Voluntary committees of management Information and support for volunteer committees of management

March 2022

In this edition of Voluntary Committees of Management News (Vol CoM News)

Recognising volunteers
Stories from your reserve
Up-coming Audit Survey
DELWP help to assess buildings
Bacchus March Council Trench Reserve (Celebrating reserves and volunteers)
Solar on public buildings

The theme for National Volunteer Week this year is Better Together. For more details, see the National Volunteer Week site of Volunteering Australia. You might also like to check out the range of volunteer information and resources avaialble through Volunteering Victoria.

Recognising volunteers

For more than 100 years, volunteer committees have played a critical role in managing Crown land reserves across Victoria.

Coinciding with National Volunteer Week, 16 – 22 May 2022, DELWP is again seeking to formally recognise the valuable contribution of people involved as volunteers with Crown land reserve committees of management, including committee members.

Please keep an eye out for further information from DELWP about volunteer recognition opportunities in your area.

Stories from your reserve

Big thanks to Bacchus Marsh Council Trench Reserve committee of management for submitting a story for publication as part of the Celebrating reserves and volunteers section of the DELWP committees of management website. See more below.

We are keen to get more stories to publish on the website and would love to hear from you if you have a story to tell! Send to: voluntary.committees@delwp.vic.gov.au

Up-coming Audit Survey

During April, a sample of the 1,000+ committees of management across the state will be selected to complete an audit survey of financial management and governance procudeures.

Your committee may be chosen for this audit.

Information from the audit will be used by DELWP to judge the effectiveness of the information the Department provides to committees, and to assess committees’ future support and assistance requirements.

The 25 questions in the survey relate to expectations of committees outlined in the Committee of Management Guidelines, including Chapter 4 Standards of conduct and required policies, Chapter 5 Financial Management and Chapter 8 Leases and Licences.

The Guidelines are available from the committee of management section of the DELWP website.The site includes back copies of Vol CoM News. The July 2021 edition includes further detailed background regarding governance issues.

DELWP help to assess buildings

DELWP is in the process of appointing a company to undertake condition assessment reports on all buildings managed by voluntary committees of management across the state.

It is hoped that this work will begin in May 2022 and continue through to August/September. The company undertaking the assessments will work with all committees that manage one of more buildings (including halls, toilet blocks, grandstands etc.) to schedule an appropriate time for them to come to the reserve(s) to assess the condition of buildings.This is a free service at no cost to committees.

Upon completion of the project each committee will receive a building conditions report, an estimate of future cyclical and capital maintenance requirements for each building and an asset register your committee can use to help with forward planning and management of your reserve(s).

Futher details of the Asset Assessment Program will be provided in future editions of Vol CoM News and/or direct to your committee. In the meantime, please direct any enquiries to voluntary.committees@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Bacchus March Council Trench Reserve

The Bacchus Marsh Council Trench Reserve, just north of Bacchus Marsh, contains the only known outcropping of 210 million year-old Triassic-aged sedimentary rock in Victoria.

The significance of the site was recognised by the Geological Society of Australia (Victoria Branch) in the 1980s.

The Bacchus Marsh Council Trench Reserve committee of management was formed in 2003 to manage the site after successful lobbying by a dedicated group to prevent the site being sold for development.

Ongoing tasks on the reserve for committee volunteers are grass mowing, weed eradication, replanting the native flora and annoying the rabbits!

Further background is available from the Celebrating reserves and volunteers section of the DELWP committees of management website. The story published there includes links to a 5 minute video ‘Triassic Park’, that outlines the geology and history of the reserve. Four members of the committee, Roger Pierson, Susan White, Mel Mitchell and Alan Morton received Volunteer Recognition Awards in 2021.

Solar on public buildings

The Solar on Public Buildings Program, funded by the State Government, is helping voluntary committees of management reduce energy costs and become more sustainable by the installation of solar systems on the buildings of 300 eligible Crown land reserves across the State.

Each site has had an energy audit prepared to identify energy efficiency improvements and any electrical safety improvements required.

An expression of interest process in late 2020 (no longer open) identified over 300 suitable sites for installation of solar systems.

Over 100 systems have been installed, including Elmore Recreation Reserve (pictured). It is estimated the Elmore system (11.8kw) will save $3,000+ on energy bills annually.

For further information: solar.publicbuildings@delwp.vic.gov.au

Committees of management information on DELWP website

A reminder that the DELWP website includes a section for committees of management. There's a range of information on the site including an Induction Kit for new committee members, copies of the Committee of Managment Guidelines, fact sheets and model policies for committees, insurance information and more!

The full address is: https://www.delwp.vic.gov.au/boards-and-governance/committees-of-management and that link or the following button will take you there.

DELWP Committee of Management website

Contacting DELWP

For information about this newsletter or the committees of management section of the DELWP website, including any contribtions of stories and news about your reserve(s), contact DELWP on voluntary.committees@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Avenues to contact DELWP for further information are:

Log a query in the Crown Land Kiosk for response by DELWP.
Contact the DELWP Land and Built Environment (LBE) team responsible for supporting committees of management in your part of the state. Relevant offices for committees of management include Geelong, Hamilton, Traralgon, Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Horsham, Seymour, Wodonga, Bendigo, Mildura, Knoxfield (for all of Melbourne metro). The communities and regions section of the DELWP website includes contact details for these regional DELWP offices.
Contact the DELWP Customer Contact Centre on 136 186 or customer.service@delwp.vic.gov.au.

We acknowledge Victorian Traditional Owners and their Elders past and present as the original custodians of Victoria’s land and waters and commit to genuinely partnering with them and Victoria’s Aboriginal community to progress their aspirations.

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