Whitehorse Ratepayers and Residents Association Inc,

A 0053805M

WRARA   C/- 5 Tudor Court, Blackburn South, Vic., 3130 Secretary:

                                      Phone: 0425 716 837.

 

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,27th October 2022 held at Mitcham Bowling Club 306 Mitcham Road, Mitcham at 7.30pm

 

WRARA AGM

Meeting opened by President Tanya Tescher at 7.40 pm

 

Present, Tanya Tescher, Cnr Amanda McNeill, Rodney Blackwood, Kath Cummings, Michelle Mayur, Chris White, Joy Olney, David Solly, Kevin Earl, Sam Alcordo,  Brad Crawford,  Brad Crawford, Judy Bruce, Dean Troth, Richard Brown, Phillip Daw, Ian Payne, Anne Payne, Cameron Grant, Speakers Will Fowles, Cynthia Watson, Reuben Steen

Apologies:   Peter Williams, Bill Jamieson, , Eve Pakarinen

 

Previous AGM Minutes were distributed to all members.

Motion moved by Michele Mayur, seconded by Rodney Blackwood: "That the previous Minutes be accepted" - Carried (unanimously)

 

Tanya Tescher as Chairperson welcomed all attendees and acknowledged their participation.

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Presidents Report

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Good evening fellow ratepayers and residents of the city of Whitehorse, Councillor Amanda McNeill and our special guest speakers, Will Fowles MP for Burwood, Liberal candidate for Ringwood, Cynthia Watson and Greens candidate for Ringwood, Reuben Steen. . My name is Tanya Tescher and I am the current president of the Whitehorse Ratepayers and Residents Association and formerly a Whitehorse councillor.

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I would also like to thank the committee members and general members for all their help this year and all the wonderful and inspiring ideas they have provided in relation to issues we have been involved with.

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This might be the first time that some people in the audience have attended an AGM of the Whitehorse Ratepayers and Residents Association and I would briefly like to mention why Whitehorse needs such an organisation and what we do. We are essentially a watchdog on the council as well as an advocacy body for residents and ratepayers not only on council matters but on issues which affect people in the municipality to both state and federal governments. If for example you have an issue with the council involving a matter and you cannot get what you regard as satisfaction from the council officers, we are there as a backstop to advocate for you. Councillors are prevented from interfering with the day to day administration of the council by law. They are there to provide management on a policy basis but the running of the council is in the hands of the CEO. So who can you go to for help if you hit a brick wall in a dispute with the council?. That is one of the reasons that ratepayers need an organisation to help them out.

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Whitehorse is awash with development and residents will often find that suddenly what was previously maybe two properties with one house on each block is planning to be replaced by ten or more with inadequate parking, moonscaping of vegetation and all the ensuing traffic issues. This is not a one off scenario but one which is more frequently happening across many areas. Residents need someone to go to for advice as this might be the first time they have been involved in anything like this. While we are not planners we can try to help steer people in the right direction.

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This has been yet another eventful year. Last year, at this time we were just coming out of our 6th lockdown and our last AGM was held via Zoom and we only recently held our first monthly meeting in person. We decided to hold our AGM this year in Mitcham so that residents in the area  could become more aware of our presence and thereby assist them in whatever matters they need advocating for.

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This year we have had a number of issues that we have been involved with, two major issues of which involved the state government. The first is the process of the removal of the level crossings at Mont Albert and Surrey Hills. The process by which these removals have occurred have led to many distressed residents who are angry about the loss of their much loved park, Lorne Parade Reserve, the loss of the 120 year old Mont Albert station, and countless significant  trees including a number which were planted in commemoration of fallen soldiers. They are also concerned about the new station’s impact on amenity in the area. We have supported these residents in their campaign for a better deal, unfortunately so far with not a great deal of success.

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The next major issue that we have been involved with is the Suburban Rail Loop and especially its effect on planning and the environment. We had been involved in lobbying prior to the enactment of the Suburban Rail Loop Bill which most people do not realise takes away planning authority from the council in areas which may be up to 1.6 kilometres from the rail loop stations. This means that the Suburban Rail Loop Authority is the planning authority in the area and can rezone properties as it wants and residents do not have recourse to VCAT to object to anything going on in their neighbourhood. Whitehorse Council has spent hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars on establishing a plan for the Box Hill Municipal Activity Centre which is now in tatters as they have lost authority in planning of this area. We put in a very detailed submission to the Environmental Effects Statement, which is all we were left able to do and I must thank Michelle Mayur for this. Residents who are not living near the station may be impacted by this legislation if the rail tunnels run under their properties and they may find caveats placed on them, preventing them from doing works without the Authority’s permission.

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Two weeks ago I attended a Metropolitan Transport Forum and was shocked to hear from the ex-CEO of Box Hill Hospital who had examined the plans for the Box Hill area and felt that the plans for the station at Box Hill would endanger lives by reducing traffic lanes on Whitehorse Road leading to ambulances not being able to get through to the hospital in a timely manner, and we heard further from the local MP that Elgar Road would also have its lanes reduced, making traffic a nightmare given that there may be a great increase in traffic coming off the new North East Link. This will affect all Whitehorse residents who traverse through this area.

