Minutes of the 1st Meeting of the Working Group on Community Halls/Community Centres and Libraries Management (WGCCL) District Facilities Management Committee (DFMC) under Southern District Council (SDC) (2016-2019)

Date : 20 May 2016 Time : 10:00 a.m. Venue : SDC Conference Room

Present: Mr CHU Ching-hong, JP (Chairman of SDC) Mr CHAN Fu-ming, MH (Vice-Chairman of SDC and Chairman of WGCCL) Mr CHU Lap-wai (Chairman of DFMC) Mr CHAI Man-hon (Vice-Chairman of DFMC) Mr AU Nok-hin Ms CHAN Judy Kapui Mrs CHAN LEE Pui-ying Ms CHEUNG Sik-yung Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH Mr LO Kin-hei Mr TSUI Yuen-wa Ms YAM Pauline

Absent with Apologies: Mr LAM Kai-fai, MH Dr MAK TSE How-ling, Ada, MH

Secratary: Mr NGAI Seuk, Nick Executive Assistant (District Management), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department

In Attendance: Miss TSE Nga-lap, Lilian Assistant District Officer (Southern), Home Affairs Department Mr CHAN Ip-to, Tony Senior Executive Officer (District Management), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Mr CHAN Siu-wing, Andrew Executive Officer I (District Management), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Ms YIP On-nai, Anna Liaison Officer (Wah Fu/Chi Fu), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Mr CHENG Chi-shing, Charles Liaison Officer (/Lei Tung), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Ms WONG Chuk-ming, Jelly Liaison Officer (Stanley & ), Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department Miss LAI Ching-yee, Olivia Senior Librarian (Southern), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms WONG Mei-ping, Posche Librarian (Aberdeen Public Library), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr MA Ting-mo Property Services Manager/Southern, Architectural Services Department Mr YEUNG Wong-pan Property Service Manager/S(KWH)1, Housing Department Mr BO Hok-man Assistant Inspector/General Engineering Services/HK3B, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department

Attending by Invitation (Agenda Item 4): Mr KWOK Yiu-fei Property Manager, Creative Property Services Consultants Ltd.

(The Chairman of DFMC has presided over the meeting until the Chairperson of WGCCL was elected.)

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Agenda Item 1: Election of Chairman of the Working Group on CCL

The Chairman of DFMC said that basically, the method and procedure of electing the Chairperson of WGCCL were same as those of the election of the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the respective committees under SDC conducted at the 1st SDC meeting on 5 January 2016. The nomination would be conducted verbally.

2. Mr CHU Ching-hong, JP nominated Mr CHAN Fu-ming, MH for the office of Chairman of WGCCL, and the nomination was seconded by Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH and Mrs CHAN LEE Pui-ying. Mr CHAN Fu-ming, MH indicated his consent to the nomination. As there was only one candidate, Mr CHAN Fu-ming, MH was elected uncontested the Chairman of WGCCL.

(The newly elected Chairman of WGCCL took over the chair at this juncture.)

3. The Chairman thanked Members for their support, and said that this Working Group would assist DFMC in supervising and monitoring the operation and management of the community halls/community centres and libraries in the district. The Secretariat had prepared the agenda before this meeting. He called this meeting to order.

4. The Chairman welcomed the departmental representatives for attending this meeting.

5. The Chairman said that to avoid suspension of meeting in the absence of a quorum, if Members wished to leave earlier owing to other engagements, they should, wherever possible, notify the Secretary before the meeting and inform the Secretariat staff in the venue when they left the meeting. To raise the efficiency of the meeting, each Member would be allotted a maximum of two 3-minute slots to speak in respect of each agenda item.

Agenda Item 2: Report on the Usage and Extension Activities of LCSD’s Public Libraries in the Southern District (CCL Paper No. 1/2016)

6. The Chairman said that at its 1st meeting on 4 February 2016, DFMC had 3 agreed to transfer the agenda item “Report on the Usage and Extension Activities of LCSD’s Public Libraries in the Southern District” to this Working Group for discussion. In this connection, on top of the WGCCL meetings, the LCSD representatives were required to attend this year’s DFMC meetings.

