Agenda of Council Meeting

Councillor Contact Details

Granville Ward
Clr Steve Christou (Mayor)	0419 651 187	Steve.Christou@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Ola Hamed	0405 070 007	Ola.Hamed@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Joseph Rahme	0418 995 471	Joseph.Rahme@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Greystanes Ward
Clr Greg Cummings	0417 612 717	Greg.Cummings@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Eddy Sarkis (Deputy Mayor)	0418 306 918	Eddy.Sarkis@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Vacant	-	-
Regents Park Ward
Clr Ned Attie	0419 583 254	Ned.Attie@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr George Campbell	0409 233 315	George.Campbell@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Kun Huang	0418 911 774	Kun.Huang@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
South Granville Ward
Clr Glenn Elmore	0418 459 527	Glenn.Elmore@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Paul Garrard	0414 504 504	Paul.Garrard@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Tom Zreika	0400 805 303	Tom.Zreika@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Wentworthville Ward
Clr Lisa Lake	0418 669 681	Lisa.Lake@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Suman Saha	0419 546 950	Suman.Saha@cumberland.nsw.gov.au
Clr Michael Zaiter	0418 432 797	Michael.Zaiter@cumberland.nsw.gov.au

For information on Council services and facilities please visit www.cumberland.nsw.gov.au

Council Meeting

1 April 2020

ORDER OF BUSINESS

1 Opening Prayer / Acknowledgement of Country / National Anthem

2 Notice of Live Streaming of Council meeting

3 Apologies / Requests for Leave of Absence

4 Declarations of Pecuniary & Non Pecuniary Conflicts of Interest

5 Confirmation of Previous Minutes

C04/20-407 Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of Council - 18 March 2020....... 5

6 Mayoral Minutes

Nil

7 Public Forum / Presentation of Petitions

8 Items Resolved by Exception

9 Reports to Council

General Manager

Nil

Director People & Performance

C04/20-408 Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 and Fees and Charges.............. 15

Director Finance & Governance

Nil

Director Community Development

Nil

Director Environment & Planning

Nil

Director Works & Infrastructure

Nil

10 Reports of Council Committees

Nil

11 Motions Pursuant to Notice

C04/20-409 Notice of Motion - Mayoral Community Fund............................... 243

C04/20-410 Notice of Motion - Food Delivery Services in the Cumberland LGA 245

12 Notices of Rescission

Nil

13 Questions on Notice

Nil

14 Closed Session Reports

C04/20-411 Request from Fire & Rescue NSW for a Fire Safety Audit on Identified Building

Note: Included in Closed Council in accordance with Section 10A(2)(d)(i) of the Local Government Act as the information involves commercial information of a confidential nature that would, if disclosed prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied it.

C04/20-412 Request from Fire & Rescue NSW for a Fire Safety Audit on Identified Building

C04/20-413 Request from Fire & Rescue NSW for a Fire Safety Audit on Identified Building

15 Other / General Matters

16 Close

Council Meeting

1 April 2020

Item No: C04/20-408

Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 and Fees and Charges

Responsible Division: People & Performance

Officer: Director People & Performance

File Number: S-57-50

Community Strategic Plan Goal: Transparent and accountable leadership

Summary

The Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 has been developed to fulfil Council’s obligations under the Local Government Act 1993, which requires all NSW Councils to undertake Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R). The IP&R Framework places an obligation on Councils to ensure a framework of long term planning documents based on community engagement. In June 2017, Cumberland City Council adopted its first full suite of these documents which included:

· The Cumberland Community Strategic Plan 2017-27

· The Delivery Program 2017-21 and Operational Plan 2017/18

· The Resourcing Strategy

This report presents a draft of the fourth and final year of the four year Delivery Program 2017-21, and the Operational Plan 2020-21. This includes the principal activities Council will be undertaking through its twelve key service areas, budget, capital works program and rates statement, all of which is included with this report under attachment one. The pricing policy and register of fees and charges is included as a separate document under attachment two.

The Operational Plan and its associated actions were prepared prior to the recent unforeseeable events relating to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Updates on the performance of Council against the Operational Plan and the expected impacts to budget and service delivery as a result of the pandemic will be reported to Council in quarterly update reports.

It is a requirement under NSW legislation that the Draft Plan be placed on public exhibition for a period of 28 days and that all submissions from the community be taken into account during the finalisation of the Plan, and final adoption by Council.

Recommendation

That Council place the Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 and Fees and Charges on public exhibition for a period of 28 days, with a report to be provided back to Council following the conclusion of the public exhibition period.

Report

Planning Framework

Integrated Planning and Reporting legislation states that all NSW Councils must have the following in place:

· A ten year Community Strategic Plan (CSP)

· A four year Delivery Program

· An annual Operational Plan

· A Resourcing Strategy including an Asset Management Plan, a Long Term Financial Plan and a Workforce Management Plan.

In 2017, Council adopted the Cumberland Community Strategic Plan 2017-27 (CSP). This ten year plan is the community’s high-level guiding document for Council and is based on the results of an extensive community engagement project which heard the views, aspirations and opinions of approximately 2,500 Cumberland residents, businesses, community groups, visitors and other stakeholders. These results set the community’s vision of “Welcome, Belong, Succeed”, and capture the main priorities the community has for the future of Cumberland City. The CSP is set around six strategic goals designed to help achieve this vision. Each of these six strategic goals has a set of outcomes and measures to determine if Council is moving towards or away from its vision. These outcomes, along with Councillor term priorities and technical data, inform the planning of principal activities in the Delivery Program.

