A message from the Acting General Manager Laura Black

Laura Black, Acting General Manager

our Plan. This Operational Plan 2022/2023 (Plan) is the first in a series of three that aims to meet the strategies developed by the 2021 elected Council as identified in the 2022/2025 Delivery Program. This year also signals the commencement of our journey in meeting the standards of the new Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework for Operational Plans. Our Plan is an annual plan commencing from 1 July, has been publicly exhibited prior to adoption and details the activities and actions that will be delivered or commenced before 30 June 2023. We have allocated responsibilities and budget for projects, programs and actions, identified what services will be reviewed, set measures that we will report against every six months, included a Capital Works Program valued at $105M and a Statement of Revenue Policy. In addition, we have identified how the projects, programs and actions link to the Delivery Program and to the Themes of the Community Strategic Plan. On page 14, you will find a guide on how to read

The bushfire, storm and flood natural disasters and health pandemic of the past three years have seen local government in receipt of record grant allocations from the State and Federal Governments and Clarence Valley Council is one of those recipients. 2022/2023 sees us deliver grant funded projects to a value of $xxx on top of the general, water and sewer, holiday park and waste funded activities. Our Plan covers both the recurrent activities that occur every year, such as managing corporate governance arrangements, compliance activities and maintenance programs as well as special non-recurrent projects like delivering a particular construction project. We also aim to engage community in decision making by facilitating a number of Advisory Committees to the Council including the Access, Climate Change and Floodplain Risk Management, Coast and Estuary and Sports advisory committees. In 2022/2023 we will be establishing some new committees including the Economic Development and Tourism, Community and Culture, Biodiversity and Aboriginal Advisory Committees. Over the next twelve months you will see delivery of some major construction projects including completion of stage 1 of the Grafton Waterfront and stages 1 and 2 of the Ulmarra Riverside and Village Precinct, a new RFS facility at Ewingar, upgrade of parts of the Clarence Way, a large number of high priority pedestrian footpaths from the Pedestrian and Access Mobility Plan (PAMP), community hall upgrades under the Black Summer Grant program, construct Cell 4 at the Grafton Regional Landfill and we will commence construction of 32 bridges under the Fixing Country Bridges program. We will also complete the design phase, consultation and DA processes for the Treelands Drive Community Centre upgrade and the Maclean Cultural and Community Centre construction. We will commence roll out of the automated water meter reading program, upgrade the sludge lagoon at Clarenza STP, progress the Coastal Management Plan toward completion, determine options for the Yamba Bypass, prepare an

environmental auditing and compliance strategy, a housing strategy and commence developer contribution reform.

Following the 2022 floods and storm event, we have commenced the process of negotiating outcomes with the State government and in 2022/2023 we’ll be reviewing, updating and consolidating our various Floodplain Risk Management Plans, upgrading some of the pumps, partnering with CSRIO to deliver a rapid review and assessment to identify flood mitigation options, implementing the priority actions of risk mitigation in Iluka and preparing designs to improve flood immunity for Iluka and Yamba Roads. We are anticipating the recommendations of the Independent Flood Inquiry will benefit our community with more funding opportunities for floodplain asset upgrade and maintenance. Celebration of significant dates and achievements is important to us too. And in 2022/2023 we’ll celebrate citizenship ceremonies, youth week, seniors week, NAIDOC and our end of year staff achievement and development day to name a few. We’ll host exhibitions and festivals, implement a community engagement program and launch our new CVC magazine. Underpinning all of this is our continuous improvement program to upgrade our corporate systems to increase our efficiency and make doing business with us easier for customers.

Local government is like no other business, it is complex and diverse and as you can see we have a huge year ahead of us. A community of opportunity is what we are working towa The document can be located using this link - rd and we value the partnerships we form as we achieve the goals of the Community Strategic Plan. It is our aim to make a positive difference to those who choose to live, work or visit the Clarence Valley. Have a read of our Plan and see what we have in store to meet the aspirations identified in the Community Strategic Plan in 2022/2023.