7. Miss LAI Ching-yee briefed Members on the contents of the paper.

8. Regarding the proposals on library activities raised by DFMC Members at its previous meeting, Miss LAI Ching-yee reported on the related progress. Regarding the “Southern District Cultural Heritage Exhibition: Holy Spirit Seminary”, LCSD had already liaised with the organisation concerned and advised them to consider identifying more suitable locations in the Southern District for organising the exhibition. Pao Yue Kong Swimming Pool was also recommended as the exhibition venue. Besides, LCSD also suggested to the Holy Spirit Seminary to allow public visit in May. Eventually, the Holy Spirit Seminary agreed to schedule an open day on 21 May for library readers with admission tickets to visit. She continued that the subjects raised by DFMC Members at its meeting would be incorporated in the library activities, and book exhibitions on related subjects would be organised accordingly. In addition, LCSD had planned to organise a subject talk on the territory’s railway development in October 2016. The talk is to tie in with the development of the district and to introduce the planning and construction of the MTR South Island Line to the local residents.

9. Mr CHAI Man-hon, Ms CHAN Judy Kapui, Mrs CHAN LEE Pui-ying, Ms CHEUNG Sik-yung, Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH, Mr TSUI Yuen-wa and Mr LO Kin-hei raised their comments and enquiries on the subject. Details were summarised as follows:

(a) a Member asked whether the Holy Spirit Seminary was open to group visits, or only individuals were allowed to visit the place. It was also suggested that the Holy Spirit Seminary might provide the libraries with the related publications for public circulation, with a view to building the collections of the Southern District’s libraries;

(b) a Member wished to know the respective contents and formats of “Subject Talk” and “Library Visit & User Education Session” at Appendix I, and asked LCSD to provide specific details of “Suggestion/Complaint” at Appendix IV;

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(c) a Member said that the usage of the mobile library stop at Marina Square as provided in Appendix II(b) revealed that the stop concerned had the highest utilisation rate, and recorded a year-on-year growth as well. However, the service was available every other week only. As such, he would like to strive for a weekly service;

(d) a Member pointed out that some residents reflected that there were insufficient seats in the reading area of the Aberdeen Public Library. As such, he requested to expand the area concerned for provision of additional seats. Besides, LCSD had stated that book drop boxes would not be provided inside the MTR Station. He wished to know what criteria would be used by LCSD to determine the provision of book drop service, and requested the libraries to release the usage of book drop service;

(e) a Member enquired about the respective utilisation rates of book drop boxes outside the libraries and inside MTR stations for comparison purpose; and

(f) a Member said that some residents reflected the problem of “seat saving” in the reading area of the Aberdeen Public Library. LCSD was asked to step up internal management.

10. Miss LAI Ching-yee responded that regarding the admission arrangement for the Holy Spirit Seminary Open Day, interested readers might obtain admission tickets from the Library after attending the exhibition, and then go visiting the heritage of the Holy Spirit Seminary on the open day. As for “Subject Talk” at Appendix I, the figures included both subject talks with a larger group of audience and also small group workshops. She said that the topics of Subject Talk would be specified in the Appendix in the future. Regarding “Suggestion/Complaint” at Appendix IV, LCSD would explore the feasibility of listing out the related suggestions and complaints. On “Library Visit & User Education Session” at Appendix I, she explained that this activity aimed to entertain the requests of those schools or organisations interested in library services and facilities, during which visitors would be toured around the library concerned. On the mobile library stop service provided at Marina Square, it was pending for further review by the Marina Square property management office to evaluate the traffic condition after the commissioning of SIL. Besides, there were about 60 seats in the reading area of the Aberdeen Public Library, LCSD would continue to pay attention to its usage and take

5 further follow-up action as appropriate. Regarding the provision of book drop service inside MTR stations, owing to issues such as underutilization with reference to the usage of last year which was recorded less than 50% of the capacity of book drops, readers’ book return pattern and recurrent expenditure, there was no plan to provide such service at other MTR stations. As books collected from book drops outside the libraries would be processed together with other books returned, no statistical data were available for comparison. In the event of “seat saving”, the library staff would advise the misbehaving person and take action as appropriate.

