Lease, Financials, and Minutes between Belgravia Leisure (Bernie Mullane Sports Complex) & The Hills Shire Council
Dear Hills Shire Council, The,
As a member of Bernie Mullane Sports Complex, who has been impacted by a number of recent changes imposed. I wish to review the current lease and minutes to meetings that have taken place with the Council and Belgravia Leisure on behalf of other gym members, so we can establish whether Belgravia Leisure is correct in asserting to its members that the Council has forced the changes to the opening times and the closure of the creche. We have been told by Belgravia Leisure that the Council has forced such changes.
We have also been told that the financials of the Complex do not allow for the current facilities. As lessor of the Complex, the Council would be able to provide this information so members can review the financial state of the Complex and whether the changes imposed are valid.
It is in the interests of all member of Bernie Mullane Sports Complex and the Hills Shire Community to ascertain whether the information that has been provided by the Management and the Council is correct and transparent.
Yours faithfully,
Laura Scriven
Thank you for your email, Council receives hundreds of emails daily and
will respond to you as quickly as possible. The best way to contact
Council to report an issue or request a service is to use the online link
http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/Contact-U... Using
this method, your request will be automatically distributed to the
responsible Council team for action and you will receive a customer
service request number to enable you to track your request online.
Regards,
The Hills Shire Council
Good Afternoon Laura
Your Informal Access GIPA application has been referred to me for
processing.
The information you are seeking can be accessed from Council’s website as
follows:
· Click on the following link below:
·
[1]http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/Council/M...
· Once this page opens you scroll down to the Council Meeting 11
October 2016 which has the Report and the Minutes of the Council Meeting
that discusses the issues you have raised in you r application.
The Government Information ( Public Access) Act removes the requirement to
of a Council to supply information to applicants free of charge if the
information is already publicly available. The information you are seeking
is publicly available on Council’s website and I have explained how you
can access that information.
Hopefully, the information in this email will allow you to access the
information yourself and that was one of the outcomes the Act intended
when it was introduced. Should you still require Council to provide the
information, Council is entitled to charge a fee.
Do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information.
I will be most appreciative if you could spend a moment completing the
survey on the service I have just provided by clicking on the link below:
[2]https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GIPAinfor...
Regards
Mary
[3]logo Mary Pereira | Senior Executive Services Officer
THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL
Administration Centre, 3 Columbia Court BAULKHAM HILLS NSW 2153
PO Box 7064 BAULKHAM HILLS BC NSW 2153 | DX 9966 Norwest NSW
Tel: 9843 0359 | Fax: 61298430409
[4]www.thehills.nsw.gov.au | [5]Twitter | [6]Facebook
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Dear Mary Pereira,
Thanks for your timely response directing us to the minutes.
The information provided in the minutes is an extract though. Page 32 of 248 says "Belgravia provides their annual profit & loss statement, highlighting revenue, expenditure, and profit/loss results for the financial year." How are we able to obtain this documentation?
I also note on page 31 of 248 that there was a workshop on 4th October 2016 - could the minutes be provided for that workshop.
Also, on page 31 it states "At the Ordinary Meeting of 23 August 2016, a community member raised concerns in Community Forum about the state of the gym equipment owned by Council in its Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre." I cannot see that noted in the minutes here: http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/files/sha... Can you help me locate this?
Also, the copy of the lease was not provided in the minutes, i.e. all the terms and conditions and it is noted that there would be amendments.
Just by reading the minutes there are a number of discrepancies from what we have been told by management of Belgravia at member meetings, which myself and member wish to review and take back to management for accountability.
Thanks so far with all your help.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Scriven
Good Morning Laura
Please find response to your questions below:
The information provided in the minutes is an extract though. Page 32 of
248 says "Belgravia provides their annual profit & loss statement,
highlighting revenue, expenditure, and profit/loss results for the
financial year." How are we able to obtain this documentation? This
information is Commercial-in-Confidence. You will have to contact
Belgravia for their statements.
