After being slapped-around the head by the velvet glove of the Bega District News over its dishonest mishandling of the Hanscombes Creek & Johnston’s Creek bridges debacle, council found itself in full damage control mode last week, when Mayor Kristy McBain & Director, Assets & Operations, Anthony McMahon found themselves in front of the microphone on ABC Radio.
Yet, in spite of that experience, it was also clear that council was determined to try & spin its way out of trouble, while clearly intent on pursuing its original agenda to the detriment of the Numbugga ratepayers & the wider community.
That claim by Mr McMahon was a clear misrepresentation of what Mr Chadwick actually said to council, when he made it clear that he had only considered the option of a culvert being constructed to replace the Johnston’s Creek bridge if council was determined to de-commission it & there was no other alternative.
In his presentation to council, Mr Chadwick also made the point, repeatedly, that council needed to consider the wider implications for the community of council de-commissioning the bridges, in particular as they were critical to providing access to the area to essential services & emergency services personnel, as had been evidenced during the recent Yankees Gap bushfire; a suggestion that council had previously chosen to ignore.
When Mayor McBain stepped-up to the microphone, things went from the sublime to the ridiculous after she was asked if part of the problem was the way in which the issue had been handled. In what the association considers was one of the most ridiculous claims ever made by the
Mayor, she said:
“We’re heavily constrained by the Local Government Act, so before council staff were able to initiate discussions with the property owners, there had to be a resolution on the books to do that; so that was the reasoning behind the confidential session.”
The association believes that the suggestion that council staff can’t consult with residents & ratepayers in the absence of a resolution of council expressly approving such interactions is entirely absurd & Cr McBain’s claim in that regard was surely nothing more than a self-serving attempt by council to avoid accountability for its actions.
Cr McBain then helpfully downplayed council’s failure to advise the ratepayers concerned that the matter was on the agenda for its May 29th meeting by characterising it as a “miscommunication”, before claiming that the general manager & council had apologised for the oversight.
We’ll, that wasn’t accurate either.
It was only after being prodded by Cr Dodds that council’s general manager found her voice on the matter, stating:
“Our normal process is that we do advise people, so I do apologise if that didn’t occur. You should have been advised. Our staff are usually very good at doing that.”
Of course, throughout all of this, the possibility that council staff may have misled councillors remained the elephant in the room, in particular given past actions, including the suspension of bridge maintenance & the imposition of weight limits & the corresponding hardship that this caused to local residents; not to overlook the failure to properly address issues relating to establishing proper title of the bridges & related roads.
As to sheeting-home real accountability for this mess, it would obviously be helpful if the recording of council’s closed session discussions on the issue in December, 2017 was released publicly. In the circumstances, the association can think of no reason why this should not happen.
In the meantime, the association believes that council would benefit from studying the first law of holes, which simply states that "if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging".
John Richardson
Secretary/Treasurer
Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association
Tel: 0264945669
Email: secretary@begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
Website: http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au
