ATTENDANCES: Maurice McCormick (Chairperson), Dale Holley (Secretary), John Blaney-Murphy, John Kratochvill, Peter Blyth, Noel Bignell, Louise Duxbury (Green Skills), Adrian Stratico (Water Corp), Letisha Newman (Water Corp), Lionel Downes, Jean Webb (WICC), Robert Fenn (CoA), Graham Wright (Water Corp), Steve Janicke (DoE), Phil Mellon, Graeme Heighton (Treasurer)

APOLOGIES: Chris Westcott, Terri Harwood, Monty Walker, Andrew Marshall

Graeme Heighton confirmed that the Minutes were a true and correct record of the meeting held on 4th May, 2005 and John Blaney-Murphy seconded.

3.1 Inwards

1. 11th May, 2005, Department of Agriculture calling for nominations for the 2005 Landcare Awards. ACTION: TCG to apply next year when the WT project has commenced implementation.
2. 2nd May, 2005 Australian Government Envirofund (National Heritage Trust) informing the TCG that we were unsuccessful with our application re 51637 Implementing WTCRP. "The application was not recommended for funding as it was not possible to assess the full merits of the proposed activities on the basis of the information in the application. It is suggested that you resubmit the application in the next round with clear site map".

3.2 Outwards

1. 21st May, 2005 to Alison Goode (CoA) inviting her to attend the Meeting 15th June, 2005 re Options for Managing WT (The mayor had previous commitments and Robert Fenn would be attending.
2. 21st May, 2005 to Jean Webb (WICC) inviting her to attend 15th June meeting.

Noel Bignell accepted the correspondence and Phil Mellon seconded

4.1 Treasurer's report: Only expenses $7.30 Gov debit tax, Outstanding expenses: H&D Vandermeullen $330.00, P. Marshall $385.00 perennial seed trial, D. Burrows $1650.00 perennial seed trial, S. Wheatcroft $165.00 audit for Envirofund. Income: SCRIPT $4438.00 (perennial pasture trial), $158 from ATO for BAS, $15.00 membership, Waters and Rivers $25300.00 funding, bank interest $320.58. Balance of $94847.23 after outstanding expenses balance of $92317.23

4.2 4.2 New memberships and fees: Membership fees can be sent to Treasurer Graeme Heighton, P.O. Box 1900, Albany 6331.

4.3 Envirofund 2004 project acquittal. Finalised.

Lionel Downes accepted the treasurer's report and John Blaney-Murphy seconded. All in favour. Carried.

5.1 Waterways grant allocation - update

At a meeting held on 9th June with Bob Gretton, Steve Janicke, Maurice McCormick and Dale Holley the following have applied for fencing and revegetation etc: Philip O'Halloran 1km of fencing (out of the catchment, so not entitled), Danny Mead 600m fencing (degraded jarrah bush), Wendy Minchin 600 metres fencing, Fenando Gatti has two blocks, working with one initially (500m creek) Darren Wolfe (out of catchment), Wendy Coffee 920m remnant veg, Joe Barkovic 250m fencing, Tania Witham 2km fencing, Wally & Glenda Yagmich 1.5km fencing, watering point and crossing, There has been a lot more interest since adding fencing of remnant vegetation.

5.1 (a) Graham Wright (Water Corp) commented that he had received a few calls from local residents following the recent heavy down pour of rain causing properties to flood. Graham said it had been an unusual season but the drains are working well. He said it was a local council issue. It's not often that we get such a large down pour all at once but it needs to be taken into account when choosing the options for future management of the drainage system.

Graham will be taking a back seat from now on but will be available if needed. He introduced Letisha Newman and Adrian Stratico who will be taking over and attending future meetings. Graham was thanked for his valuable input to the catchment so far.

5.2 Green Corp Team - Torbay Catchment work update

Due to finish shortly. The team is seed planting at the moment and fencing.

5.3 Friends of Lake Powell

Meeting 18th June, 2005. Not a very good response so far to RSVP for Friends of Lake Powell's first official meeting. More volunteers are needed. To be held at the Elleker Hall. A speaker from "Friends of Gilberts Potoroo" will be attending

5.4 South West Catchment Tour feedback

Maurice McCormick reported back to the meeting on "an exceptionally good tour". Some of the highlights:

• Ian Mott (farmer) composting dairy waste for local sale. 170m long, 1.5m deep and 1.5m wide. Using a mulch turner with a 2.5tonne granite rock as weight to balance the machine. Interest was shown to contact Ian for further information on his method of mulching.
• Malatesta composting/vermiculture facility Bunbury. Uses water from the abattoirs. Mulched bark is used around avocado trees to protect the feeders. Grape cuttings are used from local vineyards. Also of interest was a worm bed.
• Coolup farmer proponent of red mud - uses waste material left over from mining bauxite from Alcoa. 20 tonnes a hectare
• Agro forestry farm near Busselton - as opposed to wood chips. Bob Hingston to be asked to talk further at future catchment meetings.
• It was interesting to note the ph in the area was 3.8-4.3 while our ph is 4.8-5.0

Louise was thanked for organising such a great tour and special thanks to Dave Weaver (Department of Agriculture) and Letisha Newman (Water Corp) for their contribution.

5.5 Role of the TCG in the WT project Implementation and Funds Management:

Steve Janicke (DoE) tabled a Management options for implementation plan for the next 3 years, .with the essential roles as follows:

• Receive, manage & disburse all funds from NAP/SCRIPT, includes employing staff and handling all financial matters
• Guide implementation plan & project manager activity
• Day to day management of the project
• Work with landowners to establish on-ground actions

Also including a summary of key responsibilities

• Project steering - Ensures that the project impetus and direction is maintained
• Project financial administration - covers the range of all administration responsibilities
• Project Management- Ensures that the project is kept on track day to day
• Project works supervision - Directs on-ground tasks and ensures they are carried out to specification

Suggested options:

• Agency to be total project manager
• Green Skills to manage on-ground components
• Torbay Catchment Group to manage on-ground components only
• Torbay Catchment Group to be total project manager
• Further addition from Andrew Marshall (President) -TCG with 5 executive members, purely advisory, reports back to TCG advising to Catchment Manager/Coordinator with advice from DoE, CALM, Dept of Ag, and City of Albany. With a financial Manager - paid part time position. The Department's comment was that there would be no funding available through SCRIPT for a Financial Administrator

Jean Webb provided an insight into the financial administration for Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee. Listing the financial management team they use. Jean said the way WICC gets around paying a financial administrator is that they have invested their funding, using the interest to pay the financial administrator.

Robert Fenn from (CoA) One of the main problems facing similar organisations is how to spend large amounts of money, account for it and acquit the project in the allotted time.

Further comments:

• Share the manpower with an agency
• Employment, on-ground works and investigations, planning and monitoring don't have to be managed by the same organisation, particularly in the first year
• DoE would be prepared to manage some of the funds
• Green Skills could manage staffing
• TCG could manage on ground projects
• 2nd and 3rd year it could be reviewed and TCG take on more roles

After discussion it was decided Steve Janicke would approach the DoE with the following suggestions:

1. Receiver/Manager shared with DoE for the first 12 months
2. Guide implementation plan shared with DoE for the first 12 months
3. Day to day management of the project and landowners flow into one person or shared by 2 people
4. Only leaves employment of staff (no decision needed on this at the moment)

MEETING CLOSED 21.45pm
NEXT MEETING: 27th July, 2005 at 7.30 pm - Elleker Hall