Significant moments within the Townsville City Council chamber
Townsville City Councillors made decisions on the North Rail Yards, pipeline upgrades, and supporting V8 Supercars at this week’s meeting.
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As a new interim chief executive watched on, Townsville City councillors discussed the meatier and more technical aspects of bureaucracy within four hours at this week’s general meeting.
The meeting began awkwardly with technical difficulties as the recording system lagged and put Mayor Troy Thompson’s opening announcement on a loop.
But councillors recovered after a few minutes to soon receive presentations, debate development permits and listen to the progress of significant projects.
In recent meetings there had been drama with challenges to leadership direction, and repetitive rejection of mayoral motions.
The vibe of this meeting felt withdrawn in comparison and at least one of the councillors looked like they were suffering from a flu going around.
However, there were significant decisions and approvals given.
These were the key ones:
1. ReefHQ budget bashing
Townsville Enterprise Limited’s CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith was fired up over the underwhelming federal budget announced the night before, but she hid it well while giving an update on the advocacy group’s progress to the council.
TEL and Smart Precinct NQ presented, with only a few minutes focused on the lack of financial commitment to the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium, which needed an additional $100m, and was a vital part of the Waterfront Development.
Mayor Troy Thompson asked if TEL could lobby from the $9.3b surplus, and whether construction could begin on the aquarium before all funding was committed.
Ms Brumme-Smith said that all funding would be needed to be secured first, but that TEL would certainly be targeting the surplus.
“That’s exactly where we need to go,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
“We won’t let this slip.
“The first $80m that we’ve got under the city deal was really to refurbish ReefHQ, because back then they thought they could just rebuild around the tank.
“Now when they actually demolished it they realised it’s done, so the additional $100m we’re looking for is really to rebuild the tank as well.
“And prices have gone up but still they spend $500m on the war memorial, $200m on the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
“If that facility was in Canberra we’d get the money.
“My strong sense is the city needs to step up between now and the federal election to really ensure that the $100m is coming our way.”
TEL chairman Kevin Gill said Tony Abbott once commented on the group’s formidable lobbying, but accidentally said “Prime Minister Tony Mooney” instead.
Councillors laughed at the gaff referring to the past Townsville mayor, including Mr Mooney’s son Liam.
2. Pipeline renewal: ‘Final go or not go’
Council operations are planning the final stages to connect the 9.4km Ross River Dam to Douglas Water Treatment Plant between May 20 to June 25.
While deputy mayor Paul Jacob provided an update on these works earlier this week, the general manager of major projects, Marc Woodhead, provided more of the technical details in the chamber.
The replacement of the old concrete pipeline from Ross River Dam to the Douglas Water Treatment Plant is nearly completed.
The last 100 metres will be tricky, and once that section begins water will instead be pumped from a temporary system, which will put a strain on the city’s water access.
Four connections known as “tie-ins” need to be made at the dam, treatment plant and booster pump station, and once that begins the pipeline can’t be used until completion.
The point of no return will be Monday next week.
“There will be a final go or no go discussions, that’s currently a go because we’ve been planning this for eight months now,” Mr Woodhead said.
“The only thing that will stop it is a significant weather event or an event at the Douglas Water Treatment Plant that we haven’t anticipated that occurs over the next few days.”
Residents will be asked to restrict their water supply to essential use on May 20-22, May 31, June 1.
“We were going to ask to conserve even higher to level 4 but we’ve increased the availability of one of those pumps so now we’re confident that we can stick to conserve message for the entire tie-in period,” he said.
Ann-Maree Greaney said “I love the go, no go, sounds like a space shuttle launch.
“What happens if there is a severe event while this is all occurring? Does that impact?”
Mr Woodhead said, “it will just slow it down.
“Contractors that are putting this together, they’ve built habitats right around their work areas, so all it will do is just slow it down.
“We’ve allowed 14 days for what we think will take 10 days, so what we’re doing is under-promising and over-delivering.”
3. ‘Bit of a dog’s breakfast’
When there’s debate in the chamber, the recently fired up Suzy Batkovic and newcomer Andrew Robinson, a scrutineer of procedure and numbers, can often be at odds.
The most divisive conversation of the meeting was the debate over a development permit for 14 units, health care services and a pharmacy in Douglas.
Ms Batkovic led the charge against the proposal for 12-14 Waverley Lane and she said further build-up could create a “debacle” in the community.
She supported more housing in principle but said existing townhouses in Douglas already had a shortage of parking, the lane was narrow, and that ambulance access could be problematic.
“These houses and these townhouses have been there for a very long time so they’ve been parking at the back of there, so essentially we’re going to be saying ‘you can’t park there anymore’,” she said.
“You’re going to cause a problem somewhere else.”
Mr Robinson said the applicant had fulfilled the planning requirements which had previously been determined by the council, and offered more parking than was required of them.
