Summary
I reported on the full-day workshop on the Council plan and time spent with our community panel. I spoke about the new LED lights at the Kings Park baseball diamond, funded in partnership with the state government, and the first Knox Arts and Culture Committee meeting, where I said I will make the case that arts spending is a smart investment. I also covered the Eastern Region Group's advocacy platform and the budget planning weekend.
Transcript
Edited from the meeting's auto-generated captions.
Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to note, since our last Council meeting, it was the 3rd of February, I think it was a Monday, that all councillors and staff were here at Knox headquarters for a full-day development workshop as we started to put together the Council plan for the term ahead. It was a really productive day, and the highlight for me was definitely spending time with our community panel, where we were in the room next door, hearing from a group of our residents about their issues and priorities. Really, the conversation was taking that input and marrying that up with our own observations and some of the feedback that we heard during the recent election campaign. So the Council plan is full steam ahead and that document is coming together.
Councillor Baker mentioned, on Saturday the 8th of February, we were at the Kings Park baseball diamond, the home of the Upwey Ferntree Gully Baseball Club. Councillor Duncan was there as well, as was the CEO and our Director of Connected Communities. More than $300,000 in funding from Knox, in a partnership approach with the state government, to deliver some new, fantastic LED lights. I think I said on the night it was a great example of what the community want to see more of, which is two tiers of government working in partnership together. Council funding and state government funding coming together to really create a big project and a significant uplift. We can achieve so much more when we work together as tiers of government. I don't think we do it enough, but Council is always at the ready to work in partnership with the other tiers to tackle fantastic projects like that one.
The Knox Arts and Culture Committee meeting was here Wednesday the 19th of February. It's something that I'm really passionate about. A creative nation is a more productive nation, and I certainly see the arts as a driver of both social and economic benefits. I did say to the committee on the night that one KPI for me was that, in this Council term, I'll make the case that spending in arts and culture is a really smart spend. It's not just spending for the sake of it, it's an investment that produces quite a remarkable dividend, both in social and economic terms. So that was a great first meeting. We've got a fantastic committee there. Councillor Lockwood was there as well, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know and working with that group over the years ahead.
Friday the 21st of February, which has just gone, I attended a meeting of the Eastern Region Group of Councils, or ERG as we know it, up at the Yarra Ranges Council offices in Lilydale, and I was joined by our CEO. For those that don't know, the ERG councils are Manningham, Maroondah, Whitehorse, Yarra Ranges and Knox, of course the most important of all. 750,000 residents across the ERG councils, which is about 14 per cent of the population of metro Melbourne.
And I'd encourage councillors, if they haven't already seen it, to have a look at it: a federal election will be called any day now, and we have an advocacy platform that looks at things like housing affordability, liveability, open space and community infrastructure, improving public and active transport, and growing local economies. There's a lot in there. It's quite a big list, but there's also quite a lot of important work to do. So we'll watch that take shape and be used throughout the election that's coming.
And of course yesterday and Saturday we had a budget planning weekend here. It was super productive. I think we're on the right track, responding, throwing in ideas and issues in the formation of the budget. I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend my weekend, being locked up with my colleagues here, but it was really productive time, and I think it really has put us on the right track for the budget process ahead.
And just a very quick one from this afternoon. I was at the Life Activities Club Knox in Ferntree Gully. That club had received a grant from Knox Council for some audio visual equipment. It was an overhead projector, a drop-down screen and some speakers. It was funded through the Community Development Fund, I think about $18,000. It's a seniors club, super well attended. They do some remarkable activities, and it was great to be there today with Peter, and we cut the ribbon and officially opened the new facility.
And just some other issues I've been seeing and hearing about. Trees and bark shedding continues to come up, particularly around central Rowville, and we've had some meetings with Council staff to talk about tree management and how we support conversations with our residents about those issues as well.
So thank you, and I'll leave it there.