2017-18 ANNUAL REPORT Sharing the fire Contents 4 Introduction 8 Our Council 16 Community Financial Report 22 Our Performance 28 Spectacular Scenery and Healthy Environment 34 Sustainable and Prosperous Economy 36 Open and Responsive Government 42 Relaxed Living and Rural Lifestyle 46 Vibrant Towns and Villages 52 Accessible and Serviced Region 56 Healthy, Engaged and Resourceful Communities 62 Organisational Sustainability 66 Statutory Information 70 Financial Statements © TOURISM AND EVENTS QUEENSLAND SCENIC RIM REGIONAL COUNCIL 2017-18 ANNUAL REPORT 3 Introduction STRATEGIC OUR SCENIC RIM FRAMEWORK OUR REGIONAL SCENIC RIM COMMUNITY PLAN Author and naturalist Arthur Groom, who co-founded Binna Burra Lodge The Scenic Rim Community Plan VISION in 1933, coined the phrase Scenic Rim in describing the region’s chain of 2011-2026 was adopted by Council in November 2011 following extensive mountains, plateaux and peaks that extend from the coastal hinterland in community consultation. It captures the east to the Great Dividing Range in the west. The local government the long-term vision of the Scenic Rim community and summarises its area formed during the council amalgamations of 2008 encompasses aspirations under seven themes. These The Scenic Rim Community Plan many of these features and was subsequently named Scenic Rim desired outcomes form the basis of 2011-2026 provides the shared vision our Regional Vision and provide the Regional Council. foundations of Council’s Corporate Plan for our region’s future. 2013-2018. By 2026 Scenic Rim will be a CORPORATE PLAN 2013-2018 This plan details strategies under network of unique rural communities the seven themes of the Scenic Rim embedded in a productive and Ipswich City Community Plan 2011-2026. An Lockyer Valley Region additional theme of Organisational sustainable landscape. Sustainability is included in the Corporate Plan to provide a focal point for Council’s performance and financial sustainability. We will enjoy a high quality rural lifestyle in self-reliant communities that provide a choice of quality local food, OPERATIONAL PLAN products, services and recreational opportunities. Our 2017-2018 residents will have affordable transport options and ready Logan City The annual Operational Plan provided access to the broader South East Queensland region. for a range of actions to be undertaken across the eight themes of Council’s Our community will support sustainable farms, businesses and Corporate Plan. Council monitored the industries compatible with our environment and lifestyle and implementation of those actions on a will provide rewarding employment and prosperity for residents. quarterly basis. A summary of significant Residents will benefit from the region’s productive farmland, outcomes for the year is provided from stunning natural environment and character-filled towns and pages 23 and 24 and a more detailed villages which attract tourists and visitors and support the review of our performance is provided ecosystems of the broader South East Queensland community. Southern on pages 25 to 27 of this report. Downs Scenic Rim will be an inclusive, caring and creative environment Region POLICIES AND with healthy and active residents. The region will provide a OTHER DOCUMENTS happy, safe and nurturing environment for children and families. Gold Coast Council has established a City We will participate in planning and managing our communities comprehensive suite of policies, and act to ensure the Scenic Rim is enhanced for future strategies and plans for the provision generations. of services to the community. Where appropriate, these are supported by the delegation of statutory powers to Tweed Shire the Chief Executive Officer. Council reviews its policies on a maximum Tenterfield three-year cycle and its delegations Shire Kyogle Shire are reviewed annually. REPRESENTING THE COMMUNITY Councillors perform an important function by representing the public interest through a broad spectrum of community organisations - both locally and within the greater South East Queensland region. Those COUNCIL CAPITAL ESTIMATED GROSS representational arrangements were LOCATION AREA OPERATING COUNCIL RESIDENT REGIONAL reviewed following the quadrennial EXPENDITURE EXPENDITURE South East POPULATION 4238 square PRODUCT elections to ensure an appropriate 2017-18 2017-18 sharing of this workload amongst Queensland 41,753 kilometres $1726 million (at 30 June 2018) $69.38 million $48.4 million Councillors. 