“I certainly agree with Cr Batkovic’s view that it’s a bit of a dog’s breakfast, the whole traffic management plan, and it is fairly narrow streets,” he said.
“But again, should we be punishing somebody who is abiding by the rules and putting forward their proposal based on previous … decisions?”
In the end the total vote went against the development permit four-seven, with Andrew Robinson, Brodie Phillips, Ann-Maree Greaney and Brady Ellis supporting it.
The mayor opposed it because he was concerned a build-up in the lane would impact services for existing properties, while the deputy mayor said he could have supported the proposal if the lane was a one-way street.
A request was also approved to override the planning scheme to allow an additional shopping space near the Domain Precinct in 37 Greg Jabs Drive in Garbutt.
Kurt Rehbein objected to the proposal and said the intention of the precinct needed to be considered.
It was an industrial area but he accepted the precinct contained an increasingly commercial area.
“This being on the corner starts stepping outside that realm in my view and my opinion, that’s the reason for my concern” he said.
“However, we’ve already got drivethroughs going in Domain and a shopping centre that’s popped up, it’s going away from what’s in our activities centre plan for Domain while it was all about warehouses and supporting that warehouse function.
“Now we’re getting more into a commercial space in various forms.”
4. North Rail Yards: “Whatever means is legally possible”
All councillors agreed to transfer four land parcels that make up the North Rail Yards to a “special purpose vehicle company” of the same name.
It would be made up of a board of directors who could attract funding and negotiate with housing developers at an appropriate distance from the council.
Several councillors and Mr Thompson questioned the process but gave their support after listening to chief legal officer David Sewell.
“My concerns as has been published is the North Rail Yards and the creation of the company is something quite unusual for a council, is that the case … is that normal practice of council?” Mr Thompson said.
Mr Sewell said the council already developed special purpose vehicles that had grown and developed of their own, including NQ Spark, and TEL, and it was something it would like to do more of in the future.
“Our mantra is to grow Townsville and we’re doing it by whatever means is legally possible,” he said.
“Given that it’s (North Rail Yards) contaminated we need effectively funding for government in order to progress any development of that site which will be rather expensive and we’d prefer council didn’t bear all of that cost because no developer is going to step in to contribute all of that cost.”
Interim CEO Joe McCabe finally was called to speak in his first open council meeting when Ms Greaney asking if the Gold Coast City Council, where he previously worked, also used special purpose companies.
Mr McCabe said the Gold Coast did use them and gave his advice on how to best handle them.
“My point of view is be very clear what the objectives are, you need to get those right,” he said.
“You need to appoint the right directors and you need to constantly review their performance.
“If you do the work upfront then they meander along and eventually you get to the point you don’t think they’re serving a purpose.
“If they’re not serving their purpose dissolve it and do it another way.”
5. Townsville outvotes regional councils
Mr Rehbein is set to become the Local Government Association of Queensland’s district representative, beating Hinchinbrook mayor Ramon Jayo for the position.
Townsville controls the majority of votes for LGAQ’s District 9 which includes Hinchinbrook, Burdekin and Charters Towers, meaning that the city’s councillors preference decides the outcome.
Townsville City Council controls eight votes while the three other councils total six votes.
They previously chose him as their preferred candidate over Ms Greaney, in a vote that split the chamber four-seven.
Townsville mayor Troy Thompson said he met with a regional mayor over the issue and that they expressed concern that councillors were able to be given the role.
But Mr Rehbein said several major councils such as Brisbane and Ipswich had chosen to have a councillor represent them over a mayor.
He said the LGAQ could become a “useful tool” to lobby governments beyond the scope of state and federal parliamentarians.
“LGAQ provides a very loud voice for you if you take policy or a motion to the LGAQ annual conference.
“If it is supported by the other 77 councils or the majority thereof, it becomes a blinding platform that LGAQ have to follow,” he said.
Mr Rehbein said he would love to represent the region, and that he had grown up in the Burdekin alongside the mayor’s nephew, while he had cousins that lived in Hinchinbrook.
“I love the region and would love to represent District 9,” he said.
6. Confidential – V8 Supercar event
Behind closed doors councillors discussed a request to write-off rates and charges, but also the decision to support the 2024 V8 Supercar Townsville 500 event.
Mr Thompson said the acting CEO would also negotiate for a five-year agreement after the event was held on July 5-7, which the council would endorse at a later meeting.
Every councillor agreed with the decision.
The council released a press release after the meeting with additional comments.
“Council has made the decision to support the 2024 NTI Townsville 500 to ensure we are maximising the benefit to the community,” he said.
“There is no doubt the V8s provide tens of millions of dollars into the local economy, but this must be weighed against the cost of supporting these big events and the return on investment for our ratepayers,” Mr Thompson said.
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