Forum Agenda 11 October 2018

Agenda
>  Boongaree (District Park) Status
>  Meet Stephen Dunshea – Director, Finance, Corporate & Community Services
>  iAccelerate – Australia’s largest business startup accelerator
>  Issues with short-stay holiday rental properties

AGM
>  Chairman & Treasurer’s Reports
>  Committee membership for 2018/19

Boongaree (District Park) Status
Liliana Hutchinson from Council will be providing a progress update.

Stephen Dunshea – Director, Finance, Corporate & Community Services
Stephen commenced his role at Council on 30 April this year and is keen to get out and meet as many community groups as possible.

iAccelerate – Australia’s largest business startup accelerator
iAccelerate, situated at the University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus, has over 60 startup businesses working across various sectors, from growing algae to supporting elderly people with dementia or disabilities to developing renewable energy and plumbing products.
The CEO, Omar Khalifa, is a resident of Berry and will explain  what iAccelerate offers and how it plans to further support the region to develop more successful businesses that can compete at home and across the world.

Issues with short-stay holiday rental properties 
A resident has asked the Committee to check with the community to see if there are concerns about the operation of properties owned by landlords and managed by agents. An example has been raised of a 4 bedroom house with up to 16 people staying almost every weekend, with late night noise from large groups socialising after consuming alcohol a regular occurrence. We will seek input at the meeting, but would also appreciate email feedback to assess the breadth of the problem.

Chairman’s & Treasurer’s Report
See the reports on the Forum website at – https://www.berryforum.org.au/chairman-treasurers-report-2017-18/

Disbanding of Council’s Sustainable Futures Committee
The SF Committee, established last year to support councillors and staff to address critical issues for the community, had five expert volunteer community members, including David Brawn from the Forum Committee.
The Shoalhaven, like other local government areas, is facing rapid change as a result of factors like population growth and associated development, climate change and environmental degradation. Sustainability was regarded as a major concern in the recent Berry Community Strategic Plan.
However, at the Council Meeting on 25 September, councillors resolved to disband the SF Committee without consultation with the community members or the broader public.
A rescission motion has been lodged to reverse the disbandment decision, and this will be considered at an Extraordinary Meeting of Council on 16 October. Your view about the disbandment decision can be communicated to all councillors by sending an email to allcouncillors@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au

Berry to Bomaderry Highway Upgrade 
At our Forum meeting in December we will be recommencing the popular regular updates on construction progress and plans. Michael Phillips Ryder, who was the Fulton Hogan Project Director on the Berry bypass project, will be presenting.

Stuart Coughlan
Secretary
http://berryforum.org.au/