Minutes - Meeting of the Port Phillip City Council - 22 April 2026
MINUTES OF THE Meeting of the Port Phillip City Council HELD 22 April 2026 IN St Kilda Town Hall AND VIRTUAL VIA TEAMS
The meeting opened at 6:30pm.
IN ATTENDANCE
Cr Makin (Chairperson), Cr Buckingham, Cr Crawford, Cr Cunsolo, Cr Halliday, Cr Hardy, Cr Jay (online), Cr Mears, Cr Thomann.
Chris Carroll, Chief Executive Officer, Brian Tee, General Manager City Development, Kylie Bennetts, General Manager Community Wellbeing, Robyn Borley, General Manager, Governance and Performance, Peter Benazic, General Manager, City Infrastructure, Daniel Lew, Director, People and Experience, James Gullan, Acting Manager Communications and Governance, Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance, Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability, Susie Filleti, Acting Head of Economic Development, Samuel Laing, Principal Planner, Paul Wood, Manager Building and Planning Services, Vicki Tuchtan, Manager Property and Assets, Christine Dening, Manager Community Building and Inclusion, Emily Williams, Senior Council Business Advisor, Josh Vearing, Council Business Advisor.
The Council respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the Kulin Nation. We acknowledge their legacy and spiritual connection to the land and waterways across the City of Port Phillip and pay our heartfelt respect to their Elders, past, present, and emerging.
1. Apologies
Nil.
2. Confirmation of Minutes
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That the minutes of the Meeting of the Port Phillip City Council held on 18 March 2026 be confirmed. A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously Kylie Bennetts, General Manager Community Wellbeing noted an officer response to a public question relating to the Lagoon Reserve Pavilion at the Council Meeting held on 18 March 2026 contained inaccuracies and did not fully reflect the relevant Council history. The Minutes were subsequently amended on 1 April 2026 to correct this. |
3. DECLARATIONS OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Nil.
Mayoral Statement – Acoustic Camera Advocacy
The Mayor provided a statement congratulating the efforts of the community for their advocacy regarding acoustic noise cameras. At the meeting held on 4 March 2026, a Notice of Motion was tabled calling on the State Government to support an acoustic noise camera trial. The community rallied behind this cause and sent a number of emails to the Mayor, Councillors, and State Members of Parliament. An announcement was subsequently made supporting the trial of acoustic noise cameras. While Council did not at that time have confirmation of the trial locations, Council continued to advocate for one of the locations to be within the City of Port Phillip. The Mayor noted that advocacy was a key part of Council’s agenda for the year and that it was encouraging when the community and Council worked together to achieve positive community outcomes.
The Mayor again thanked the many community members who had raised the concern, rallied behind the need for the trial, and contributed to generating positive change.
Kathleen Patricia (PAT) Brown OAM -100th birthday
The Mayor, on behalf of Council, congratulated Kathleen Patricia (Pat) Brown OAM on the occasion of their 100th birthday and acknowledged this significant milestone. Council recognised their outstanding contribution and service to the community, including their tenure as a former Councillor of the former City of South Melbourne. Pat was an advocate for the community both as a private citizen and as a Councillor at the former City of South Melbourne.
Pat served on the former City of South Melbourne Council from 1978 to 1984, and again from 1988 to 1994, including a term as Mayor from 1983 to 1984. Pat was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1989 for their service to the community and Local Government.
Following the creation of the City of Port Phillip through the amalgamation of the Cities of South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and St Kilda, Pat returned to Local Government and became one of Council’s first elected Councillors, serving from 1996 to 1999 and lending their experience during Council’s initial term post‑amalgamation.
Council extended warm birthday wishes to Pat, and Mayor Makin encouraged the community to look out for the next edition of Divercity, which would include an interview with Pat.
4. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME and submissions
Public Questions are summarised below. The submissions were made verbally and can be listened to in full on our website: http://webcast.portphillip.vic.gov.au/archive.php
Public Question Time:
· Michael
Barrett: My questions relate to the NEXTDC M4
Data Centre in Port Melbourne, the Port Phillip EcoCentre has received funding
from the City of Port Phillip for many years and, most recently, received joint
funding with the Victorian Government for the redevelopment of the EcoCentre
building. The EcoCentre’s stated purpose is to provide education and
inspiration to the broader community, particularly in relation to environmental
issues. My questions at the 4 and 18 March Council meetings raised concerns
about the environmental impacts of data centres, particularly water and
electricity consumption, which are public assets managed by the Victorian
Government. Through an FoI request, it has been confirmed that prior to Council
receiving advice from the Victorian Government on 16 January 2026 that a
planning permit had been issued for the NEXTDC M4 Data Centre, Council had
received no inbound communication from the EcoCentre regarding the M4 Data
Centre. This is despite the public media announcement of the M4 Data Centre on
12 June 2025.
Given the potential environmental and cost impacts of the M4 Data Centre on
City of Port Phillip residents and ratepayers, the absence of any formal
engagement by the EcoCentre prior to January 2026 is notable.
In your response to my question of March 18, you proposed follow up
conversations with the Victorian Government regarding the M4 Data Centre. Can
the EcoCentre now be added to your proposed list of follow up parties for
follow up discussions?
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability stated that the Port Phillip EcoCentre is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, and Council provides funding particularly for provision of environmental education, volunteer programs and practical action projects to the City of Port Phillip community. Council does not direct the EcoCentre on its advocacy priorities or submissions which they may do from time to time. Council is not aware of any involvement or experience of the EcoCentre in relation to the data centre, and Council is not planning to add the EcoCentre to the list of follow up discussions. Instead Council’s focus will be on the continued collaboration with the M9 Councils.
· Matilda Jessen: I am here on behalf of a group of Gourlay Street residents regarding the tree removal and replacement works scheduled to commence on 27 April 2026. We welcome Council’s investment in the street, there are concerns that the current proposal represents a short-term fix rather than a coordinated whole-of-street plan. Trees have been failing to thrive in Gourlay Street have struggled for almost a decade. Council has confirmed that many are diseased and failing due to sap-sucking insects and sooty mould. Despite this, large sections of diseased trees are being retained in upcoming works, even after multiple treatment attempts have not worked. Why is Council only replacing 23 of the 96 diseased trees in Gourlay Street rather than delivering a cohesive whole of street replacement program? Replacing less than a quarter risks a piecemeal outcome; many of the remaining trees are likely to fail in the near future due to the potential spreading of disease to new planting. This means we’d see ongoing canopy loss, inconsistent streetscape quality and no clear succession plan ultimately resulting in repeated removals and high long term costs. We’re not asking for a delay, but an urgent review to ensure this project delivers a coordinated long term outcome for the whole of the street.
Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance stated that the independent expert report, which Council commissioned earlier this year, does not recommend the whole‑of‑street replacement. It confirms that while some trees are affected by the sooty mould, most are viable and responding to treatment. Removing them would unnecessarily destroy existing canopy directly contradicting the intent of the Greening Balaclava Urban Forest Plan. Council is therefore taking a targeted, evidence based approach removing only 23 of the trees that are genuinely failing and unlikely to recover, while retaining and improving conditions for the remaining trees. An independent soil investigation found that poor tree health is primarily driven by degraded soil conditions, not disease. High alkalinity, low nutrients, compaction and poor water retention were some of the issues. The solution is to fix the soil and large tree pits capture storm water through passive irrigation and replant with a selected species. This approach avoids the long-term canopy loss, delivers better environment outcomes, and reflects best practice and urban forest management rather than whole sale removals.
