Item No.	Item Title	Page No.
1	Review of Disaster Sub Plan: Animals and Livestock	6
2	Payment of Membership to Healthy Land and Water, the Regional Natural Resource Management Body for South East Queensland	27

Environment Committee NO. 1

18 February 2020

AGENDA

1. Review of Disaster Sub Plan: Animals and Livestock

This is a report concerning the review and amendment to the City of Ipswich Managing Animals and Livestock in a Disaster Sub Plan.

Recommendation

That the Interim Administrator of Ipswich City Council resolve:

A. That the City of Ipswich Managing Animals and Livestock in a Disaster Sub Plan, as detailed in Attachment 1 of the report by the Emergency Management and Sustainability Manager dated 2 January 2020, be approved.

B. That the Local Disaster Coordinator, in consultation with the Interim Administrator and General Manager (Infrastructure and Environment), be authorised to make amendments deemed necessary on the basis of further comment received from the members of the Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG), who form part of the governance arrangements for the adoption and endorsement of this sub plan.

2. Payment of Membership to Healthy Land and Water, the Regional Natural Resource Management Body for South East Queensland

This is a report concerning the justification and authorisation for the payment of Ipswich City Council’s annual membership fees for Healthy Land and Water, 2019 to 2020. Council’s previous 3 year membership agreement expired on 30 June 2019.

Recommendation

That the Interim Administrator of Ipswich City Council resolve:

That the 2019 -2020 annual membership payment to Healthy Land and Water be approved, as detailed previously in the meeting of the Environment Committee, August 2019 (Attachment 1), as an exemption under Local Government Regulation 2012, Division 3 Exceptions for medium-sized and large-sized contractual arrangements, section(s) 235 a and b.

** Item includes confidential papers

and any other items as considered necessary.

Environment Committee

Meeting Agenda

18 February

2020

Doc ID No: A5983761

ITEM: 1

SUBJECT: Review of Disaster Sub Plan: Animals and Livestock

AUTHOR: Principal Officer (Emergency Management)

DATE: 2 January 2020

Executive Summary

This is a report concerning the review and amendment to the City of Ipswich Managing Animals and Livestock in a Disaster Sub Plan.

Recommendation/s

That the Interim Administrator of Ipswich City Council resolve:

RELATED PARTIES

There are no declaration of conflicts of interest.

Advance Ipswich Theme

Caring for the community

Purpose of Report/Background

In accordance with section 57 of the Disaster Management Act 2003, “a local government must prepare a plan (a local disaster management plan) for disaster management in the local government’s area”. This may include the preparation of any disaster management sub plans deemed necessary.

Council identified that a sub plan for animal welfare was necessary and prepared an Animal Welfare Disaster Sub Plan which was adopted by Committee No 2014 (08) of 18 August 2014 Council Ordinary Meeting of 26 August 2014.

The 2014 plan has been reviewed and updated to reflect changes in practice; inclusion of livestock, and lessons and information from events such as the Townsville Monsoonal disaster event. The updated plan is included as Attachment 1.

Legal/Policy Basis

This report and its recommendations are consistent with the following legislative provisions:

Disaster Management Act 2003

RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

In the event that the sub plan is not approved, there are potential risks that the current plan may not be fit for purpose, nor reflect current practises and lessons identified from other disaster events.

Financial/RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS

There are no additional financial implications as a result of adoption of this report.

COMMUNITY and OTHER CONSULTATION

The contents of this report did not require any community consultation. In addition to internal consultation with Animal Management Operations, members of the City of Ipswich LDMG and partner agencies from government and non-government entities will be given the opportunity to contribute to the update of the plan during the LDMG endorsement process.

Conclusion

The updated sub plan fulfils the requirement of the Disaster Management Act 2003 and ensures that Council’s approach is aligned with the Queensland State Disaster Management Plan and current practices.

Attachments and Confidential Background Papers

1.	Managing Animals and Livestock in a Disaster Sub Plan ⇩

Matthew Pinder

Principal Officer (Emergency Management)

I concur with the recommendations contained in this report.

Kaye Cavanagh

Manager, Environment and Sustainability

I concur with the recommendations contained in this report.

