen Toms voting against.
Heritage Assistance Grants
Each year, the Heritage Assistance Grants is open to support and encourage owners of heritage items and contributory historic buildings in carrying out important maintenance and conservation works with a different prioritised area rotated around the Clarence Valley.
Grants of up to $2000 were awarded to 19 projects including a range of repair, reconstruction and conservation works, interpretation projects and a cemetery conservation proposal.
Councillor Allison Whaites called the item to highlight the program.
"As an owner of a heritage listed home, its very expensive to fix and renovate homes.
"I wanted to call it so that people know they can apply for these grants. A lot of the homes that I sell and rent, they don't know that you can, so theres been a lot of conversations that I've had with these homeowners.
"Its actually a really positive thing to fix up our homes in the Clarence Valley. The heritage homes we have here are absolutely stunning."
Regional Aquatic Centre Named
The Regional Aquatic Centre project was named during the October Ordinary Council Meeting following community consultation.
As part of the engagement strategy, face-to-face community consultations were conducted, along with an online survey on Clarence Conversations. The survey attracted 708 unique visitors, of which 91 (12.8%) participated.
Notably, only 8.6% of those visitors suggested including "Memorial" in the title.
At the meeting, Councillors endorsed to have the facility be named "Clarence Regional Aquatic Centre", the new indoor facility be named "Grafton Cub Scout Memorial Indoor Pool" and the new 50m outdoor pool be named "Grafton Olympic Pool".
The motion was carried 6 – 3 with Councillors Greg Clancy, Cristie Yager and Lynne Cairns voting against.
The Clarence Regional Aquatic Centre is currently under construction and scheduled to open in December 2024.
Updates on the project can be found on Council's Facebook page and on Council's website: www.clarence.nsw.gov.au/regionalaquaticcentre
Following the Ordinary Council Meeting, Councillor Greg Clancy has called an Extraordinary Council Meeting to be held on Tuesday 29 October 2024 commencing at 8:30am.
The meeting is to consider a Notice of Motion on the naming of the Clarence Regional Aquatic Centre.
The meeting will be live streamed online. View the agenda on Councils website.