The four year Delivery Program and annual Operational Plan are Council’s commitment to the services and principal activities it delivers, to help the community as a whole achieve its vision.

The Delivery Program 2017-21 is communicated via twelve key service areas. Each of these service areas includes annual key projects that will be delivered, a list of ongoing business activities, income and expenditure for the service and key performance indicators. The key projects relate directly to an outcome in the CSP, giving a clear line of sight from the project, up to the expected outcome, to the strategic goal and ultimately the vision.

Reporting Progress

The implementation of the Operational Plan 2020-21 will be reported quarterly to Council and the community as is the current practice. This information will also be presented yearly in the Annual Report, providing a high level of accountability and transparency around the implementation of Council’s key planning document.

2020-21 Focus Areas

The Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 has been developed in conjunction with Councillor term priorities, the results from the community satisfaction survey, expected outcomes from the CSP, organisational priorities and financial forecasts in the Long Term Financial Plan.

The Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 places a strong emphasis on financial sustainability, and long term planning to ensure high quality services and facilities can be delivered efficiently and remain viable into the future.

The projects outlined in the Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 respond directly to the community priorities for the future and endeavour to ensure that Cumberland City is a place where people feel welcome, where everyone feels they belong, and where everyone has maximum access to services and facilities to help them succeed.

2020-21 Budget Savings

Due to a $6.3m deficit in 2018-19, Council implemented a 2.5% efficiency program across all of its services. The program has been successful in reducing the $6.3m deficit to a forecasted $0.5m deficit, without the need for removing services. Since this measure was introduced, there has been further downturn in economic conditions that has impacted the income received by Council (mainly interest of $1.5m in a two year period) and lower rates growth than previously experienced. Council has also observed large increases in waste disposal costs and depreciation costs. The combination of these factors has led to a further strain on the budget surplus.

To ensure maintenance of a budget surplus in the current conditions, Council has introduced budget savings to avoid the need to reduce the capital renewal and to maintain financial sustainability. As reported in these budget papers, there is a negative unrestricted cash balance and no available cash balance to absorb the decline in economic conditions.

To achieve a surplus, Council has included $6.8m in targeted budget saving initiatives. This is targeted to ensure Council maintains core services and does not cut costs from them, but also has the opportunity to review all services delivered. The savings program reviewed all services and set a score with the following criterion:

· Why do we do it?

· What is the community satisfaction with the service?

· How important is the service to the whole LGA?

· What is the relative net cost to deliver the service?

Council has 216 identified services which have been ranked, resulting in 44 of the services scoring below 50/100. Council has targeted the low scoring services for savings. This program will evolve in the coming years and will depend on the surplus Council can achieve. This process will be a key part of Council’s decision making moving forward.

A summary of the initiatives to save $6.8m are as follows:

· $2.7m improvement to Children Services. This will reduce the deficit from $7.9m to $5.2m. This is a combination of increasing the fees and new efficiency measures in the cost of operations. Council has set minimum KPI profit targets as this is a declared business activity that needs to comply with OLG guidelines in relation to Competitive Neutrality. These improvements are substantial but will reverse the $1.5m negative trend in 2018-2019 and look to improve the business activity.

· $2.4m impact to external service directorates including Works and Infrastructure, Community Development and Environment and Planning. The only service being cancelled is the community mulching service which was previously approved by Council. There has also been a 50% reduction to the community grants program.

· $1.7m impacting internal corporate costs due to ongoing efficiency programs.

The Recurring Budget and Capital Works

· The recurring budget surplus is $1.48m, this is calculated by adding back $1.2m cost of elections and $0.35m profit on sale which are one-off costs. Balancing the recurring budget is the target for Council as this is what impacts long term financial sustainability.

· Budget surplus $0.58m, this is a statutory budget position.

· $34.7m in renewing infrastructure. The building and infrastructure ratio for 2020-21 is 121%

· $19.1m in facility renewals and upgrades including $8.5m for pool

· $10.6m in playground / parks renewals and upgrades

· $26.4m comprising of roads renewals, new foot paths and drainage works

· $107m in cash reserves. The closing balance of working capital is forecast to be $5m.

Community Engagement

The Draft Operational Plan 2020-21 is proposed to be exhibited for 28 days, during which time the community will be invited to provide feedback to Council on the Draft Plan. Council aims to consult extensively with the community during the public exhibition period and has the following engagement activities planned:

· Online engagement activities

· Social media posts

· Council newsletters and e-newsletter

· English and Non-English newspaper advertisements

Results of the engagement including reach and number of submissions will be reported to Council when the draft plan is proposed for final adoption in June 2020.

Policy Implications

The Operational Plan 2020-21 will set the major policy direction for Cumberland City Council from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 once adopted by Council. This plan includes principal activities, budget, capital works, annual charges, pricing policy, and fees and charges for this timeframe. Major changes to these forecasted activities and expenditure requires Council approval and the re-exhibition of these documents to the public for a period of 28 days.

Risk Implications

Council would be at risk of failing its obligations under the Integrated Planning and Reporting provisions by not exhibiting the Draft Operational Plan, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1993.

Financial Implications

The documents contained in the attachments to this report form Council’s annual budget and other key financial plans. These documents set Council’s major financial goals for the 2020-21 financial year. Any activities that Council is to undertake during this time is required to be planned for in Council’s budget.

Attachments

1. Draft Operational Plan 2020-21

2. Draft Pricing Policy, Fees and Charges 2020-21

Council Meeting

1 April 2020

Council Meeting

1 April 2020