Council officers are well paid, especially the general manager, and the Northern Midlands Council uses the services of a number of legal firms.
It therefore came as quite a shock in the hearings in the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal over the council decision to sell the Campbell Town Hall, to find that the council decision had no legal legs, because it had been made in closed meeting on 15 March, when it should have happened in open meeting.
In an information sheet on the sale of public land prepared by the Tasmanian Government dated 21 April 2020, we can read:
“Under subregulation 15(3)(c) of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015 (the Regulations), a council must not close a meeting when it is considering proposals for the council to deal with public land under section 178 of the Act. It is important that a council considers proposals relating to public land in open session so that the community has access to the relevant details associated with any proposal, including the decisions made by the council and the reasons behind those decisions.”
How could a council be so blind to basic laws for the council, costing their ratepayers a huge bill in a failed decision to sell the town hall? Will anyone be held responsible?
I had repeatedly urged the council to talk to the community about the Campbell Town Hall, and look at new ideas on the table that would keep the town hall in public hands. I called on the council, the mayor and the councillors, to talk to us, but now we know what they think.
Are the councillors trapped in Groundhog Day?
I hoped the council would give it a rest for a month, to have a chat, but their entire focus is on selling the town hall, which they decided to do, again, at their meeting of 19 July.
Why does the council find it so hard to talk to the community, to listen to the community and to work with the community?
Since amalgamation in 1993, the council has used a provision of the Local Government Act 1993 to form so-called Special Committees for towns.
These committees work like mini-councils, because they are arms of the council. Members are not elected, but self-nominate, and the council selects who will be on the special committee, and who will not.
The council uses the special committees as the way to talk to the community, in the view that the special committee knows what the community wants. Being unelected and beholden to the council for their position, special committee members are often focused on the wishes of the council.
Over years the council talked with the Campbell Town District Forum (a Special Committee), driving a wish to sell the town hall, focusing community consultation with the members of this forum. Not one member of the forum lodged a representation when the council first advertised the sale of the town hall in March.
I have long suggested that it would be better to have community or progress associations in towns. Perhaps the council would not like that, as then they would have less control over the community.
I have observed that where the special committees exist, they tend to displace community and progress associations, so towns lose their independent voice, and really bad outcomes can happen, for no good reason.
I was familiar with some shockers in Ross, but now I see some pretty strange outcomes in Campbell Town.
Why would the council want to sell the town hall?
Back in 2012 the council leased the old Court House from the Tasmanian Government, where the Campbell Town Museum and Visitor Information Centre was located.
The Tasmanian Government required $80,000 from the council for maintenance work. In response, the council terminated their lease and proceeded to move the museum and visitor information into the town hall.
To do this the council spent over $100,000 building two walls in the town hall, so that the museum and visitor information ended up in three unconnected rooms.
It was quite an insane decision. At that time the special musicians’ stage next to the main stage also vanished. The town hall could then no longer be used for larger functions of 120 to 150 people sitting at tables.
The council shrank and broke the town hall.
It was in 2014 that the council started spruiking the idea of building a new multi-function facility at the sports ground, where functions of 120 to 150 people sitting at tables could happen, which was opened in 2019.
Councillors say the community always knew that the town hall would be sold, when the new place was built at the sports ground. Whether the sales conversation radiated far beyond the Campbell Town District Forum is a moot point.
The reality of the council squandering over $100,000 on a dysfunctional museum space was hardly a sign to the community that the council intended to sell the town hall.
The council may not wish to discuss the town hall with the community, or hear any question, out of embarrassment over what they did to the town hall in 2013.
The council should have continued to lease the old Court House. Now, to sell the town hall, the council must find a new home for the museum and visitor information.
How much will that cost?
If Service Tasmania must move from the town hall because the hall is sold, will there be a risk of losing this essential service from the region?
The fight for the town hall is about far more than keeping an old hall in public hands. In our representations to the council meeting, included below, the potential of a civic and cultural centre is explored.
As we fight this battle against the council to save the town hall, we will present the civic and cultural concept, and listen to what residents of the Central Midlands would like to see happen.
