Minutes of the meeting of the SACBRA committee,
held at St Andrews Primary School on Monday February 2010.
Present: Ian, Peter, Warwick, Stuart, Manninder, Elizabeth, Carmen, Toni-Anne, Cathy, Helen, Quentin, Gail, Maria.
Apologies: Dave A, Kirsten, Miriam.
Meeting commenced at 5.30pm.
- Due to the time constraints of some committee members this evening, Ian
re-arranged the Agenda to maximise their input.
Governance:
- It was agreed that a governance session would be held for all committee
members on Friday 26 February, at the School, running from 6.00pm to
9.00pm, and that Gail would arrange for a facilitator to attend, and that the
session would cover general committee functions as well as dealing with
SACBRA-specific issues.
Meeting Times:
- It was agreed that, in future, meetings would commence at 8.00pm on all
meeting days.
Environment Recovery Plan:
- There was a general concern that funding was being used for scoping of
works rather than achieving on-ground outcomes.
- Peter advised that the Bendigo Bank had committed $100,000 for
conservation works in the Nillumbik area.
Toni-Anne will meet Sue Aldred regarding environmental programs, and
report back.
- VBRRA’s Nillumbik Plan was to include works for St Andrews, Strathewen
and Christmas Hills as part of a total package, rather than each group
operating independently.
Helen stressed the need for concentration on a weed infestation program.
Agreed (Toni-Anne/Quentin) that SACBRA accept the Plan, but with
reservations.
Minutes of the previous meetings:
- It was agreed (Peter/Stuart) that, subject to alterations below, the Minutes of
the meetings of Friday 18 January and Friday 25 January 2010, be accepted:
18 January: page 3, under ‘New business’, under ‘Survey’, a further dot
point be added, reading “Gail to clarify the particulars on any leases of
land/buildings in respect of the St Andrews Community Centre”.
25 January: page2, second last sentence, delete reference to Quentin liaising
with Tim O’Donnell, since it was up to each individual property owner to
obtain a map from council if required.
Acting-Treasurer:
- Peter up-dated with our financial position: $6082 in hand.
- Ian will ask Amber to tidy up the VBRRA Acquittal Forms.
- Ian will contact Ken Dance, who has indicated a possible interest in
becoming Treasurer.
Administration:
- Stuart requested that the next Newsletter note that Quentin was now on the
SACBRA committee, and that thanks be recorded to Amber, David W,
Julienne and Sue A for their efforts.
- Stuart will investigate the matter of Occupiers’ and General insurance as it
applies to volunteers doing work on properties without dwellings.
- It was agreed (Stuart/Helen) that Robbo Bennetts be accepted as a member
of SACBRA, with voting rights.
- It was agreed that all SACBRA members would continue to receive a copy
of the Newsletter, on the principle of 1 per household address.
- Peter was given a recently submitted ‘Are you re-building?’ form for follow
up.
Council Report:
- Kirsten’s report had been forwarded to all committee members.
- Stuart requested details of the number of building approvals granted, as
distinct from the number of approved site plans referred to in the report.
- There was a recognised need to have the list of properties
(destroyed/damaged/rebuilding/sold/etc) updated.
- In recognition that many new people who will be moving into the area, as
a result of property sales, there was in-principle acceptance of having a
‘Welcome to area’ publication that would provide valuable information on
safety and environmental issues to newcomers.
VBRRA Plan:
- Maria advised that scoping of the many requested community projects and
programs continues to occupy VBRRA.
- VBAF will be meeting on 18 February and then, maybe finally, in March.
After VBAF’s closure, it is anticipated that Incorporated CRCs, such as
SACBRA, will receive future funding under the aegis of Regional
Development Victoria (RDV).
SACBRA will need to provide VBRRA with our ABN details and a copy of
our constitution, before RDV will allow us to hold any monies for future
pre-agreed projects.
