Ballina Council Votes to Buy Land in 'Secret Meeting'
BALLINA Shire Council held an extraordinary meeting on Monday 3rd August
with only one item on the agenda, that being a land acquisition matter. The
meeting was held behind closed doors to avoid any public scrutiny. The
meeting resolved to go ahead with secret plans to purchase land.
Only Greens Councillor Jeff Johnson voted against the plan that staff have
been secretly working on for the last 6 months.
The other nine councillors voted to authorise general manager Paul Hickey
to finalise contracts for the purchase of the land.
Cr Johnson said he didn't think it was the council's role to act as a developer when local community services and infrastructure needed funding.
Cr Johnson could not talk directly about the land acquisition due to the risk of legal issues. 'Since the Council has determined that the matter is confidential I am not allowed to discuss any of the specifics concerning the deal.
“Generally speaking though I feel the council's role is to provide infrastructure and services to the community and not put all these funds into commercial property investments,” “We've got a large infrastructure backlog.
“Being a developer - that's the role of the private sector, not the role of local government.”
Cr Johnson said the $11.5 million held in the council's land development reserve would be best spent on services and local infrastructure.
He also said the process should be more transparent. Ballina Council is always crying poor when it comes to providing community infrastructure and services. “I think that we need to have this discussion about whether it's council's role to have community money spent on commercial property investments,” he said.
Concerned Ballina resident and council-watcher Vince Kelly also questioned the secrecy around the vote, saying the public had a right to scrutinise the deal.
“The public hasn't had any opportunity to see it, to see the transaction and whether it's commercially viable,” he said. “And if they're tying up millions of dollars in investments, we don't have the money to spend on infrastructure like roads.”
There appears to be a potential conflict of interest in a Council being a land developer. How can they be both the developer and the compliance authorrity at the same time. Ed
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