Dogs have a win at council

Off-leash park numbers to grow

A MARATHON meeting has resulted in Geelong council adopting a new dog control policy, moving towards a plastic wise program and agreeing to fund extra staff.

The open section of Tuesday night’s meeting lasted three hours, with council continuing to discuss confidential items after 10pm.

Dog owners have an extra 21 places to exercise their furry friends off-leash, with council voting to adopt a new dog controls in public places policy.

And council plans to allocate more resources to educating dog owners and enforcing rules.

Two separate feedback periods attracted hundreds of responses which helped formulate the latest policy.

Councillors also decided to allocate $858,000 for additional staff in council’s planning, engineering and social infrastructure depart- ments, and business and advocacy improvement roles.

The funding will increase resources for the remainder of 2018-19.

Mayor Bruce Harwood said the city’s budget was a complex process to manage.

“It is important that we balance our need to minimise costs with the requirement to invest in resources that will allow us to better deliver our services,” he said.

“While there is a cost to increase resources within the organisation, it is estimated the improved efficiencies will deliver operational savings of up to $2 million per year over the next decade,” he said.

And following the lead of councils such as Surf Coast Shire, Geelong councillors voted to develop a policy to reduce single-use plastic at council events and offices.

Council will spend $55,000 on the Plastic Wise Program by December next year.

The program will include initiatives such as developing waste management plans for office buildings and leading clean-up days on coastal foreshore reserves.

Cr Sarah Mansfield, environment and sustainability portfolio chairwoman, said it was “heartening” to see the enthusiasm for the plastics program around the council table.

“It’s clearly an important issue for our community and something we need to act on,” Cr Mansfield said.

The Osborne Park master plan’s timeline has been pushed out, and is now due for completion mid-next year.

Originally, it had been requested the masterplan be completed by this month.

Following an amendment moved by Cr Eddy Kontelj and supported by council during Tuesday night’s meeting, a consultation with key community groups will be held before the end of this year.

Cr Kontelj said it was important that planning for Osborne Park involved interested parties early and often.