Charlie Dill

General Manager - Infrastructure and Environment

“Together, we proudly enhance the quality of life for our community”

Environment Committee

Meeting Agenda

18 February

2020

Item 1 / Attachment 1.

PDF Creator

Environment Committee

Meeting Agenda

18 February

2020

Doc ID No: A5997993

ITEM: 2

SUBJECT: Payment of Membership to Healthy Land and Water, the Regional Natural Resource Management Body for South East Queensland

AUTHOR: Natural Environment and Land Manager

DATE: 10 January 2020

Executive Summary

Recommendation/s

That the Interim Administrator of Ipswich City Council resolve:

PURPOSE OF REPORT/BACKGROUND

The payment process of the annual membership for Healthy Land and Water (HLW) falls outside council standard procurement procedures as the organisation is a not for profit, non-government organisation which is member funded with additional financial and in kind support from the Queensland government.

Advice received upon review of the agreement stated that while the terms itself are sound further information was required around which service or membership is being procured which was neither clear nor easily determined. As such legal services could not sign off on council’s execution of the agreement until this was clarified.

Previously payments were made as a community contribution. However advice was received that we cannot consider the Agreement and contribution to be that of a ‘community grant and in-kind assistance’ as it does not comply with the Applicant Guidelines (Guidelines) which form a part of the Community Grants and In-Kind Assistance Policy (Council Resolution 26 June 2018). The Guidelines provide opportunities for funding to a maximum of $10,000 and the Agreement is significantly beyond that figure.

Internal and external discussions with other local governments and within Ipswich City Council suggested that the transaction would be most suited to execution as an exemption under Local Government Regulation 2012, Division 3 Exceptions for medium-sized and large-sized contractual arrangements, section(s) 235 a and b. This includes:

“A local government may enter into a medium-sized contractual arrangement or large-sized contractual arrangement without first inviting written quotes or tenders if—

(a) the local government resolves it is satisfied that there is only 1 supplier who is reasonably available; or

(b) the local government resolves that, because of the specialised or confidential nature of the services that are sought, it would be impractical or disadvantageous for the local government to invite quotes or tenders; or

[…]”.

This is believed to be reasonable given the type and arrangement of the membership and subsequent service for reasons outlined below however would also require a council resolution to support the decision as this was not deemed to be overtly or specifically made in the previous committee report (Attachment 1).

The service and benefits provided to Ipswich City Council through the membership of Healthy Land and Water (HLW) would not necessarily be available via a standard contractual arrangement with commercial suppliers for a number of reasons including;-

- As a regional body HLW are able to leverage the membership funding from all SEQ local councils and utilities and provide regional advice, data and information pertaining to SEQ catchments and sub catchments.

- HLW have amassed over 20 years of annual water quality and ecological data for the region and have developed tools and models to use this data to identify water quality trends.

- HLW have developed and tested the regional methodology for collecting and analysing the data consistently across the region.

- Invitation for quotations for an identical service would probably require a similar inter government arrangement be established with neighbouring local governments as well as state agencies.

- A similar service or joint services may be available and sourced through a tender process however at present is no guarantee at this stage that this service would be of the same standard, regionally consistent or represent value for money to Council.

conclusion

In August 2019 Council agreed that the membership payment should be made however did not detail the manner or mechanism by which the payment could be made given it sits outside standard procurement procedures.

Advice was sought and received that due to the unique nature of the agreement and the value offered by the service(s) provided by HLW as a result of the regional membership model, then the payment is eligible for an exemption under Local Government Regulation 2012, Division 3 Exceptions for medium-sized and large-sized contractual arrangements, section(s) 235 a and b.

Attachments and Confidential Background Papers

1.	Environment Committee Report 13 Aug 2019 - Item 1 ⇩

Phil Smith

Natural Environment and Land Manager

I concur with the recommendations contained in this report.

Kaye Cavanagh

Manager, Environment and Sustainability

I concur with the recommendations contained in this report.

Charlie Dill

General Manager - Infrastructure and Environment

“Together, we proudly enhance the quality of life for our community”