Item 11.4 - Attachment 2

Community Advisory Committee Minutes 2 February 2010

MINUTES FOR THE COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN MEETING ROOMS 1 & 2, GROUND FLOOR, COUNCIL CHAMBER BUILDING, CIVIC PLACE, PARRAMATTA ON THURSDAY, 2 February 2010, COMMENCING AT 6:10PM.

PRESENT

Jim Grainda, Jane Ho (arrived 6:30pm), Mlinda Kumar, Phillip Russo, Paul Hurley (arrived 6:15pm) and Chris Bertinshaw

IN ATTENDANCE

Maggie Kyle – Community Capacity Building Officer, Tanya Owen – Community Capacity Building Officer and Joy Bramham – Minute Clerk

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS

Maggie Kyle acknowledged the Burramatugal Clan of The Darug, the traditional land owners of Parramatta and paid respect to the elders both past and present.

2. WELCOME

Maggie Kyle welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending

3. APOLOGIES (/)

Apologies were received from Marivic Manalo, Susan Davies, Brian Richardson and Mark Egan. Mark Egan was unable to attend due to not being informed of the meeting.

NOTE: Paul Hurley arrived at the meeting at 6:15 during consideration of this matter and as such created a quorum.

4. CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATION

There were no declarations made regarding conflict of interest at this meeting.

5. Election of Chair and Deputy Chair (Russo/Grainda)

Maggie Kyle called for nominations for the position of Chair Person.

The nominations received for Chairperson, in alphabetical order, were:-

(1) Phillip Russo

There being no further nominations, Maggie Kyle declared Phillip duly elected as Pro Tem Chair Person. The official Chair Person to be elected when the committee is further established.

6. Confirmation of Minutes

Due to a lack of quorum at the previous meeting there are no formal minutes. The notes from the previous meeting were confirmed

7. Business Arising

There was no business arising from the previous meeting as the previous meeting was mainly a summation of the committee’s role.

Phillip Russo questioned if other Councils had adopted similar strategies for community engagement. Maggie Kyle replied that there had been a push for council’s to communicate with the community. Councils are using formal methods (Camden and Picton Councils’ “People Parliaments”) as well as informal (Brisbane Councils online real time Blog)

Chris Bertinshaw requested that the Issues forums be renamed “Community Forums” in a similar was Waverley Council conducts “Precinct Forums” to avoid the word “issues” and the negative connotations.

8. Calender of Meeting/ Programs

8.1 New Calender time line

The proposed calendar of events timeline has been changed from the Terms of Reference to include 3 not 6 Neighbourhood Issues programs and delay the first one until after the debrief on the running of the LGA forum.

Note: Jane Ho arrived at 6:31pm during consideration of this matter

8.2 Format of LGA forum

Maggie Kyle discussed how the forum could be run. The first hour would include 2-3 keynote speakers who had very clearly defined and specific topics to discuss (i.e. the demographics, service models that have been successful). The community participation would include discussions either as a whole or in groups on what is working and what needs to be looked at. This would encourage momentum and continue to further the issue.

Paul Hurley asked if it would be possible to send participant information packs prior to the forum to allow for informed discussions.

Aside from facilitating the event, would be required to focus on what is being said, as everyone interprets feelings and attitudes differently. The committee would also be responsible for evaluating the process of the forum, so that improvements can be made for future forums.

The Neighbourhood forums would involve less formal presentation of information than an LGA forum and it would also include other relevant Council officers

Maggie Kyle emphasised that although the Community Capacity Building Team may take some action through the forum, Parramatta Council, at this time, have only committed to receiving bimonthly reports.

The tabled suggested topics for consideration were a result from a brainstorm with the Community Capacity Building Team and are a starting point for ideas.

9. Identifying the LGA wide issues Forums

9.1 Possible Topics for LGA Program

Housing NSW Renewal Projects

· The demographics of neighbourhoods are changing, especially in Dundas and north Parramatta.

· Regeneration or redevelopment projects can relocate people, especially neighbourhoods that look dysfunctional and so there is a loss of community

· People are significantly disempowered. This might be a very multilayered, difficult topic

Graffiti

· While Graffiti is part of young people and crime prevention, its also a large topic that could dominate discussion.

State of Infrastructure

· Including development issues

· Lack of council control i.e. Corner of Albert and O’Connell Streets.

· The physical environment and who is involved

· Which department does what

· The Local Government plan and what it means for residents

· Include people from Planning, land and environment, heritage, Land use and transport planning

· How the public an influence decisions.

Change and coping with Change

· Everything is always changing and finding the balance between innovation and unsustainable change

· Is not just relevant to Parramatta

· Start with the family and then will spread from there.

· Need to focus i.e. the changing neighbourhoods or will get too large

· Include religious organisations

· Parramatta is not a residential community anymore. Harris Park is a student area; North Parramatta is a professional area.

Improving Links

· Access to services and links to community

· Include state departments, police, local government departments, politicians

· Does this topic assume a level of existing knowledge of who does what role and what that entails?

· What can Parramatta Council do for you regarding: Planning development etc

· Introduction given at the forum – who can address other issues, this is what council can do, this is what others can do, barriers to services, facilitating aces to other services

· Part of civic education and advocacy –might help to seed actions

· Why it is so hard to discover what services provide a particular service

· Very broad topic that needs to be focused

CBD

· Later in the year to hold a forum specifically for people who work in Parramatta and held during work hours.

9.2 Summation of topic

· Not a volatile subject

· Is interesting to both committee and community

· Focused on a particular aspect so that action might be taken

· Can get good / interesting keynote speakers

· Engages the community – get back “real” answers

9.3 Venue

The forum will consist of 2-3 keynote speakers in the first hour with very focused outlines. Before breaking into smaller groups to further discuss issues.

The first LGA forum should be held in the CBD in the Jubilee room at Town Hall.

The committee agreed that the forum would rum from 7- 9pm to allow people who work in the city time to commute, but is not so late that people that work in Parramatta would not want to wait.

The Committee agreed to a mid March date. Suggested dates were: - Wednesday 17 March 2010 and Thursday 18 March 2010 subject to room availabilities.

The committee decided that the topic for the first LGA forum would be about community access with a focus on what council does and how the community can access council services. There can be an emphasis on what services are available i.e. web based facilities. The forum could also look at what groups already access council resources, barriers that stop people from accessing Council facilities, what has been done to increase access to services and what can be done in the future to increase access. State government services could be included but the emphasis should be on Council which has over a hundred different services (library, pools, heritage, events). Suggest that people attend from home support, hard infrastructure, LEP etc.

The forum will be publicised through the Council column in the paper, the Community Capacity Building email networks and through committee members’ networks.

Action: Tanya Owen and Maggie Kyle to draft a flyer to email to members to get suggestions and feedback.

The role of the Committee would be to be a visible presence at the forum and to interpret the mood and process of the forum for Council staff. Two members (Phillip Russo and Chris Bertinshaw) to MC and Facilitate the forum.

Action: Maggie Kyle to draft a program and email to members for comment and feedback

The next meeting will be held immediately prior to the LGA forum at 6pm on the convenient date.

10. General Business and Information Sharing

Paul Hurley asked if committee members could have the raw data on developments. Maggie Kyle took this question under advisement.

NEXT MEETING

6pm, 18 March 2010

Jubilee Room

Town Hall

The meeting concluded at 7:40 pm