City of Perth Council Meeting: 27 July 2021

Please find below my latest update after the July Council meeting held at 5pm yesterday. As usual, these are my own thoughts and not representative of my colleagues or the administration.

1) Cr Sandy Anghie takes the reigns

Congratulations?Sandy?for chairing the Council meeting while our Lord Mayor takes some well earned leave to enjoy the Olympics. He'll be back in the chair in a fortnight.

Our Deputy Lord Mayor encountered some of the rudest, most obnoxious behaviour I've seen from the public during our time together on Council. Sandy handled it professionally and with ease. A proud team moment, backed up by our CEO Michelle Reynolds and Governance Manager Danielle Uniza. Well done to all.

2) Light It Up - Adelaide Terrace Pedestrian Bridge

The?East Perth Community Group, including?Raj Doshi, have been calling out for investment in our Adelaide Terrace entry for the better part of 18 months.

Council has finally given the tick of approval to light up the white pedestrian bridge, with the flakey eyesore set to undergo a $140k makover by the end of the year. Well done to all involved, especially Cr Sandy Anghie for starting the project just after our election. It's great to see another community-led project funded and supported by its new Council.?You can view the design on page 22 of our agenda.

3) Cutting Red Tape

In the nine months we've served together, I'm happy to report our red tape reduction efforts have yielded some impressive results. It's the boring and unsexy part of grassroots government, but it's a project I have championed right from the start, so I am proud to say we've cut 47 Council policies, streamlined a further 15 and added 14 new policies to help address a backlog of work arising from the City of Perth inquiry. You can review the results?here?(page 354 - 360).

4) Community Group Insurance Scheme

Thanks to my Council colleagues for backing my motion to see a new scheme ready for the end of year which appropriately supports our community groups. We need to support our volunteers in relieving administrative burdens and insurance premiums. We want our volunteers planning and managing events, not at home buried in paperwork put on them by insurers.

Thanks to those involved in groups like?West Perth Local,?East Perth Community Group,?Western Residents Association,?Northbridge Common?and?Activate Perth?- your events and activations add life to Perth. We want to support you, because without you, our neighbourhoods would be a hell of a lot more boring!

A quick summary of other activities over the month:

• Thank you to the?Property Council's?Commercial Committee for inviting me to its recent meeting. We discussed the 0% rate increase Council Budget, our Local Planning Strategy?and our upcoming property review.
• My budget newsletter?was delivered to homes across the City earlier in July.
• Thank you to?East Perth Eat Meet?for having me at the Christmas in July dinner at Ibis Styles last Friday.
• The Lord Mayor opened our second interim rough sleeper shelter.

*Please click?here?to go through the agenda to view the remaining items considered. The minutes/recording will be available later this week.*

At the end of the day we are only able to get things done by working together as a team: your councillors, the City's staff, and our community. If there's something I can assist you with, please call me on?0406 681 432?or email me at?[email protected].