Damage from Tropical Cyclone Ita 11 April 2014

Kimberley Road, Cape Kimberley

The clean-up from the flooding of the Daintree River extended into May and beyond:

This was the Open Space Team’s April … before and after Cyclone Ita

Water and Wastewater Services during Tropical Cyclone Ita

During the cyclone the water supply teams managed to ensure uninterrupted and safe drinking water to the community. The wastewater teams had to deal with major power disruptions but were able to restore all wastewater services within 24 hours. Photos below are taken at Rex Creek after the cyclone. A front end loader is used to remove soil from the water intake screens.

Sewer infrastructure

The wastewater group experienced two major sinkholes in Mudlo Street (Port Douglas) and Alchera Drive (Mossman) after TC Ita. Although both were problematic, Mudlo Street presented added complications as the 300mm diameter main is located four meters under the buildings. The resort had no wastewater services for several hours and consideration was given to relocate residents to another resort. Fortunately through innovative thinking the wastewater team engineered the now famous “wheelie bin pump station” to restore services at the resort. With the help of experienced contractors, the wastewater team could repair this sewer main in the following week. The garden and paving were also repaired to perfection.

Citizenship Ceremony

In April Council hosted a Citizenship Ceremony for six new Australians originally from the UK, Indonesia, India, USA and Sweden.

ANZAC Day

Staff assisted the Mossman RSL SubBranch to put on the Dawn Service in Mossman and Anzac Day March and Ceremony in Port Douglas. The dawn service was attended by an estimated 600 people and the Port Douglas ceremony attracted close to 1000 people. Staff also assisted to ensure the Cow Bay Anzac Day dawn service and ceremony went ahead.

The Events Strategy 2014-2019 and Policy, and the Community Support Program were adopted by Council after extensive community consultation.

In Corporate Services, the Organisational Business Support Unit was established within the interim structure to undertake allocated administrative duties across the organisation and accordingly create efficiencies through the centralisation of these functions. Recruitment of staff into this unit was finalised and consultation with all areas of Council was undertaken to ascertain the administrative support required for the organisation. A key focus for the OBSU, is to continually review business procedures to achieve greater efficiencies and effectiveness of operations based on lean management principles.

The Mossman and Port Douglas Libraries had 5283 visitors for April, 7211 loans, 640 reservations satisfied, 13 inter-library loans and 62 new members. The new, free inter-library loan service was offered by Douglas in partnership with Rural Libraries Queensland – with an excellent response time. Customers are also able to place “purchase suggestions” online, an initiative continues to prove very popular and responsive to customers’ needs.

Finance

In April the 2014/2015 Budget process commenced.

Sorry Day

Council hosted the annual Sorry Day ceremony at the Council Chambers. The event was well attended by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members.

Corporate Plan

In May the Libraries celebrated National Simultaneous Storytime, Under 8’s Week by visiting the Mossman Primary School and a “Book Care and Repair” workshop was conducted by Erica Mast to celebrate Library and Information Week.

Local Liquor Accords

Council formally committed to working with local licensees, Queensland Police and community agencies to prevent and reduce alcohol related harm through regular participation in the Mossman and District, and Port Douglas, Liquor Accords.

During May the CEO Unit coordinated the development of the Corporate Plan. An extensive community consultation program was delivered, in line with the adopted Community Engagement Strategy, providing all members of the community with the opportunity to participate in the development of the Plan. Public workshops were held throughout the region along with targeted consultation with the Traditional Owners of the Shire. Advertising occurred in the Port Douglas & Mossman Gazette, The Cairns Post, on Council’s website and Facebook page, Radio Port Douglas, Newsport, electronic networks, Council administration building, libraries and notice boards. The draft themes, goals and actions were workshopped with Councillors and the Plan was adopted by Council on 3 June 2014.

Other events

During May staff also delivered or attended National Sorry Day, the David Kempton Forum, Community Agency Network meeting, Douglas Homelessness meeting, Mossman Liquor Accord, coordination of the Council float in Carnivale and all associated in-kind services further to the Carnivale Resource and Performance Agreement.

Preliminary discussions were held with relevant groups and state departments regarding the Community Services Program – public spaces maintenance, Accessible Douglas Directory, Mossman Gorge – employment and training opportunities, NAIDOC week and promotion of Douglas as the venue for major sporting events.

