Vision Our Vision for Mosman is: A VIBRANT HARBOURSIDE VILLAGE WHERE COMMUNITY, LIFESTYLE AND HERITAGE ARE VALUED AND WHERE RESIDENTS FEEL SAFE AND CONNECTED. Message from the Mayor This year offered unprecedented challenges for our community as the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic continue to be felt both here and across the globe. Elected Councillors and Council senior management worked together to ensure our community remained safe and secure, our local businesses were supported and Council staff remained employed and protected. It was a fundamental requirement that Council remained closely connected to our community as we all needed to reset our priorities and pivot quickly to a significantly changed environment. The good news is that Council achieved these goals during a climate of significant financial downturn and financial uncertainty and most importantly we ended the 2019/2020 financial year viable. Adapting to the changed environment, Council broadly continued to meet expected service levels and maintained the assets and infrastructure of our beautiful municipality. However, it has been a challenging year for our community support services, with Council withdrawing from some services and expanding its reach in others. The extreme disappointment of not being able to proceed with the planned Balmoral Children’s Centre due to State fire restrictions led to the closure in December of Council’s Occasional Care Centre. In early 2020 Council also withdrew from providing out of school hours care for Mosman Public School students following the long-awaited opening of an on-site school service. The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a different set of challenges for our Community Care team, who continued to provide a range of essential services including transport and meals to our most vulnerable residents throughout the peak of the crisis. Community Care also expanded its meals service considerably in response to community demand, as well as establishing a hotline to lend a caring ear to residents isolated at home. The Youth Services team delivered a wide range of in house and remote programs and activities for our young people during the year. Our Mosman Library Service, although closed for two months between March and May, adapted to the changes brought about by the pandemic and provided an extensive range of services to residents both at the library and in their homes. The 2019 Festival of Mosman was a tremendous success, attracting more than 37,000 attendees to over 60 Council and community events. Mosman Art Gallery also produced another stellar year of exhibitions and programming, again somewhat disrupted in the latter part of the year, with a highlight being a major exhibition by the artist Jumaadi during Summer 2019/20. These achievements would not be possible without Council's committed, hard-working staff, working professionally and collaboratively with myself, my fellow Councillors, our superb volunteers, our external contractors and the broader community. Together we all remain committed to our vision by recognising and advancing aspirations that are common to many in the community. It is critical to our success that we continue to deliver in these difficult times and respond to challenges and residents’ aspirations through ongoing and improved community engagement, collaborative leadership, sound management, and innovation. Councillor Carolyn Corrigan Mayor of Mosman Message from the General Manager The 2019-2020 Annual Report presents the outcomes and achievements for year three of Council’s 2018- 2028 Community Strategic Plan and 2018-2021 Delivery Plan. It is pleasing to now present back to the community a report card on the quality outcomes achieved under the Plan. As intimated by our Mayor 2019-2020 was a year like no other. The COVID-19 Pandemic is affecting the lives of those in our Community and those who work at Council. Council leadership worked tirelessly to support the Community whilst maintaining the ongoing viability of the organisation and protecting staff. In May the vast majority of staff transitioned to working from home or took leave. Many Council services closed in accordance with NSW Health guidelines. Navigating fast moving and complex changes required careful planning and execution and I am indebted to our Councillors for their unwavering support during such a difficult time. Despite the Pandemic, the majority of promised outcomes were met by Council. The 2019-2020 Financial Statements contained within the Annual Report demonstrate the strong and strategic financial management framework in place that contributes to achieving these outcomes. Council’s Income Statement for the year ended 30 June 2020 discloses a $131,000 operating deficit before capital grants and contributions and fair value increments. Significant cost cutting efforts across the organisation kept the deficit to a manageable number despite Covid related reductions to Council’s revenues. Financial performance, as measured by the Office of Local Government financial performance indicators, place Council in a sound financial position. Council has largely completed an ambitious capital works program amounting to $9.7 Million and continues to address the infrastructure backlog with all infrastructure asset performance indicators indicating a very satisfactory asset management position. The ongoing application of innovation and investment in technology and the associated delivery of a change culture has greatly supported Council’s ability to adapt. Recent moves to mobile and online software systems enabled Council staff to continue to work from home during lockdown. As a consequence our call centre continued un-interrupted, and the vast majority of Council transactions continued to be processed by staff at home. In addition the implementation of our online Foreshore permit system enabled residents to re-new permits from home avoiding the annual queues at Council. Our commitment to the above strategies and in our adopted Customer Service Charter is having success in delivering excellence in service and value adding for the community. The commitment and dedication of staff and the elected Council in working collaboratively and engaging the community promises the excellent outcomes in the past year will continue. Dominic Johnson General Manager CONTENTS Introduction ______________________________________________________________________________________ 2 About mosman __________________________________________________________________________________ 3 About mosman council __________________________________________________________________________ 3 Statement of values ______________________________________________________________________________ 4 About mosman's management plan - mosplan _________________________________________________ 5 Mayor and councillors __________________________________________________________________________ 15 Councillor attendance at meetings and workshops _____________________________________________ 15 Council management ___________________________________________________________________________ 16 Report on progress against delivery program 2019-20 _________________________________________ 18 1. Mayoral and councillor fees and expenses ___________________________________________________ 53 2. Senior staff ___________________________________________________________________________________ 54 3. Overseas visits by councillors, council staff or other persons representing council __________ 54 4. Equal employment opportunity management _______________________________________________ 55 5. Condition of public works ____________________________________________________________________ 55 6. Contracts _____________________________________________________________________________________ 57 7. Legal costs and expenses _____________________________________________________________________ 59 8. Planning agreements _________________________________________________________________________ 62 9. Approved special rate variation expenditure _________________________________________________ 63 10. Rates and charges written off during the year ______________________________________________ 63 11. Private works ________________________________________________________________________________ 63 12. Donations and subsidies ____________________________________________________________________ 65 13. External bodies exercising functions delegated by council _________________________________ 66 14. Companies in which council held a controlling interest _____________________________________ 66 15. Partnerships, co-operatives & joint ventures which the council was a party _____________________ 66 16. Companion animals act and regulation – guidelines on the exercise of functions under the companion animals act cl 217(1) (f) ___________ 67 17. Swimming pools act 1992 and regulation___________________________________________________ 70 18. Code of conduct ____________________________________________________________________________ 72 19. Government information (public access) act 2009 __________________________________________ 74 20. Public interest disclosures act 1994 _________________________________________________________ 78 21. Privacy management plan ___________________________________________________________________ 79 22. Formal complaints and accolades ___________________________________________________________ 79 23. Fraud and corruption prevention activities __________________________________________________ 80 24.