The development of the Logan Public Health Plan aims to set the framework for:You can see the paper and the background documents at Item HC5 starting on page 12. The presenting officer was supported by Dr Davey from the university. They said that the evaluation was based on the documents from the inception of the plan to its end. There was a little boast about it except the fact that the city was awarded a WHO prize for its concept and delivery at a conference in Japan. Some of you may remember this linked post.· Enhancing integrated and collaborative planning for improved ‘health’ in Logan;
· Implementing effective planning mechanisms, which identify and respond to local public health needs;
· Identifying how services can be better accessed by the community for their health needs; and
·Engaging the community in decision-making on health needs and services.
You may have seen some of the buzz-words for the program—EAT PLAY LIVE WELL LOGAN being the most recognisable. The presenter said that 76% of 92 actions were completed in the plan and 24% achieved significant progress. The only, but to me significant, criticism by them was that the wording of the objectives was vague.
When you put together the fact that the objectives of the plan were vague and that they are telling us that 76% were completed how can we believe that the easy and vague ones were not numbered in that percentage? Were the 24% that they are still trying to achieve, eighteen months later, the least vague objectives and they turned out to be too hard to complete?
We weren't told that because they, the officers and the university, want councillors to believe that the public health plan was a great success and should get funded by the council again in the 2010–2011 financial year with a commitment for the following four years too. Cr Power asked what we got the WHO awards for and was laughed at. Cr Grant pointed to wording on page 18 of the report that he thought should be fixed before next week's meeting.
I would not be ploughing a single cent into the project until it had a lot of work to fix it done. Certainly not a penny-piece of the $3 million they are looking for from various sources.
Item HC1 about the Energise Program was passed without pause. Item HC2 about the KRANK program attracted some questions. In response to one the officer said that KRANK was dreamed up by a group of young people brainstorming names that would be symbolic and ring other's bells. Cr Power wanted to publicise to the youth how much the council was caring for them; so that they would be more grateful, I expect. He then suggested that councillors might like to find a better name for the program!
Item HC3 to change the date for the Safe City Advisory Committee's next meeting to 19 May was rattled off. Item HC4 attracted a number of comments about the provision of a water sports facility. Some councillors had other ideas where the facility could be built. All of them were rather good suggestions and most were non-parochial. In the end the officers went off with a flea in their ears about looking around the city with an open mind.
There was a fairly long, carping, general business for the Sports Facilities Manager. Cr Power, ever the one to chuck in a handgrenade or two, lobbed in the cost of sports facilities to the parents of keen school-age children. He pointed to a $12 fee for a half-hour session of basketball when the lesser players might only be on the court for ten minutes maximum. I though of suggesting that they come to Brushwood Park here where there was a half-court that was free most of the time!
Some councillors have no idea how primitive the conditions are in the outer reaches of the city. It is going to have to change as the Flagstone and Yarrabilba towns get up and running. Most councillors will be facing rearrangement of their divisions in a big way too. It needs reminding some of them that they are going to have to campaign in areas of the city that they have denigrated for so long up till now.
One of the discussions was about the costs to the city of operating swimming pools. This came about, in part, by them being told how much contribution the council made towards the Greenbank School's pool that is used by the public. I'm sure that they are going to see that the support the Jimboomba and Greenbank school pools is cost-effective compared with building and maintaining council's own pools in those areas.
That meeting closed at 9.54 am and the Customer and Corporate Services committee got under way at 10.04. Items CC5, 2 and 1 were done with quickly. Item CC3, about a Volunteers' Day was discussed with some sincerity and councillors were want to support the officers determination to expand the number of volunteers to be thanked from 450 to at least 1500. The mayor, who had turned up to listen, hoped that councillors would volunteer themselves to help and keep down the number being paid to work that day. That suggestion was not wildly supported. And I did not hear, probably on purpose, the few grumbles from the table.
There was a discussion of the Mayor's Christmas Carols event last year and its success. The officers wanted to continue to hold it at Logan Brothers on the second Saturday from 2010 onward. Someone pointed out that that clashed with another event so it was decided, for this year, to hold the carols in Friday 17 December between 6 pm and 9.30 pm. You can see a summary of the funding at CC4 and it is expected to escalate each year. And that ended the meeting at 10.39 am.
I'm not able to get to Thursday's meeting, but you will be able to grab the agenda by 8.30 am.