11. The Working Group noted the related report.

(Mr CHAI Man-hon, Mr LO Kin-hei and Mr TSUI Yuen-wa joined the meeting at 10:09 a.m., 10:18 a.m. and 10:19 a.m. respectively. Mr CHU Ching-hong, JP, Miss LAI Ching-yee and Ms Wong Mei-ping left the meeting at 10:36 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. respectively.)

Agenda Item 3: Utilisation Rates of Facilities of the Community Halls/Community Centres in the Southern District (September 2015 to April 2016) (CCL Paper No. 2/2016)

12. Mr CHAN Ip-to briefed Members on the contents of the paper.

13 Mr CHAI Man-hon, Ms CHEUNG Sik-yung and Mr LO Kin-hei raised their comments and enquiries on this subject. Details were summarised as follows:

(a) a Member commented that the utilisation rates of the facilities at Wah Kwai Community Centre were high, and asked whether a user count had been conducted on the spot. It was also suggested that after the meeting, the Southern District Office (SDO) should conduct a more detailed investigation into the matter and compiled a report accordingly, and the related situation be reported at the next meeting;

(b) a Member considered that touting activities should be dealt with squarely, and pointed out that there were comments and complaints about the difficulties in booking facilities, and the transferrence of the right to use venue by hirers had been detected. SDO was urged to pay attention to the 6

problem concerned; and

(c) a Member enquired about the method for calculating the utilisation rates of the conference room and function room of Lei Tung Community Hall.

14. Ms YIP On-nai and Mr CHENG Chi-shing gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) Wah Kwai Sub-office would, from time to time, deploy officers to conduct site inspections and spot checks at the locations concerned. In case of non-compliance, warnings would be served;

(b) on the touting activities, Wah Kwai Sub-office would closely monitor the situation, and absolutely follow-up action would be taken in case of non-compliance; and

(c) from the administrative perspective, Ap Lei Chau Liaison Team would treat the conference room and function room as two separate facilities when calculating their respective utilisation rates. However, normally, the organisations would book both rooms at the same time. Therefore, the utilisation rates of both facilities were similar.

15. The Working Group noted the related report.

(Mr AU Nok-hin joined the meeting at 10:52 a.m. Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH and Mrs CHAN LEE Pui-ying left the meeting at 11:08 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. respectively.)

Agenda Item 4: Management Reports of the Community Halls/Community Centres in the Southern District (September 2015 to April 2016) (CCL Paper No. 3/2016)

16. The Chairman welcomed Mr KWOK Yiu-fei of Creative Property Services Consultants Ltd. to the meeting.

Wah Kwai Community Centre

17. Ms YIP On-nai briefed Members on the management report of Wah Kwai 7

Community Centre, with details given in Appendix 1 to the paper.

South Horizons Neighbourhood Community Centre, Ap Lei Chau Community Hall and Lei Tung Community Hall

18. Mr CHENG Chi-shing briefed Members on the management reports of Neighbourhood Community Centre, Ap Lei Chau Community Hall and Lei Tung Community Hall respectively, with details given in Appendixes 2 to 4 to the paper.

19. Mr LO Kin-hei, Ms CHEUNG Sik-yung, Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH and Ms CHAN Judy Kapui raised their comments and enquiries on the subject. Details were summarised as follows:

(a) a Member suggested that the wooden table on the stage at Lei Tung Community Hall should be replaced and the store room be open for use in order to even out the usage of the conference room and multi-purpose function room;

(b) a Member suggested that the Working Group and organisations should be informed of the re-opening time of South Horizons Neighbourhood Community Centre as soon as possible; and enquired about the progress of the repair of the projector at the Centre; and

(c) a Member considered that the facilities on the performance stage at Ap Lei Chau Community Hall were relatively dirty, and requested SDO to follow up on the related cleaning matter.

