Council will not disclose grant success

Central Coast Council will not say whether the Peninsula has received a share of the Stronger Communities Fund in the first round of funding.

It will not be told if any of its community groups have been successful in their applications for grants from the fund unless the groups reveal their success.

It is possible that the area has not received any benefit from the fund which was established by the NSW Government as a reward for councils which merged.

A total of $10 million was allocated to the Central Coast Council, $1 million of which was for a Community Grant Program.

The Grant Program was to provide grants of between $10,000 and $50,000 to incorporated, not-for-profit community groups "for projects that build more vibrant, sustainable and inclusive local communities", according to a report from the Customer and Community Relations Department of the Central Coast Council to its October 26 ordinary meeting.

Central Coast Council divided the $1 million into four rounds of $250,000.

Applications for Round 1 opened on July 18 and closed on August 26.

However, the names of the successful applicants for the first round of funding under the NSW Government's Stronger Communities Fund have been kept confidential by Central Coast Council.

Council has not disclosed how many organisations received Round 1 funding, what projects were chosen or any details about those projects including their dollar value or their value to the community.

According to the report: "The Stronger Communities Fund Round 1 Summary, Full Assessment Report and Minutes of the Assessment Panel meeting ... are confidential in accordance with Section 10A(2) (c) of the Local Government Act 1993, for the reason that they contain information that would, if disclosed, confer a commercial advantage on a person with whom Council is conducting (or proposes to conduct) business."

At the October 26 ordinary Council meeting, the Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds resolved to adopt the confidential recommendations for awards $246,637 in Round 1 of the Stronger Communities Fund.

Council will advise all applicants of its decision but Mr Reynolds also moved that recipients of the Stronger Communities Fund will be required to sign a funding agreement prior to funds being released.

A copy of that funding agreement was not included in the Council's business papers for the October 26 ordinary meeting so it is unclear whether recipients will be required to keep the outcomes confidential as part of that agreement.

The remaining $3363 will be rolled over into Round 2.

According to the report to Council, 91 applications were received and, of those, 81 were deemed eligible by staff.

It is understood Council's grant staff, including community grants officer Ms Sharon Moore, and section manager Mr Glenn Cannard were involved in the process.

According to the report, other staff members with specific expertise may have been coopted as required.

Those 81 applications were then weighted by the staff against the selection criteria and additional checks were made by staff to determine whether projects required or had the appropriate approvals.

Five projects were given ratings of highly recommended totalling $119,467.

A further 16 were rated recommended and totalled $260,597 and 60 applications were not recommended.

Those ratings, along with Stronger Communities Fund guidelines, terms of reference and a guide on how to view applications were provided to the assessment panel.

The assessment panel met on Friday, September 23 to assess the applications and provide recommendations to Council.

Minutes of the meeting have been kept confidential.

The makeup of the Fund Assessment Panel was determined by the NSW Government and was required to include the Council administrator or a delegate, State Members of Parliament, the Central Coast Director of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet or a delegate; other members appointed by the administrator; and an independent probity adviser.

According to the Assessment Panel terms of reference, the Round 1 panel included the council's acting group leader of customer and community relations Mr Peter Cannizzaro, Mr Peter Duggan representing the Member for The Entrance, Mr Zac Harrison representing the Member for Wyong, Ms Deahnna Richardson representing the Member for Swansea, Ms Debra Wales representing the Member for Terrigal,and Ms Jane Letteri representing the Member for Gosford.

Ms Tracey Wearne represented the Director of the Department of Premier and Cabinet; three former Councillors were also appointed by the administrator including Mr Craig Doyle and Mr Bob Ward.

The "independent" probity adviser was Council's executive manager of legal and governance Mr Brian Glendenning,.

Round 2 opens on January 30 and closes on February 24, 2017 and subsequent rounds will take place between July 17 and August 11, 2017 and January 29 to February 23, 2018.

Central Coast Council agenda 6.5, 26 Oct 2016

Reporter: Jackie Pearson