· Lisa Aldenhoven: I’d like to reiterate that of the 96 trees in Gourlay Street, 80 are callistemons, and all of the callistemons are affected by sooty mould. We talk about the urban canopy and not wanting to disrupt that by removing all of the trees, but I would argue that there is no canopy provided by the existing trees given that they all have dieback and many are already dead. Of the 23 trees that have been marked for replacement only 17 of those are callistemons. Six are trees of other species that do not appear to be diseased, one assumes that they have only been nominated for removal as they are not consistent with the other trees on the street. The parasite is not species specific, so there is nothing to stop it from moving to the new trees once they are planted. All of the trees have issues with the soil and yet only 23 of the trees are going to be addressed by the works. How can Council justify that these works are going to contribute to a healthy urban forest and enhancing the streetscape when you are leaving 63 disease ridden trees in the street?
Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance stated that along Gourlay Street, 81 trees were assessed by specialist arborists. Of these, 10 were found to be dead and a further 14 were assessed as being in poor health. In total, 23 trees have been programmed for removal next week, as they are unsuitable for long‑term retention. The remaining 57 trees were assessed as being in fair to good condition and suitable to retain. Where these trees were displaying sooty mould, they were treated with a systemic insecticide to reduce the insect population producing the honey‑dew on which the mould grows. This treatment supports the long‑term health of the retained trees, and Council will continue to monitor these trees and treat them appropriately. Replacement planting will occur in May, following upgrades to the tree plots. These upgrades include increasing plot sizes, improving soil quality, and installing passive irrigation to ensure new trees have the best possible conditions to thrive. Another key outcome of the project is improved paths of travel along the street to meet disability access standards.
· Adrian
King: In relation to the Lagoon Reserve Pavillion did any
Councillor at any point over the course of the upgrade project, from the
ideation phase through to completion, declare a conflict of interest? If so,
please confirm who and when? Please outline Albert Park College's preferences
for a pavilion 2nd floor including size as measured in m2, floor layout,
overall design features and the school's main priorities. Did the College have
any communication with the Council's external consultants used regarding the final
colours chosen for the exterior of the pavilion?
In relation to local laws, given the widely known anti-social behaviours
witnessed in St Kilda linked to rough sleepers, please explain why existing
local law 42 (2) relating to camping on Council land does not conflict with
local law 17 - behaviour on Council land.
Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing took on notice the questions relating to the Lagoon Reserve Pavillion.
Brian
Tee, General Manager, City Development stated that Local Law 42(2) is the
camping on Council land exemption provision, and clause 17 relates to behaviour
on Council land and they regulate different matters. As such Council does not
believe that they conflict with each other. Local Law 42(2) restricts camping
on Council land with limited exemptions such as where a person is homeless or
has complex needs and this clause applies to camping, rather than behaviour. Whereas
clause 17 is about behaviour and it applies to all people on Council land and
provides that a person must not unreasonably interfere with another person,
harass a person, or act contrary to any conditions or signs. A person who does
not breach the camping prohibition Local Law may still behave in a way that
breaches Local Law 17 relating to behaviour.
· Ebony
Bain: My question relates to the selling off of community
housing in the City of Port Phillip. In the early 2000s, Council gave away 1.2
hectares of Council land on Greeves Street to a property developer on the
condition that 28 of those apartments be put aside for community housing. Originally
this was managed by the Port Phillip Housing Trust, which was created by
Council but in 2005, the 28 properties were given away for free to Housing
First to manage. In 2024, Council was notified that Housing First was planning
to sell all 28 apartments. In these apartments, are people who are deeply
connected to the area, some have lived for over 70 years and when they moved
into these apartments around 20 years ago, they were promised that this would
be their forever home. Residents are now being asked to move away from their
community, move into show box apartment, aged care settings earlier than they
require, or locations further from their local amenities. Given that these
apartments were gifted to Housing First by Port Phillip Housing Trust, what can
the Council do to prevent this from happening? If there is nothing you can do
as you’ve previously said then why does Council continue to work with the
same model? In 2020, Council again gifted land to Housing First to build 46
units on Marlborough Street, Balaclava. This model also features heavily in the
Homelessness and Affordable Housing Strategy. How does the Council see
community housing as a long-term strategy for homelessness and affordable
housing when it appears that housing can just be sold whenever organisations
like Housing First deem that they are no longer profitable. Housing First also
charges tenants up to 30% of their income, raising concerns about ongoing
housing affordability and housing stress.