This will be a hard fight, with a council that seeks to control the community, makes blunders with the town hall, makes blunders with the decision to sell the town hall, and has disconnected itself from residents and ratepayers and residents of the municipality.
The curse of Groundhog Day is upon us.
Council Presentation
Dr Jennifer Bolton
Proposal to Sell Public Land – Campbell Town Town Hall
Northern Midlands Council Meeting 19 July 2021
Madame mayor and councillors,
My name is Jennifer Bolton. I live in Ross.
Three days ago, the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal hastily granted an application by council to set aside their decision to sell the Campbell Town Town Hall. The notification of this order by the tribunal was sent through after close of business Friday night and contained numerous typographical errors. Two amended versions have been sent through today to correct those errors.
Why the rush and why did council want the decision set aside?
Their lawyers claimed that council no longer wished to rely upon their decision to sell the town hall and yet a proposal to sell the Campbell Town Town Hall is back on the agenda for tonight’s meeting. The real reason for abandoning the tribunal case appears to be due to the council’s legal team recognising that the decision to sell the town hall was initiated in a closed council meeting in contravention of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015.
Turning to tonight’s agenda and the council officer’s report on the proposal to sell the town hall, section 11 jumps straight to assessing the likelihood of a successful tribunal appeal overturning a decision to sell if such a decision was made. I disagree strongly with the assessment presented here.
There are no other facilities in Campbell Town that can compare to the town hall. The facility at the sportsground cannot function as a theatre or a movie cinema. It cannot provide a space for Service Tasmania or the Campbell Town Museum and Visitor Information Centre, neither can the Guide Hall located where it is in the back streets of Campbell Town instead of in the centre of town.
In any case, the future of the Guide Hall is under a cloud given the council’s decision to spend $15,000 investigating the conversion of 24 King Street Campbell Town into a commercial cabin/caravan/short-term accommodation facility. The Guide Hall is located at this address.
Finally, the council officer’s report notes:
“The most significant risk identified with the sale of the town hall in Campbell Town is community unrest at the disposal of a community asset.”
I would have to agree. The waste of money through the mismanagement of this process so far is one source of anger in the community but most important is the pain that would be caused if this iconic, historically significant building is not treated with the respect it deserves and retained in public hands.
Council Presentation – Campbell Town Hall, A Golden Opportunity
Kim Peart, 19 July 2021
I see a golden opportunity with the Campbell Town Hall.
I see public land next to the town hall, and wonder, could this be the site of a new civic and cultural centre in Campbell Town, which would also include the hall.
The new building would provide a better shop for Service Tasmania, a better home for the museum, a larger library, a cafe, and with the potential of a public art gallery being created, a gallery that could be focused on art inspired by the farms and rural communities of Tasmania.
A passage to the town hall would solve the problem of the toilets, and also provide access to the cafe for events in the town hall.
This hall was designed as a theatre for plays and a cinema for movies, roles which can be revived, along with exhibitions, functions and meetings.
Just as the new building at the sports ground seeks to attract a meeting market in central Tasmania, this could also work with the arts, drawing patrons from all parts of the island to a regional experience in the Central Midlands.
A civic and cultural centre would inspire confidence among Campbell Town residents, that the town has a strong and vibrant future, and also inspire existing business and new enterprise.
A number of problems are raised in the Watershed Solutions report, which this approach would solve.
The new centre would serve the residents of many towns and surrounding farms in the south of the municipality, from Tunbridge to Epping Forest and Avoca.
Rather than a highway experience that sweeps through Campbell Town, we would be building an identity for a whole region.
The first step will be to form a committee, and seek Tasmanian Government participation, along the lines of the Ross Bridge Committee of 2003.
The committee will need to explore all funding avenues, and start applying for grants. Seed funding will help with planning, designs for the new building, and any studies that need to be made.
By having a bolder vision that will solve many problems, town hall maintenance costs will be covered.
The Watershed Solutions Review suggests it may be hard to find good people to help with the town hall.
By working toward a bolder vision that will benefit a whole region, good people will be inspired to participate, from across the region. The civic and cultural centre committee would be able to start work on an events program for the town hall, immediately.
Naturally, to achieve this greater community and commercial good, the town hall will need to remain in public hands.
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