September 2022 Board meeting minutes

Dams Safety NSW Board Meeting No 27

6 September 2022

Location: Virtual

Time: 9:30am - 1:00pm

Attendees: Ross Carter (Chair), Alex Fisher (Deputy Chair), Shane McGrath, Rob O’Neill, Julie Garland McLellan, Chris Salkovic, Margaret Hynes, Kristina Resanceff, Jacqui Page (secretariat)

Apologies: Peter Boyd

Declarations of interest: No conflicts of interest were identified for this meeting.

Item	Discussion and actions
1	Meeting open 1.1 Appointed members only 1.2 Acknowledgement of country and welcome 1.3 Previous minutes and actions Minutes accepted with no amendments. Members requested that commentary be added to completed actions. Suggested comments could be included in CEO Report Action 20220609-01: Management team to provide a brief commentary against completed actions.
2	Strategy/Stakeholder Matters for Discussion 2.1 WaterNSW – Warragamba and Cataract dams’ safety program Sam Banzi and Ronan Magaharan from WaterNSW attended the meeting to assist members understanding of the proposed actions and timeframes associated with Warragamba and Cataract Dams safety program. During the presentation Sam provided an overview on WaterNSW’s risk management approach, current actions and progress. Members thanked Sam and Ronan for their presentation. Members briefly discussed reasonableness of proposed actions. It was agreed further discussion on this topic was needed. Action: 20220609-02: Management team to include agenda item to further discuss Warragamba safety program at the October meeting. 2.2 Strategic risk deep dive – Dams Safety NSW does not keep the Minister and Community adequately informed about how DSNW regulates dam safety Chris Salkovic presented the strategic risk deep dive: Dams Safety NSW does not keep the Minister and Community adequately informed about how DSNW regulates dam safety and provided detail on the existing controls and the measures taken to address the risk. Members discussed the risk and recommended that further detail on how DSNSW and DPE’s relationship works operationally to ensure DPE Execs and the Minister are informed by DSNSW briefings. Additionally, members discussed the importance of the policy on publications, that will be part of the Communications Plan, in contributing to mitigating this risk. Action: 20220609-03: Management team to include detail of DPE relationship and how it works operationally to address risk, also include ‘sharing of information publicly’ in actions underway. Action: 20220609-04: Management team to present outline of Stakeholder Engagement Strategy (including the Communications Plan), and timeframes for development at November meeting. 2.3 Proposed Annual Report Paper taken as read. Members provided some verbal feedback on the proposed Annual Report with final comments due COB 9 September 2022. Members thanked Kristina for her excellent work on the Annual Report. Action: 20220609-05: Management team to consider a process for obtaining and resolving any final comments from members on Annual Report prior to final approval at the October meeting.
3	Governance Matters for Discussion 3.1 Governance and Management documentation reviewed and included in the Dams Safety NSW Governance Framework Paper taken as read. Members acknowledged that the Governance Framework was a good place for the Governance and Management documentation list to live. Members also noted that the Framework was developed when Dams Safety NSW was first established and suggested when new Members join in November, there was an opportunity to review/refresh the Framework. Action: 20220609-06: Management team to initiate review of Governance Framework post new Members joining Dams Safety NSW. 3.2 CEO Performance Plan Taken as read. Members recommended CEO include in his performance plan, under Development area, a statement on what will he learn and how will members know he got there. The CEO Performance Plan is to be finalised by the incoming Chair of Dams Safety NSW. Action: 20220609-07: CEO is to present FY23 Operations Plan at October meeting.
4	4. Operations Matters for Noting 4.1 Operational process for review of risk reports Taken as read. Members suggested additional elements for sampling such as known incidents and instances of Major material non-conformance could be included in sampling process. Members also noted that continual segmentation and refinement was important and should be considered as part of the sampling regime. Action: 20220609-08: Management team to consider additional aspects when sampling risk reports such as known incidents and instances of major material non-conformance. 4.2 High Risk dams and action being taken Taken as read. Action: 20220609-09: Management to adjust the high-risk dams report to include recent issued Direction. 4.3 CEO Report Taken as read.
	General Business Nil.
6	Meeting Finalisation 6.1 Review actions taken 6.2 Meeting evaluation by Julie Garland McLellan 6.3 Next meeting – Next meeting to be face-to-face on 10 October 2022.