20. Mr CHENG Chi-shing and Mr BO Hok-man gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) Ap Lei Chau Liaison Team would try to apply for replacement of the wooden table on the stage at Lei Tung Community Hall. As the issue of providing access for persons with disabilities was unsolved yet, the facilities on 1/F could not be made available for public use;

(b) Ap Lei Chau Liaison Team would follow up on the cleaning matter with respect to Ap Lei Chau Community Hall; and

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(c) if the air-conditioning repair works at South Horizons Neighbourhood Community Centre could be completed earlier, the organisations concerned would be informed as soon as possible. As it took time to procure the components, the defects of the projector could not be thoroughly tackled for the time being. Ap Lei Chau Liaison Team would continue to follow up on this matter with the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.

Stanley Community Hall

21. Ms WONG Chuk-ming briefed Members on the management report of Stanley Community Hall, with details given in Appendix 5 to the paper. . 22. Mrs CHAN LEE Pui-ying enquired about for how long the operation of Stanley Community Hall would be suspended owing to the flooding problem, and whether it had been affected by rainwater. Ms WONG Chuk-ming responded that the main cause of the damaged floor at Stanley Community Hall was sewage backflow, and it had nothing to do with rainwater. It was expected that the repair works could be completed in end June 2016.

Follow-up report of the result of questionnaire survey for the CHs/CCs in the Southern District

23. Mr CHAN Ip-to briefed Members on the contents of Appendix 6 to the paper, and indicated that the “following up” items would be reported in the management report on the meetings of the Working Group in due course.

24. Mr LO Kin-hei, Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH, Ms CHAI Man-hon and Mr TSUI Yuen-wa raised their comments and enquiries on the subject. Details were summarised as follows:

(a) a Member supported the proposed arrangement of permitting submission of loan forms via email to avoid wasting paper, and suggested that active consideration should be made to the installation of computers at Lei Tung Community Hall. He also asked whether other community halls would allow users to adjust the thermostats of air-conditioning facilities on their own;

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(b) a Member asked SDO to provide a more detailed report on the usage of the air-conditioning facilities at the various community halls in the Southern District and the annual plan on community hall improvements; and

(c) a Member considered that SDO and LCSD could strengthen communication and cooperation in order to improve community hall facilities such as the addition of children’s playrooms, provision of fitness facilities and the setting up of libraries.

25. Mr CHAN Ip-to, Mr CHENG Chi-shing and Mr BO Hok-man gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) SDO would actively explore the feasibility of submitting loan forms via email. Regarding the setting up of libraries and provision of fitness facilities, LCSD should be consulted first;

(b) owing to spatial constraint, the provision of a computer room at the lobby of Lei Tung Community Hall would entail substantial difficulties. However, SDO would try to explore its feasibility; and

(c) the thermostats of air-conditioning facilities at Wah Kwai Community Centre, South Horizons Neighbourhood Community Centre and Ap Lei Chau Community Hall could be adjusted by duty staff.

26. The Working Group noted the related report.

Agenda Item 5: Any Other Business

Nomination of representatives of local organisations for appointment to the Working Group

27. The Chairman said that according to the established arrangement, the Working Group might invite representatives of the local organisations concerned to join this Working Group when necessary. With reference to the arrangement for nomination of professionals for appointment to the Working Group on District Minor Works (DMW) Projects and as instructed by the Chairman of DFMC, the Secretariat had called for nominations of representatives of local organisations on 9 May 2016. 10

The nominations collected by this Working Group would be put forward to DFMC for deliberation together with those nominations put forth by the Working Group on DMW Projects at its meeting on 26 May 2016 (Thursday), and DFMC would make a decision accordingly.

28. The Working Group agreed to the related arrangement.

Agenda Item 6: Date of next meeting

29. The Chairman advised the meeting that the next meeting would be held on 15 July 2016 (Friday) at 10:00 a.m. at the SDC Conference Room.

30. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.

Secretariat, Southern District Council July 2016

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