Some Money for Revitalisation

THE state government last night announced $2,965,782 in stage one funding for the Scone main street revitalisation representing approximately 15 percent of the $19 million project.

Michael Johnsen MP attended the Council meeting last night to make the announcement to Upper Hunter Shire Councillors and said it was not a commitment before an election, but money in the bank.

Mr Johnsen congratulated the Upper Hunter Shire Council, said they had put “a lot of hard work into the grant application” adding he was looking forward to seeing the work done.

Money to be taken from Bill Rose Sports Complex

Also at last night’s Council meeting there was was a motion to reappropriate $200,000 from the Bill Rose Sporting Complex restricted funds to be used to begin design work with civil engineers and storm water infrastructure for the main street revitalisation.

Cr Sue Abbott said she had concerns about using money from the Bill Rose Complex, questioned if it was still needed in light of the new government funding announcement and suggested the motion be deferred until the next meeting.

Cr James Burns insisted the funding was needed as a matter of urgency and said the committee “always intended to pay it back, but we ran out of money” explaining that the plan is only 75 percent complete and the $200,000 is needed to finish the remaining 25 percent of the plan.

Cr Watts agreed the decision should be deferred and sought assurance it was a loan that would be repaid to the Bill Rose Sporting Complex account; Council advised her it would be.

Cr Maurice Collison and Cr Ron Campbell supported the motion if it was a loan arrangement.

Council staff advised the Councillors there was $1million in the Bill Rose Sporting Complex fund and the $200,000 could be used if repaid.

Cr Kiwa Fisher raised concerns that the Bill Rose Sports Complex needed $4million in grant funding and had been unsuccessful in the most recent round of grant funding.

The motion was passed to reappopriate money from the Bill Rose Sports Complex fund for the main street revitalisation.

Big Decisions Need More Commitment

Cr Sue Abbott raised concerns that the Scone Revitalisation Committee often did not have the required quorum of five people to hold a meeting and objected to the motion to reduce the quorum to only four people.

Cr Lee Watts supported Cr Abbott’s concerns and said they were big decisions being made and it was important to have a full quorum.

Cr Jamie Burns said there were time pressures to make decisions on the revitalisation and the committee had put forward the recommendation so that the number of meeting attendees would not slow the process down.

Cr Burns further said he was often away and so too was the Mayor so it was difficult to have enough people at the committee meetings.

Mayor Bedggood agreed with the positions of Cr Abbott and Cr Watts and said the committee was in charge of a substantial budget making significant decisions and it was important for committee members to prioritise the meeting.

The motion to reduce the quorum was not carried.