I also note on page 31 of 248 that there was a workshop on 4th October
2016 - could the minutes be provided for that workshop. The are no Minutes
for Councillors Workshop. This is a meeting held with Councillors and
Council Staff only.
Also, on page 31 it states "At the Ordinary Meeting of 23 August 2016, a
community member raised concerns in Community Forum about the state of the
gym equipment owned by Council in its Waves Fitness and Aquatic Centre." I
cannot see that noted in the minutes here:
[1]http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/files/sha...
Can you help me locate this?
422 WAVES POOL GYM EQUIPMENT
Ms Denise Hofman of Baulkham Hills advised she was representing a large
group of seniors who train at Waves at Roxborough Park Road, Baulkham
Hills. This seniors program has continued to grow and on some days up to
60 seniors attend the gym at Waves to exercise. There are many health
benefits to seniors from regular exercise and socialising. Ms Hofman
advised there was some uncertainty about whether Council or the Lessee,
Belgravia, was responsible for updating the gym equipment. The gym
equipment was installed in the 1980’s and a lot of it was now broken,
unusable or posed a safety risk.
Ms Hofman said a letter was forwarded to Council in December 2015 signed
by all the seniors and to date they have not received a response. The
seniors group met with Belgravia a few months ago and were promised the
equipment would be renewed. A meeting was also held with the General
Manager on 25 May 2016 and again they were assured that broken equipment
would be removed and an engineer would attend the pool to discuss
requirements in the gym. That meeting has not occurred.
The Acting General Manager, Mr Michael Edgar, confirmed Waves was a
Council facility leased to Belgravia and he was aware of the meeting in
May. Mr Edgar confirmed the upgrade would cost about $300,000 and this may
require Council going to tender. Mr Edgar assured these concerns were
being taken seriously and will be reported back to Council in due course.
The Mayor requested an update be provided as soon as possible. Mr Edgar
advised he would bring the matter to the next Councillor briefing session.
Also, the copy of the lease was not provided in the minutes, i.e. all the
terms and conditions and it is noted that there would be amendments. This
information is Commercial-in-Confidence and is not available to public.
Please call me if you require further clarification,
Regards
Mary
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[2]logo Mary Pereira | Senior Executive Services Officer
THE HILLS SHIRE COUNCIL
Administration Centre, 3 Columbia Court BAULKHAM HILLS NSW 2153
PO Box 7064 BAULKHAM HILLS BC NSW 2153 | DX 9966 Norwest NSW
Tel: 9843 0359 | Fax: 61298430409
[3]www.thehills.nsw.gov.au | [4]Twitter | [5]Facebook
Dear Hills Shire Council, The,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Hills Shire Council, The's handling of my FOI request 'Lease, Financials, and Minutes between Belgravia Leisure (Bernie Mullane Sports Complex) & The Hills Shire Council'.
[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]
I believe the use of commercial exemption was too easily used in this instance. The financial information in a less extracted form was shown for Waves in the minutes/report, why cannot that financial information for Bernie be provided? Such as the membership numbers, etc, when this information was provided for Waves and wasn't withheld re the commercial exemption.
If minutes for the internal meeting cannot be provided/do not exist, then why hasn't the result of the meetings been disclosed to the public? It was deemed important when it was proposed (hence why it was in the meeting), but the reasoning for the decisions have not been publicly disclosed in any format. The public need to know why the changes have been made and why. This is not commercial in nature.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/l...
Yours faithfully,
Laura Scriven
Thank you for your email, Council receives hundreds of emails daily and
will respond to you as quickly as possible. The best way to contact
Council to report an issue or request a service is to use the online link
http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/Contact-U... Using
this method, your request will be automatically distributed to the
responsible Council team for action and you will receive a customer
service request number to enable you to track your request online.
Regards,
The Hills Shire Council