Is the Council making any changes to prevent Housing First and other
organisations like them from selling off housing in the future or regulate
minimum standards?
Christine Dening, Manager Community Building and Inclusion took the questions on notice.
Council Report Submissions:
Item 7.1 Presentation of CEO Report – February Issue 126
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· Kevin Joyce |
Item 11.3 13-21 Palmerston Crescent, South Melbourne – 916/2014/A
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· Anthony Scarpaci (Applicant) |
· David MacGowan |
Item 14.2 Notice of Motion - Councillor Mears - Advocacy on Safety and Regulation of e-bikes, e-scooters and e-moto bikes
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· Adrian King |
5. Councillor question time
· Councillor Buckingham: Following on from the questions raised during Public Question Time about tree planting on Gourlay Street. Is there a risk that the new plantings will fail because of the parasite in the struggling trees? Has this risk been considered and do we have plans to address this?
Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance stated that the risk is very low and Council is replacing all the soil in the current tree plots with fresh new soil for this particular species. Current tree plots are not suitable to maintain that particular species. The structural elements of the other trees in the street are currently being assessed on a 6 monthly basis and treating them accordingly. There is little evidence that the sooty mold will infect and affect the survival rate of the trees.
Councillor Buckingham: Is the soil remediation is happening for all of the trees on Gourlay St or just the trees that are being replaced?
Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance stated that stage one is the trees being removed and the trees going into the plots. Stage two which is due in July 2026 is remediating the soil around the other trees that will be done by nondestructive digging and making the soil plots larger, and also adding additives to the soil to improve the health of the trees.
Councillor Buckingham: This is clearly an ongoing process, it does start next week, but it’s not a set and forget. Is there scope for Council officers to meet with residents of Gourlay Street to explain the plans for the trees and potentially consider some of their historical knowledge about failed tree planting in the past to continually improve the plan for Gourlay Street trees and hopefully improve the likelihood of success.
Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance confirmed that Council officers will be meeting with Lisa Aldenhoven on site prior to the works commencing and are happy to meet with other residents when is suitable to them. Another letter drop will occur on Friday 24 April 2026.
Councillor Halliday: Followed up that it’s been mentioned that the sooty mold is caused by the sugars or nectars on the trees, and that this is being treated with something that will kill the insects on there. Will this be something that needs to be done on an ongoing basis to manage the trees
Mark Thompson, Manager Parks and Infrastructure Maintenance stated that stage two is improving the soil in the soil plot, as the current soil plots are too small for the trees in the current state. Increasing the soil density will significantly improve the tree health. Ongoing treatment will be unlikely, once Council gets on top of the disease and the trees return to a healthy condition they should have a full and natural life.
· Councillor Thomann: I’m interested to find out who are the people over 100 years old in the City of Port Phillip. Is there a way to find out who are our centenarians and who is actually the oldest person living in the City of Port Phillip?
Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing took the question on notice.
· Councillor Thomann: There has been some questions about who owns Monarch Lane and the lane behind Monarch Lane in St Kilda. Who is responsible for the maintenance. Noting that there is often overflowing rubbish bins creating impacts for those that use it.
Vicki Tuchtan, Manager, Property and Assets stated that the laneways referred to form a T shape off Ackland Street in St Kilda and one of them is referred to as Monarch Lane which is under private ownership. The laneway behind it that runs parallel to Acland Street is Council owned. Council has, at its discretion, assumed responsibility for the private laneway in terms of maintenance, and of course has a responsibility for the maintenance of the Council owned land at the rear.