- SACBRA’s up-coming general meeting will provide an opportunity for the
St Andrews community to ‘tick off’ on the survey outcome, noting that the
majority support was for (in order) refurbishment of the Community Centre,
construction of walking trails, improved sporting facilities and works on/in
the Hall, including consideration of an audio/visual component.
- It was agreed (Stuart/Manninder) that “The committee will recommend to
the public meeting on 25 February that the committee strongly supports the
redevelopment of the Community Centre and walking trails, linking St
Andrews North and the township, and continue to investigate the Hall
facilities, including audio visual facilities, and also the men’s shed/tool shed
at the oval”.
- Maria will scope costing of trails, based on them catering for pedestrians and horses, but not bikes.
- Gail will organise the Hall booking and catering for the public meeting.
- Maria advised that VBRRA’s ‘One Year Report’ is about to be released.
Psycho-Social Group:
- Helen advised that all members had been apprised of recent meeting
outcomes, and no feedback received.
Building Group:
- Peter reported that group will shortly be meeting with Strathewen, and be
finalising plans to ensure sustainability components in as many as possible re-
building works.
- Whilst acknowledging the grey area nexus of re-building houses and
gardens, the group will support the vegie/permaculture group meetings,
while seeking funding for gardening initiatives elsewhere.
Community Centre:
- Manninder noted there was no community pressure for building a
new facility, and that the general view was to support refurbishment.
Helen pointed out that the Community Centre committee of management
can’t proceed with any of their projects, since council had indicated they
would place their support on hold, until SACBRA make a decision about the
Centre.
Agreed (Manninder/Helen) that SACBRA endorse the Community Centre
up-grading and renovations, without detail, and take this proposition back to
the community at the public meeting, consistent with the earlier Motion.
It was noted that some preliminary design work has already been done.
There is a need to clarify if the project would be SACBRA’s, council’s or
the CC committee’s responsibility; Gail will investigate this aspect, although
the feeling was that it was a Community Centre project.
There was clear committee support for incorporating multi-purpose aspects
into the refurbishment design.
- Warwick is to follow up with CentreCom regarding the audio/visual
component pricing, and Maria suggested that SACBRA’s submission to VBRRA
should seek full funding for the proposal.
Events:
- Helen outlined the casualness of Sunday 7 February at the CFA.
- It was agreed Peter would put the calendar in the SACBRA notice board, but remove it on Friday night, so that no ‘outsiders’ were being advised of the day’s plans.
Memorial:
- There was a clear feeling that the people from the fire-affected areas were still not ready to consider issues related to the memorial process.
- Manninder will follow up on suggestions that a form of memorial was being considered at the Market.
General Business:
- Rural Finance Grants:
- Maria had provided this information in case any local groups had lost equipment.
- Gail to have this advice placed in the next Newsletter.
- Slashing:
- Following advice that there was no funding available for slashing works on private property, the proposal was dropped.
- Logo:
- It was decided to invite the DV High School, NMIT, local school children, artists and the community to participate in a competition, without prize, to design a SACBRA/St Andrews logo that could be used as an identifier.
- Public meeting:
- Christine Nixon has been invited to attend and explain VBRRA’s funding allocation principles.
- Men’s Shed:
- Helen & Maria are pursuing funding options as well as use of portable buildings.
- Wire collection:
- Approx 4 skip loads have been left at the pick-up site and these cost $300 per skip to remove, but could return around $1,000 each.
- Legacy Arts Project:
- Individual, interested parties are to come back to the next meeting with some ideas.
- Harry Potter books:
- New requests have been received from Barclay family (ineligible), Buckler family (granted), Leonard family (ineligible) and the Pain family (ineligible).
- Warwick will liaise with Miriam about communication, tactfully, with those ineligible families, and arrange, through Ian, for books to be forwarded to eligible families.
- Committee membership:
- At this stage, Cathy Lance has made no decision in respect to joining the committee.
The next meeting will be on Monday 15 February @ School @ 8.00pm.
Meeting closed at 7.45pm.
