Apollo Bay

Voice News

Interim Committee for Apollo Bay - Report # 4

Dear residents, ratepayers and all those with long term connection to the area.

It’s been another busy few weeks for the committee. We finalised the constitution, dispatched it to Consumer Affairs and have received our certificate of incorporation which means that we can now recruit members. If you are on our existing mailing list you will already have received a form and there are boxes and forms located at the Bakery, hardware and newsagency for those without internet access.

Why is membership of the Apollo Bay Community Voice (ABCV) so important? Firstly, because the greater the number of people whom the ABCV actually represents, the more credibility does the organisation command with government and regulatory authorities. Our aim is to get a seat at the table before decisions affecting our lives are taken. The support of the community is what will help us to achieve that goal. So please, take the couple of minutes needed to complete the form and encourage your friends and family (from 16 years up) to do likewise. The ABCV will lack real authority unless the community lends it serious backing.

Secondly, membership entitles you to vote at the AGM. “Yikes”, I hear you say, “I don’t want to waste my time at a boring old AGM”. However, the AGM is where you get to select the candidates for the permanent committee. It’s all part of the democratic structure you wanted and which we have created to ensure that committee membership can be as diverse as the community itself.

It’s also really important that community members stand up for nomination to the committee. We need your talents and perspectives. Please give this thought. One of the things we have recognised over the last couple of months, given that we have several members with fulltime jobs and families, is how difficult it can be for them to respond to issues in short timeframes between our actual meetings. The solution is for those committee members who are retired to do most of the grunt work, presenting a worked through proposal to the whole committee for approval. In this way, younger people with other work/life responsibilities, can feel free to nominate, knowing that committee work will not represent an impossible burden.

We have elected a weekend slot for the inaugural AGM: Sunday, August 6, at 4pm at the Bowls Club. The Club has most generously waved all fees. There will be tea and coffee available prior and during the AGM and the bar will open at the conclusion of the meeting at club prices. This will be an excellent opportunity to discuss community issues without the time constraints we had at the first community meeting in April. So please become a member, vote at the AGM and have your say.

At the committee meeting last Wednesday, we discussed the development of a logo and website for the ABCV. Approaches have been made to a number of local and one interstate business to undertake the work. Deep appreciation to the Apollo Bay Chamber of Commerce which has provided us with our first seed funding of $2,000. This money will cover the costs of incorporation, plus the logo and website. A bank account has been opened. Any transactions will require 2 signatures for approval. The committee has agreed that we will seek donations because, whilst we won’t need a lot of money, there will be expenses that need to be covered like petrol for meetings in Colac, Torquay, Lorne and Melbourne, stationery and printer ink.

The Rec Reserve masterplan was released by GORCAPA last week. GORCAPA has produced two Frequently Asked Questions documents: one for the community and a separate one for Annual Permit Holders. The next consultation sessions will be July 13, 5-7pm at the footy club; July 15, 9-1pm at the community market and July 19, 5.30-7pm via online. The committee awaits the community’s views on the merits and demerits of the draft plan. When we have that, we will prosecute the case with GORCAPA.

The annual survey of ratepayer satisfaction with Council services and performance has also been released. I personally found it quite a shocking document. Apollo Bay has consistently scored Council performance poorly. This year our community voted most services and performance as poor or very poor; and that was on the back of already low satisfaction levels. The committee will write to the Mayor and Council CEO seeking a meeting to understand what concrete measures Council will put in place to rectify its dire standing in Apollo Bay and districts. I’ll keep you posted on the outcomes of that engagement process. Please contact us if you have specific matters you believe should be raised.

My thought for the week comes from Queen Elizabeth II: “It’s often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change”.

Nikki Williams, Chairman of the interim Committee

For more information please email apollobayvoice(at)gmail.com.