Though far less flame-affected than neighbouring areas, Bellingen Shire was one of 42 councils across the country that received over a million dollars from the federal government in January "to help quickly rebuild vital infrastructure and strengthen community resilience" in the wake of the bushfire emergency.
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Councils received only broad guidance on how to spend this money - the main condition placed upon them was speed.
They were to submit a program of works within three months and report back to the Commonwealth in 12 months' time.
After conducting some community consultation, Bellingen Shire Council has chosen to direct most of the windfall towards placing us in a better position to deal with future disasters.
At the extraordinary meeting held via Zoom on April 3, councillors endorsed that projects categorised as Community Preparedness for Emergency would receive $675,000.
Infrastructure Restoration & Development (basically safe places, evacuation centres and the alternate route options report for Dorrigo to Coffs) will get $170,000; employment of a Resilience Coordinator for one year will consume another $145,000 and Environment Recovery and Development gets $95,000.
The agenda document notes that we have "a one-off opportunity to address not only recovery but preparedness ... also an opportunity to support a range of issues relative to responding to the current pandemic".
In line with that, $365K of the Community Preparedness for Emergency money will help create a Community Resilience Hub and another $225K will go towards the Bellingen Shire Pandemic Response Group's activities and has been characterised as a "Pilot via COVID".
There is $275,000 earmarked for Economic Recovery & Development but half of that is to come from Regional Tourism grants that have been postponed.
Libby Park, on behalf of the three local Chambers of Commerce, submitted a deputation to the meeting arguing that the federal allocation of $1.225M was intended for "recovery efforts not for preparedness efforts for future possible emergencies or crises".
"That is, they were intended to provide immediate relief to enable communities to recover from the damage inflicted by the bushfires," she wrote.
"Directing these funds towards projects, however worthwhile, that build preparedness for future emergencies (for example, spending on establishing safe places, installing water tanks to secure our water supplies etc) does not contribute to recovery efforts.
"One of the main impacts in our shire was on local businesses - retail, hospitality and accommodation businesses that suffered significant financial impacts. Without support to overcome these impacts, many of these businesses will never recover, especially in light of the current COVID-19 crisis.
"Tragically, because of the three month delay in allocating this funding, it may be already too late to save many of the businesses that were hit hard by the bushfires and this will be disastrous for the community as a whole."
The motion below passed 5-2, with Cr Carter, Cr King, Cr Klipin, Cr Fenton and Cr Wright-Turner voting in favour and Cr Harrison and Cr Jenkins against.
Commonwealth Government Disaster Recovery Grant for bushfire impacted communities
That Council endorse that funding application/reports totalling $1.605M be submitted for the delivery of the following projects to support the Shire's Recovery and Resilience/Preparedness activity following the Bushfires (either immediately or when cited grant rounds reopen):
a) Community Preparedness for Emergency: $675K, funded as follows:
- Community Resilience Hub - $365K from Disaster Recovery Fund
- Emergency Information - $85K from Disaster Recovery Fund
- Resilience Disaster Response (Pilot) - $225K from Disaster Recovery Fund
b) Overarching Resilience Activity (All): $205K, funded as follows:
- Resilience Coordinator - $145K from Disaster Recovery Fund
- Inter-Agency Disaster Management Forum - $10K from Disaster Recovery Fund
- Deliberative Panel - $50K from Disaster Recovery Fund
c) Environmental Recovery & Development: $95K, funded as follows:
- Advocate: better trails and for natural assets to be part of State/Federal policies - $0K
- Indigenous Fire protection - $5K from Disaster Recovery Fund
- Vegetation Report and Plan - $90K from Disaster Recovery Fund
d) Infrastructure Restoration & Development: $170K, funded as follows:
- Investment in Infrastructure - $120K from Disaster Recovery Fund
- Options Report alternative routes - $50K - from Disaster Recovery Fund
e) Personal & Community Support: $185K, funded as follows:
- Art Recovery - $50K from Regional Tourism BFRG-2 (POSTPONED)
- Coordinate a Shire appropriate response to Mental Health Support with agencies- $0K
- Community Event Sponsorship Fund - $100K from Regional Tourism BFRG-2 (POSTPONED)
- Community Get Together - $35K from Disaster Recovery Fund.
f) Economic Recovery & Development: $275K, funded as follows:
- Event Stimulus Fund - $100K from Regional Tourism BFRG-2 (POSTPONED)
- Host Tourism Awards - $30K from Regional Tourism BFRG-1 (POSTPONED)
- That the submission include an economic recovery and development project to the value of $145k and there be further consultation in this regard.
The agenda, minutes and recording of the meeting can be found at https://www.bellingen.nsw.gov.au/council/agenda-and-minutes/extraordinary-meeting-council-3-april-2020