Item 7.2 - Attachment 1 |
Previous Report |
ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT
ITEM NUMBER 4.1
SUBJECT Parramasala
Festival
REFERENCE F2008/00400 - D01552127
REPORT OF Manager City Culture, Tourism and Recreation;
General Counsel
PURPOSE: The purpose of this report is to update Council of progress in respect
of the governance structure for the entity that is proposed to have
operational responsibility for the Parramasala festival and outline the
approach to be followed to finalise that structure. |
(a) That Council receive and note the
information contained within this report (b) That Council endorses the approach to
governance and company formation outlined in this report; and (c) Further,
that Council delegates to the Chief Executive Officer authority to negotiate
and enter into (on behalf of the Council) a binding sponsorship in terms of
the MOU between Events NSW and the Council. |
BACKGROUND
1. At the Council meeting of 14 December 2010, Council resolved:
“(a) That Council give in-principle support to
the proposal to develop a major multi-faceted festival of South Asian culture
for
(b) That Council support the establishment
of an MOU between
(c) That Council give in-principle support
to the proposed governance structure;
(d) That Council recognise that this
opportunity will be delivered by the whole of Council, especially to capitalise
on the economic and social benefits of the event;
(e) That Council give in-principle
commitment to the direct cash investment by Council in the Festival as detailed
in the body of this report;
(f) Further, that Council commit to the
in-kind support of other elements for the proposed event including where
possible, in-kind support from within relevant budgets.”
2. A MOU between Council and Events NSW was signed
on 17 February 2010. This MOU reflects
the direction given by the Council in the above resolution. Relevantly, it outlines the project objectives
and the responsibilities of the parties.
REPORT
3. The governance structure envisaged is a company
limited by guarantee. The Council and
Events NSW would be members of the company.
The directors of the company would be appointees of Events NSW and the
Council together with an independent director.
It is intended that the Council appointees will be the persons holding
the positions of Lord Mayor and Chief Executive Officer and 1 appropriate staff
member. This governance structure is
used in other similar circumstances (for example the Sydney Festival).
4. Early work on the
organisation of the event has progressed pending formation of the company. Both the Council and Events NSW have been
providing the support outlined in the MOU.
5. The prior approval of the Minister for Local
Government (Minister) is required
before the company is formally created by registration with ASIC. Application has been made for this consent
and pursued by both Council staff and Events NSW staff.
6. The Minister’s consent is not to hand.
Event preparation has reached the stage where formation of the company
is now time critical because of operational considerations. Event preparation may be adversely affected
if the company formation is further delayed.
7. There has been no
formal response from the Minister or the Division of Local Government (DLG) to the application for
consent. Council staff has learned
informally that the Minister has concerns about workforce implications. In the absence of any dialogue it is difficult
to understand what drives this concern.
Formation of the company has no workforce implications for Council and
this has been addressed in the application for consent. Both Events NSW and Council will continue to
press for feedback from the Minister or the DLG in order to address these issues.
8. Council staff do not
support formation of the envisaged company without the Minister’s consent.
9. An alternate
governance structure has been proposed to work around the difficulties posed by
the absence of the Minister’s consent.
The alternative approach is summarised below:
a. At the
outset Council will not to be a shareholder or hold any directorships.
b. Council
will continue to provide the support outlined in the MOU and this support is to
be delivered under formal sponsorship arrangement with a binding sponsorship
agreement.
c. A company
limited by guarantee would be formed.
The members would be Events NSW and Philip Rolfe (the Parramasala CEO
and Festival Director). The
directorships would be held by Events NSW appointees, Philip Rolfe and an
independent. The Council will not
appoint any directors.
10. In concert with Events
NSW steps can be taken to revise the membership and directorships of the
company to align with what was originally proposed after the Minister’s consent
is to hand.
11. In practical terms,
the outcomes for the Council remain the same.
The objectives of the MOU remain unchanged as do the responsibilities of
both the Council and Events NSW in terms of event preparation and delivery.
12. To ensure that the
opportunities that Parramasala presents for the Council and the City are fully
explored and Council’s responsibilities are delivered using a “whole of Council
approach”, a cross-functional team has been formalised.
13. A formal project
request for the direct cash investment by Council in the Festival (as detailed
in the MOU) was submitted to Council as part of the budget planning process and
has been included in Councils Delivery Plan which is currently on public
exhibition.
There are no attachments for this report.
REFERENCE MATERIAL