Other areas in which we have had dealings with the state government because Whitehorse Council have not had authority to remedy matters include rorting of the smart planning legislation whereby an application can be made one day to remove a tree, and the next day another application goes in and so on thus thwarting any landscape overlays that the council may impose. We have also dealt with DELWP in relation to loopholes in state legislation allowing wholesale removal of trees in the Blackburn Lake area but unfortunately in both of these issues we have not been able to get satisfaction.

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With regards to council matters, we have advocated for the increased planting of street trees as part of the budget process and were successful in getting an increase in the last budget for this. Street trees are very important in providing shade in our harsh summers and also for removing carbon dioxide from the environment. Unfortunately our tree canopy has been decreasing year on year due to developers removing trees and inadequate planting of new trees.

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With regards to the council budget, this year the council decided to run a community consultation process prior to developing a budget, but the community was not made aware of it. Councillors held popup forums which in some cases were attended by five people. We lobbied the council to email all residents whose email addresses the council had, to let them know that they could advocate for budget items, but the CEO refused to do this. I wonder how many in the audience were aware of their ability to contribute to the budget process. From conversations with residents that I had, no one was aware of this and this represents in my opinion, window dressing of the consultation process.

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An important new item that has emerged this year is the fact that there will be a waste service charge as part of the rates notices. This was recently voted on by council and will mean that there is a separate charge on rates notices for waste removal and another charge for rates. This, according to council, is to demonstrate the cost of waste removal but in my opinion will allow for increased charges by stealth, as this charge is not subject to rate capping. Council says that the waste service charge is necessary because the government has doubled land fill charges and so they must recoup their costs, as this is difficult to do under the current rate capping regime. We will need to see what the effect on total charges will be in the coming years. There has been talk that the rate capping regime may end and this will mean that rates may increase dramatically. If this is the case then we will be campaigning for moderation in such increases.

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Another initiative that council has undertaken this year has been the introduction of FOGO, which means that food scraps can be put into green bins and then taken away to be made into fertiliser. This is a great initiative and is long overdue as many other councils have been involved in this process for a number of years now. On the subject of recycling , we have advocated to council to have a directory available to all residents in a number of languages telling them how they can recycle all manner of items and we sent them an example from another council. They have now agreed to pursue this and we see this as a major initiative to reduce waste. To this extent we have advocated for alternative ways of waste disposal of rubbish which is not able to be recycled, but as yet the council has not been prepared to follow through.

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On the issue of consultation, we were made aware that the council was attempting to transform the previously named Healesville Reserve into a sporting arena, without proper consultation of the residents. As a result of lobbying a somewhat more proper consultation process has begun to determine what should eventuate in the area. This is precious parkland and residents were concerned that they would lose the area in its entirety for passive recreation which has proved especially necessary for mental wellbeing during the numerous lockdowns.

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Another important issue that we have been involved with in relation to council is drainage. We were made aware that there may be inadequacies in planning for appropriate drainage and that current drainage may be nearing the end of its working life. This is particularly relevant given the large amount of rainfall that we have been having, and the large amount of development that has taken place in the area. We have been made aware of blocked drains in the Mitcham area and if the whole area of drainage is not properly addressed we may have areas subject to flooding.

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As you can see, state government issues have dominated the year but we have still tried to keep an eye on the council and have put submissions into the budget in keeping with our mission to keep an eye on council activities as well as promoting the importance of trees and the environment that residents have come through the lockdowns to appreciate the importance of. We are always on the lookout to look at novel ideas in relation to recycling and other ways of helping with reduction of carbon emissions.

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We are a very active group and I believe that we are trying to ensure that Whitehorse is a city that people enjoy living in.

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Thank you so much for coming along tonight and I hope that you will join us on our mission to ensure ratepayers’ and residents’ rights and that good value is provided for ratepayers’ monies.

 

 

Motion moved by Michelle Mayur and seconded by Kath Cummings: "That the President's Report    be accepted" - Carried.

 

Treasurer's Report

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The Treasurer tabled a statement of cash flows for the year ended 30 June 2022.

Bank balance is $1123.59

Motion moved by Rodney Blackwood seconded by Kevin Earl: "That the report be accepted" - Carried

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Elections

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The chairperson (president) vacated the chair, and Cnr. Amanda McNeill assumed the chair for the election.

Cnr McNeill updated us on some Whitehorse Council issues – Rates service charge and promotion FOGO  green bin system, a push for State Government funding for drainage works.

 

Election of committee All positions were declared vacant.

With only one nomination per position, the results were declared as follows:-

                        President – Tanya Tescher

                        Vice President – Rodney Blackwood

                        Secretary - Kath Cummings

                        Treasurer - Kath Cummings

                        General Committee - Chris White, Eve Pakarinen, Michelle Mayur, Kevin Earl

 

General Business

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Nil.

 

The WRARA Annual General Meeting was declared closed at: 8 .10 pm.

 

Meet the Candidates for the Ringwood District

 

Speakers:   1. Will Fowles – Labour

                   2. Cynthia Watson – Liberal

                   3. Reuben Steen - Greens

                   

Each speaker spoke for approximately 10 minutes followed by questions and interesting discussion.

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Meeting closed 9.30pm