On 18 March 2013 The Northern Star reported that Ballina Shire Council was not happy with a particular Letter to the Editor:
The issue of council acting as a developer has been around for some time and, Vince Kelly raised the matter in 2009 and again in 2012 when he also wrote this letter to Echonetdaily.
Given that Vince Kelly appears to watch council closely and speak to any number of people, I imagine that Paul Hickey may find it difficult to track down the person who informed the content of Kelly’s last letter.
Kelly should take heart – he could live further south where Clarence Valley Council management have turned losing money into an art form.
Here is that last letter in the Echonetdaily online which is currently causing Ballina local government angst:
Ballina Shire Council has again preferred commercial property speculation ahead of community infrastructure. This time it is in respect to an indoor heated swimming pool.
On February 26 Ballina Council’s Commercial Services Committee met in secret to consider two offers to purchase council’s commercial site in Tamarine Drive. But property markets being what they are nothing stays secret for long.
At the meeting Council rejected a fair value cash offer of $860,000 from a private consortium. They planned to build a new indoor heated pool and gymnasium within twelve months.
Council accepted a ‘cash and land swap’ offer of $1.2 million from Fire and Rescue NSW, who plan to build a new fire station. The purchase consideration comprises cash of only $500,000 and the transfer of the exiting fire station in Crane Street to the council for a non cash consideration of $700,000.
The $700,000 is an inflated figure fabricated by Council’s Commercial Services Division and substantially overvalues the fire station. This portrays the Firies’ offer of $1.2 million as more generous. But when the true value of the fire station is factored in the two offers are comparable.
On a cash basis the consortium’s offer is substantially better as ratepayers receive $860,000 in cash compared to the Firies’ offer of only $500,000 in cash. With the consortium’s offer the community obtains a new indoor heated swimming pool, gymnasium and additional lifestyle facilities. Ratepayers’ funds will not be required to build and maintain the facility or cover the ongoing operating costs.
With the Fires’ offer ratepayers receive $360,000 less in cash and a special purpose building with restricted usage. The property is of little strategic benefit and does nothing to assist Council meet the community’s expectations regarding infrastructure delivery.
At its Finance Committee meeting on March 4 Council discussed building its own indoor heated pool adjacent to Ballina swimming pool. This will cost ratepayers at least $2 million and it will not be ready for about two years. Plus there will be ongoing maintenance and operating costs.
If the consortium’s offer had been accepted there would have been a cash generation of $2.86 million which could have been used to fund other infrastructure projects.
Of course the acceptance of the Firies’ offer does not make sense when compared to the consortium’s offer. So why did the council decide in favour of the Firies? Is there a hidden agenda? Well yes, there is!
You see, Council already owns properties adjoining the Crane Street fire station and Council is more interested in consolidating a future commercial development site than providing community infrastructure.
UPDATE
This is the letter to the editor in The Northern Star on 21 March 2013 which took the fire out of Paul Hickey's bullish game of hunt-the-councillor:
Council secrecy
The general manager
of Ballina Shire Council, Mr Paul Hickey, has merged the separate issues of
secrecy and confidentiality (Concern over leaked figures N/S 18/3).
I described the
Commercial Services Committee meeting as a 'secret meeting' because Mr Hickey
did not disclose the nature of the business transaction in the agenda.
Was this a deliberate
ploy to stop ratepayer opposition to a commercial transaction which was perhaps
not in their best interest?
It is hard to object
to something if you do not know what it is about. It was only after the minutes
of the meeting had been posted on the council's website that it was confirmed
that councillors had approved a land swap with Fire and Rescue NSW. Mr Hickey's
secret was out.
Mr Hickey has been
reported as saying that "Fire and Rescue had asked council that we not
release any information in respect to this matter".
So did Mr Hickey
advise the councillors that the way in which they had expressed their
resolution would not comply with the wishes of the firies?
If there has been a
breach of council's code of conduct who is the real culprit?
Council's Tamarind
Drive property has been on the market for several years and has been commented
on in numerous council reports which are public documents.
There is a lot of
information in the marketplace about council's property holdings and
activities.
If Mr Hickey wants to
play monopoly and wheel, deal and speculate in freely traded property markets
with ratepayers' money then he needs to understand that information about his
activities will find its way to the marketplace. The market is dynamic and full
of rumours, hearsay and facts.
Market intelligence
is continually being gathered, filtered, dissected and analysed by people who
will comment and opine on a whole range of issues.
Transactions are
continually being negotiated, finessed and documented.
Often there are many
players involved in both sides of a deal.
Just because Mr
Hickey submits a business paper on one of his property proposals to a council
meeting and the councillors resolve to consider it in a confidential session
does not mean that the information is not already in the marketplace.
It is only
councillors and council staff who are subject to a confidential resolution.
It does not apply to
the general public who may be in possession of the information.
Vince Kelly
East Ballina
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