· Councillor Halliday: Following up on the question from Ebony Bain in relation to the management of the housing trust, what is Housing First’s obligation under the housing trust? What did entrust them to do with all these properties?
Christine Dening, Manager Community Building and Inclusion stated that Housing First as trustees are responsible for the day-to-day management of the assets that are held within the trust.
Councillor Halliday followed up to ask under that trusteeship, what is their discretion to buy, sell, invest the assets of the trust?
Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing stated that Housing First is fully responsible for deciding which properties or units it wishes to sell when these properties are sold on the sale price.
Councillor Halliday: followed up to ask am I to understand that the only effective constraints here on their management of it, not withstanding other reasonableness, is that those proceeds of the sale need to be reinvested in the City of Port Phillip.
Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing believed that yes that is the case.
· Councillor Halliday: We still face the uncertainty of whether the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed on an hour by hour basis. We have seen some impacts or this and bracing ourselves for further impacts. What areas of Council operations and our outsourced services use fossil fuels and their derivatives?
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability stated that while Council continues to seek to reduce use of fossil fuels, Council does use fossil fuels in its operations including fuel for Council vehicles, gas used in buildings, and a small percentage of electricity used for street lighting. Fossil fuels are used in outsourced services and in Council owned buildings that are leased to tenants where fuel and energy used is managed by contractors or occupants rather than directly by Council. Council continues to seek opportunities to reduce fossil fuel use as part of the Act and Adapt strategy implementation and Council’s overall commitment to reducing CO2 emissions.
Councillor Halliday: Followed up to ask derivatives wise, for example our road resurfacing program would also be impacted by increase in fossil fuel costs, given the bitumen required?
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability took the question on notice
Councillor Halliday: How much of our CO2 emissions are we offsetting each year? Understand that we promote that we’re net zero CO2 emissions, but we still have fossil fuel utilization.
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability stated that Council purchases renewable energy through a power purchasing agreement and then buys carbon offsets for the remaining emissions from operations. The number of carbon offsets purchased was 1,791 tonnes in financial year 23/24 and 1,987 tonnes in financial year 24/25.
Councillor Halliday: Followed up to ask what cost impacts are we projecting for our fossil fuel and derivatives usage in the upcoming budget?
Mike
Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability stated that at this stage it
is difficult to project the future costs across the complete fossil fuel and
derivatives usage for Council. Before the conflict in the Middle East the
annual budget for fuel was $425,000 assuming diesel prices around $3/L for six
months, obviously this is speculation. Council is expecting the cost to
increase by $68,000.
· Councillor Halliday: How much of our light vehicle fleet is currently electrified?
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability stated that to date Council has 164 road registered assets in the fleet, 32 are fully electric, 60 are hybrid, and 72 of diesel/petrol.
Councillor Halliday followed up to ask under our new waste contract, what provisions are there in that contract for the electrification of our waste collection fleet?
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability stated that the recently signed 4 year waste contract extension does not contain any provisions to electrify the service providers waste collection fleet, however officers are looking to the feasibility for the next contract and working on route optimisation to minimise travel distances to and from processing and collection.
Councillor Jay followed up to ask with all of the tonnage of carbon, how much did that cost? I’m assuming that we purchased carbon credits is that the way we offset that?
Mike Fisher, Manager City Planning and Sustainability took the question on notice.
· Mayor Makin: We had a recent announcement from the State Government around an increase in frequency on our rail network. Have we received any notification around corresponding services frequency improvements on the bus network within the City of Port Phillip? Noting once again, that some key bus routes were identified as a priority under the Fishermans Bend Integrated Transport Plan.
Brian Tee, General Manager, City Development stated that Council has not received any notification or seen any public notification in relation to increases in bus services as outlined.
Mayor Makin followed up to clarify, despite an uplift of bus frequency being identified as an immediate improvement in the Fishermans Bend Integrated Transport Plan, which was released in September 2025, we are yet to see any uplift on the bus network as a result of that plan?
