Council Meeting wrap - March 2024
Published on 21 March 2024
Gannawarra Shire Council will hold an Unscheduled Meeting of Council next week after the March 2024 meeting was adjourned after two Councillors walked out of the meeting, resulting in the meeting not having a quorum to proceed.
Held at the Kerang Senior Citizens Centre on 20 March 2024, five of the seven Councillors were initially in attendance, with Cr Jane Ogden currently on a leave of absence and Cr Travis Collier an apology.
The meeting was adjourned during discussions about the awarding of the tender for the $3.07 million The Glasshouse @ The Gannawarra. To be incorporated into Kerang’s Sir John Gorton Library, this contemporary designed, fully accessible facility will enable new and emerging community programs to connect, collaborate, create and celebrate together.
Construction of The Glasshouse @ The Gannawarra is supported by a $1.5 million contribution from the State Government’s Living Libraries Infrastructure Program and $718,000 from the Federal Government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.
However, Council identified during the tender process that the current budget allocation is insufficient to enable the project to be completed, with Councillors debating whether to approve a proposal for $842,000 from Council’s capital works budget to enable the project to proceed when Cr Keith Link and Cr Garner Smith walked out of the meeting.
“The actions of Cr Link and Cr Smith contradict the Councillor Code of Conduct and the oath of office all Councillors signed when our current Councillor term began in November 2020,” Mayor Ross Stanton said.
“Our Governance Rules outlines the ways Cr Link and Cr Smith could have expressed their opposition to the motion, including voting against the motion or abstaining from voting.
“Due to the actions of Cr Link and Cr Smith, my fellow Councillors and I could not discuss other key matters that featured in the March 2024 agenda, which included key infrastructure improvements to the Apex Park Road bridge at Reedy Lake and Kervins Road bridge at Cohuna with a combined investment of $1.12 million, a proposed planning permit with a potential investment of over $42 million into Gannawarra Shire, and answering questions from the public submitted specifically for this meeting.”
Matters that were addressed before the meeting was adjourned included the noting of Council’s 2023/24 Quarterly Budget report as of 31 December 2023, and the summary of discussions of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 13 February 2024.
Details regarding the Unscheduled Meeting of Council will be promoted via Council’s website and Facebook page.
For more information, including a link to the video from the March 2024 Council Meeting, please visit www.gsc.vic.gov.au/meetings