4 SCENIC RIM REGIONAL COUNCIL 2017-18 ANNUAL REPORT SCENIC RIM REGIONAL COUNCIL 2017-18 ANNUAL REPORT 5 Introduction MAYOR’S REPORT CEO’S REPORT CR GREG CHRISTENSEN JON GIBBONS All of these events celebrated our region’s rich Indigenous Council’s 2018 Be Healthy and Active program, the biggest and heritage, a heritage that was shared with the world when best ever. As a legacy of the Commonwealth Games, Council members of our own Indigenous community featured in the received funding to extend the Be Healthy and Active program opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. It was a truly for a further two months to encourage our communities to proud moment for the Scenic Rim and for me as its Mayor. embrace a healthier and more active lifestyle with a great range of free and low-cost activities. Our program of recovery following Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie, which delivered the most significant flooding experienced in our Following these events came Eat Local Week in June, producing region in the past two decades, was a major focus for Council another bumper harvest for the Scenic Rim economy with in 2017-18 and the reconstruction will be ongoing well into the more than 90 events attended by more than 38,000 residents 2018-19 year. Half of Council’s road network, including three and visitors. quarters - more than 500 kilometres - of the region’s gravel Of course, these events - which help to boost our local roads, were impacted by the disaster which left a damage bill economy and promote community connections as well as of $38.5 million in its wake. individual health and well-being - are just the tip of the iceberg With funding under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery in terms of Council’s delivery of services to the community. Arrangements and Betterment funding to improve the resilience This Annual Report outlines the diversity and scope of Council’s of key infrastructure to damage in future extreme weather operations and the many achievements of the 2017-18 year, events, we are accelerating on the road to recovery. including our success in securing grant funding from other levels Our program of restoration works was a key topic of discussion of government and the delivery of a large capital works program at a series of Community Conversations public forums I in tandem with our flood recovery program which will continue presented across the region during February. At evening into the 2018-19 year. gatherings at Beaudesert, Tamborine Mountain, Beechmont, It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge my predecessors Canungra and Boonah I was pleased to meet with residents in Craig Barke, who served as CEO from 2008 to October and discuss Council’s priorities and receive feedback about 2017, and Kelly Stidworthy, who served as Acting CEO from community expectations for our delivery of services. October 2017 to mid-March 2018. These meetings also provided an opportunity for residents The year ahead promises many new challenges and the to comment on proposed changes to the Community Plan opportunity for continued growth, both as a region and an 2011-2026, the shared vision between Council and Scenic organisation. In August, Council adopted a new structure It gives me great pleasure to introduce Scenic Rim Regional Rim residents for the future of our region, at the mid-point in Joining Scenic Rim Regional Council as CEO in March, I had a for the organisation, drawing on the community vision of Council’s 2017-18 Annual Report and to reflect on our the plan’s life cycle. spectacular introduction to the region and its residents. region’s many outstanding achievements in what was our 10th the Community Plan and aligned with the Corporate and One of the first official functions I attended in my new role was anniversary year since the council amalgamations of 2008. This Annual Report represents Council’s report card on the Operational Plans. progress made in achieving the outcomes of the Community the opening of the Village Greens on Tamborine Mountain’s The refreshed organisational structure has four key areas of Exactly a year to the day after the Scenic Rim was dealt a Plan which provides the overarching framework for the Main Street, part of Council’s multi award-winning Vibrant and focus - our staff, our customer, our delivery and our assurance devastating blow by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie, I was thrilled Corporate Plan and, in turn, the annual Operational Plan. Active Towns and Villages program. to welcome the Queen’s Baton Relay at the newly completed - to enhance our delivery of services and infrastructure to the The Village Greens opening in March was the culmination Village Greens on Tamborine Mountain, with the eyes of the It reflects our commitment to ensuring the Scenic Rim is the Scenic Rim community. best place in which to live, work and enjoy life to the fullest, of years of planning and community consultation and the world on our region in the prelude to the Gold Coast 2018 Importantly, it reflects the key themes of our corporate and that ours is a region of viable, and sustainable towns and new space was the perfect backdrop for the Queen’s Baton Commonwealth Games. mission which is best summed up as ‘enabling community villages whose enviable rural lifestyle respects the important Relay which heralded the start to the Gold Coast 2018 + environmental sustainability’. The Queen’s Baton Relay on 1 April and the Shared Fire relationship between the environment and economic growth.