Brian Tee, General Manager, City Development took the question on notice
6. Petitions, Joint Letters and deputations
Nil.
7. Presentation of CEO Report
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Purpose 1.1 To provide Council with a regular update from the Chief Executive Officer regarding Council’s activities and performance. |
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The following questions were taken on notice during discussion of the item: · Councillor Halliday: Following on from Kevin Joyce’s submission, a point was made that the traffic management plans included in the planning application now being superseded by the work that we’re doing currently on Argyle St. How do we reconcile those two things, where we’ve done a traffic management plan and then we’ve change the conditions on the street? Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing took the question on notice but encouraged anyone affected by the granting of a permit can make objections or other submissions through Council’s processes. · Councillor Halliday: Can you clarify how that process works? When residents make objections or supporting submissions and at what threshold does that come to Council for consideration? Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing took the question on notice. · Councillor Thomann: When you look at the St Kilda Pier, on the left there is an electric box that will be in the middle of 12 new palm trees. Have we envisioned for that electric box to be moved elsewhere to a less prominent space than in the middle of this eventual $60m upgrade. Has this been considered? Kylie Bennetts, General Manager, Community Wellbeing took the question on notice. |
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That Council: 3.1 Notes the CEO Report - February 2026 - Issue 126 – Monthly Review (provided as Attachment 1). 3.2 Authorises the CEO or their delegate to make minor editorial amendments that do not substantially alter the content of the report. A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously |
8. A Healthy and Connected Community
Nil.
9. An Environmentally Sustainable and Resilient City
Nil.
10. A Safe and Liveable City
Nil.
11. A Vibrant and Thriving Community
The Mayor adjourned the meeting for a break at 7:59pm.
The meeting resumed at 8:20pm.
12. An Engaged and Empowered Community
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PURPOSE 1.1 To report on the expenses incurred by Councillors during March 2026 in accordance with the Councillor Expenses and Support Policy. |
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That Council: 3.1 Notes the monthly Councillor expenses report for March 2026 (Attachment 1) and that this will be made available on Council’s website. A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously |
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Purpose 1.1 To facilitate the adoption of a revised Council Internal Resolution Procedure (CIRP) which will be observed when dealing with alleged breaches of the Model Councillor Code of Conduct. |
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That Council: 3.1 Adopts the revised Council Internal Resolution Procedure. (Attachment 1). 3.2 Authorises the Chief Executive Officer, or their delegate, to make minor changes that do not materially alter the Council Internal Resolution Procedure. A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously |
13. A Trusted and High-Performing Organisation
The Mayor adjourned the meeting for a break at 8:59pm.
The meeting resumed at 9:06pm.
14. Notices of Motion
EXTENSTION OF TIME
Moved Crs Halliday/Mears
That Council in line with provision 10.2 of the governance rules extends the meeting on 22 April by 30 minutes (until 10:30pm).
A vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED unanimously
15. Reports by Councillor Delegates
Councillor Jay reported to Council to inform that they had attended the Business of Comedy conference hosted by an organisation in South Melbourne which involved a meeting of the minds as to how they could create a plan or strategy for creating a hub for comedy in Melbourne.
Mayor Makin highlighted that Councillor Hardy also attended the St Patrick’s Day event on 15 March 2026 along with Councillors Jay and Thomann, this was omitted from their report at the 18 March Council meeting.
Mayor Makin reported as the Council delegate to the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) to inform that they attended a delegation with the MAV from 30 March to 1 April in Canberra to advocate for a range of Local Government priorities from a federal perspective, which involved ministerial meetings discussing social cohesion, the need for investment in city shaping infrastructure, and ongoing viability and sustainability of Local Government. The Mayor thanked MAV for convening the delegation and inviting them to be a part of it.
16. URGENT BUSINESS
Nil.
17. Confidential Matters
Nil.
As there was no further business the meeting closed at 10:03pm.
Chairperson ________________________________________