The Tuross
Head Beach patrol 2010/2011 meeting 19/9/2010
Above: an after meeting photo L to R VRA's David Campbell,
Geoff Ward, John Southen, Chris Kowal, Nick Walton and Fred
Vezis
Local
business owners, concerned residents, the Eurobodalla Shire
Mayor, Councilors and concerned residents met at the Tern
Inn on Sunday afternoon 19th September to discuss the Councils
decision to withdraw funding of the annual summer Beach Patrol.
It was
revealed to the meeting that, following a Christmas holiday
cancellation, the likely financial impact of Council’s
decision to businesses in Tuross would be considerable. No
beach Patrol means no summer visitors and even just one fatality
on an unpatrolled Tuross main beach would see considerable
marketing damage to the town.
A statement
was read of the history to date of Councils decision and subsequent
actions that had been taken to arrive at the meeting being
held.
In an email
from Council they stated “Across the Shire we continue
to seek alternate ways of funding the paid life guard services
for the upcoming summer period” ……”clubs
to put back into their community through income associated
with poker machine licensing arrangements”….:
“We have approached Tuross club in this regard.”
A Director
of the Tuross Head Country Club, Fred Vezis said that neither
he nor his general manager had been approached in this regard.
Mayor Fergus
Thomson said that the CEO of the Catalina Country club that
had been approached to date in discussions as he represented
the body of South Coast clubs who made community contributions
via poker machine licensing arrangements
The floor
then opened up for questions and answers. The following are
point form questions, statements and responses that will hopefully
keep concerned residents and business owners up to date.
“Last
year there were 45 lives saved in Eurobodalla. This equates
to a cost to Council of $3,500 per life”
“$150,000
is the best value that Council could invest in”
“Tuross
Head does not have a club the size of Catalina Country Club
to provide the $24,000 and there is no “Stocklands”
in Tuross” (Catalina and the Village Shopping Centre
have contributed $50,000 in sponsorship to providing beach
patrols this year to northern beaches)
Mayor Thomson
stated that there is a moral responsibility for Council to
ensure there is a beach patrol in Tuross and acknowledged
a community expectation
The Mayor
was asked to outline the process that saw Council arrive at
the decision to withdraw funding:
He said
that Council had gone through its Management Plan and identified
a shortfall of $4.5 million. With rates pegged at 2.6% Council
could not meet its commitments. With readjustments to its
budget Council still found itself $900,000 short. A forum
was held and Councilors looked at areas of further savings.
Funding of Beach Patrols came into this final cut. It was
then revealed that if the rate increase request was not met
the cuts would be set in place. There was no approval for
rate variation and Council then completed its Management Plan
for the next five years – Youth services were given
a second chance however funding for beach patrols was axed.
The Management Plan went ahead.
A question
regarding the reasons behind Councils inability to secure
a rate variation was asked with the intent to question Councils
overall management capability. This line of questioning was
stopped as it was deemed to focus on what had already happened
and not assist with finding any solution to the current problem
of an unfunded Tuross beach patrol.
Mayor Thomson
stated that they had paid for the beach patrols in the past.
This has come about by Council picking up non-core responsibilities
that are normally covered elsewhere by volunteer bodies, State
Government or key sponsors.
With over
40kms of beaches in Eurobodalla Shire mayor Thomson believes
that National Parks also have a responsibility to provision
of beach patrols at locations such as Dalmeny and Moruya South.
If NPWS assisted in picking up “the tab” the overall
burden would be reduced.
As a member
of surf lifesaving for 49 years Mayor Thomson has used his
association to assist in discussions with Australian Lifesaving
to find solutions using the local surfclub volunteers more
effectively in conjunction with professional lifesavers employed.
With his
discussions with sponsors for the annual beach patrol Mayor
Thomson was excited at the possibilities of new relationships
being formed and opportunities growing between Life Saving
providers and sponsors.
Council
is presently looking for a short term solution – these
sponsorship arrangements are not longterm. When asked “what
is the long term outcome?” Mayor Thomson replied “We
don’t know – we will solve this year first”
It was
revealed to the meeting that the decision to not fund the
beach patrol was in Councils five year management plan. This
means that the annual pursuit of sponsors will become the
norm.