Staff opened the Community Support funding program on 26 May and held a community workshop held on 28 May to assist organisations to understand the guidelines and reporting requirements.

Carnivale

Officers assisted in the promotion of Port Douglas Carnivale for which Council provided $50,000 in funding and $15,000 in-kind support. Staff from different departments came together as a willing team to organise the Council float and to join in the Parade.

Business processes were improved this month with the establishment of a new purchasing procedure for greater efficiency when obtaining goods or engaging services required by Council. This resulted in a new supplier invoice procedure so that supplier payments could be streamlined.

Web snap shot

During May Council’s website had approximately 15,000 page views from 3165 users.

Free mulch was available for residents within the Douglas region.

Finance

Under the de-amalgamation Financial Due Diligence process the Final agreement on opening balances was reached.

Council adopted the Schedule of Fees & Charges for 2014/2015.

Douglas Libraries were successful in obtaining $12,000 through the State Library of Queensland “Technology trendsetters” grant to establish WiFi at the Mossman and Port Douglas Libraries.

World Environment Day

The Foyer Art Space Exhibition opened in June with over a dozen talented local artists contributed to Douglas Shire Council’s inaugural “Art in the Council Foyer” exhibition celebrating World Environment Day. Over 40 people attended the opening and the exhibition extended due to popular demand.

National Reconciliation Week

Council in partnership with the Mossman Community Centre hosted the ‘Walk the Talk’ community forum on promoting the ‘Recognise Campaign’ which relates to supporting changes to the Australian Constitution to acknowledge Indigenous Australians and remove discriminatory clauses based on race. It’s time to RECOGNISE Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia’s Constitution. The event attracted over 50 participants.

Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF)

Recipients of RADF funding attended a Presentation Ceremony in conjunction with World Environment Day Exhibition. Six artists shared grant funding of $5000 to run arts and cultural projects in the Shire.

L.Schonenberger, B Harris, J Burden

Cairns Airport Adventure Festival

Council provided funding for and assisted in the promotion of the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival which attracted an estimated 2000 participants to Port Douglas to compete in the RRR Mountain Bike Challenge, the 5150 Coral Coast Triathlon and the Hekili Great Ocean Race. Several staff members also competed in the events.

Gazette Community Phone Book

The CEO Unit designed three pages of Council information and negotiated the front cover image of Council staff members Mark Howarth and Donny Langtree, taking the photograph at the Rex Creek Intake. Mark and Donny represent the experienced and the new at Council, with Mark joining Council almost 40 years ago and Donny joining the Open Spaces team earlier this year. More than 8000 copies of the phone book are distributed throughout the Shire.

Cairns Ironman

Council provided funding for and assisted in the promotion of the Cairns Ironman which attracted more than 3000 competitors.

Wonga Beach Skate Park Opening

Council organised the official opening of the $80,000 Wonga Beach Skate Park which attracted more than 200 people.

Youth Services Network

Staff were involved in the development and implementation of a regular network meeting for community agencies and service providers dealing with young people to address common issues in youth service provision such as lack of public transport, and employment and training opportunities.

Work Experience for people on Community Service Orders

In June Council’s program for work experience for people on Court ordered Community Service Orders was launched in partnership with Queensland Corrective Services. The program provides Council with extra labour to undertake maintenance and cleaning of public spaces and provides people on Community Service Orders with meaningful work to build community responsibility and increase work-readiness skills.

June Facebook snapshot

Facebook has proven to be a very effective way of sharing information. We now have 1139 page ‘likes’ and in the past month reached an average of 594 users. Council has received 22 ratings with an average score of 4.5 out of 5 stars, with many positive comments.

Council provided bins and waste disposal as in-kind support for the opening of the Wonga Beach Skate Park in June 2014 and free waste disposal as in-kind support for Airport Adventure Festival in June 2014.

Mossman Wastewater Plant Conveyor System

During June a new bio-solids conveyor system was installed at Mossman wastewater plant. Wastewater operators are no longer required to manually handle bio-solids on site and the road transport process was also streamlined by eliminating another off-loading step by employing a semi-truck.

The end of year is always a busy month for finance.

This month Council adopted:

 the Budget for 2014/2015

 10 Year Financial Forecast

 Revenue Policy, Debt Policy and Reserves Policy.

A review of the estimated costs and timeframes for the restoration of Council’s landfill sites resulted in a significant reduction in the required future provision of funds to undertake this work. Water usage notices were issued on time.