David Campbell,
president of Tuross VRA told the meeting that the need to
go cap in hand to sponsors each year is tiring and laboursome
with the constant fear of not being able to raise the necessary
funds to continue the provision of rescue services.
The same
would be discovered if it was now necessary for the community
to go cap in hand to residents, businesses and sponsors each
year in an attempt to raise the $24,000 required.
David also
made it clear that beach rescues ae outside the scope of the
Marine Rescue and that they do not have the manpower to provide
any backup service of beach patrol provision. It was also
noted that the response time for the VRA would be considerable
longer than that able to be provided by a beach patrol on
location at the time.
Whilst
it has been noted that six lives were recorded as being saved
by the Tuross Beach patrol in 2008/2009 it was also noted
that there were many unrecorded rescues carried out each summer
outside of the beach patrol hours.
In regards
to a long term solution Mayor Thomson mentioned consideration
of a Beach Patrol Levy or a bed tax that might cover the required
$150,000 per year shirewide.
It was
revealed that to date there is a shortfall of $60,000 in promises
and sponsorship to the required $150,000.
Mayor Thomson
was asked “Can Council assure the residents and visitors
to Tuross head that there will be a beach patrol for summer
2010/2011 if sponsors of the patrol to Tuross Head can not
be found?”
Mayor Thomson
skirted this pointed question by saying that Council has a
moral obligation to finding a solution.
A resident
suggested that a large organisation might like to cover the
total cost and market it as “Lifesaving Eurobodalla”
rather than the reliance on smaller contributors who might
not be there for the long run.
It was
noted that tourism in Australia suffers everytime there is
a drowning and that all incoming international flights run
an educational video about swimming between the flags.
“Would
Council go back and do a risk assessment on the impact of
a drowning in the Eurobodalla Shire to local business?”
It was
revealed that there was no specific motion on the withdrawal
of beach patrol funds and that the decision was covered by
a Councilor vote on the five year management plan.
A resident
raised the question of whether Council had a duty of care
if they invite visitors to our beaches and don’t provide
a beach patrol service.
Mayor Thomson
responded saying that there are many more beaches in the Shire
that remain unpatrolled and that the drownings reported for
last year were outside of any patrolled beach area. It would
be impossible to provide a service to all these beaches.
Mayor Thomson
again said that Council does have a moral duty however it
does not have the funds and if Tuross could just make a contribution….
Again it
was asked if an assurity of provision of a beach patrol could
be undertaken by Council if no sponsors came forward for Tuross
Head. It was stated that the situation was of major concern
to residents and businesses and that Council, in the past,
had plucked funds ($170,000) from thin air for construction
of the Tuross rivermouth rockwall that also placed the community
at risk.
When asked
what Eurobodalla Tourism was doing about the current negative
press and the need to tamp out media fires that are flaring
up which will have a detrimental effect on the marketing and
promotion of Product Tourism Eurobodalla it was revealed that
Tourism Eurobodalla had not been approached to provide any
shortfall. No risk assessment had been carried out by Council
to measure the corporate loss and potential shire wide loss
of their decision to withdraw $150,000 funding.
It was
revealed that this year, with the current configuration of
the beach and rivermouth visitors will get into trouble. With
six lives saved in 2008/2009 it was clearly stated that “without
a beach patrol at Tuross this summer there is a high probability
of visitors getting into trouble in the water”
Mayor Thomson
responded with “You care and we care”
“We
will continue to do what we can and we will work to cover
it this year and to look at further outcomes”
Mayor Thomson
committed to the meeting that he would use his media opportunities
to get the message across of the Tuross meeting and his commitment
to provide a beach patrol this summer.
Mayor Thomson was hopeful of having an answer for
the Tuross community, one way or another, within the next
three weeks.
"Discussions are looking positive"
Many thanks
to Nick and Diane of the Tern Inn for hosting the meeting,
to the Tuross business representatives for organizing the
meeting, the VRA , The Tuross Head Country Club directors,
the Tuross Head Progress Association executive members and
to concerned residents for attending this vibrant meeting
and special thanks to mayor Thomson, Councilor Pollock, Councilor
Kowal and Councilor Scobie for taking time from their Sunday
afternoon to listen to the concerns of the Tuross Head community.
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