General News
1 June, 2022
Shire move met with community backlash
THE Mortlake community has expressed outrage after Moyne Shire Council began moving property in to the community meeting room at the Mortlake Community Centre last week.
THE Mortlake community has expressed outrage after Moyne Shire Council began moving property in to the community meeting room at the Mortlake Community Centre last week.
Dozens took to social media after Mortlake Community Development Committee (MCDC) president Kelvin Goodall voiced concerns the shire had begun moving office furniture in to the community meeting room despite the MCDC having more than a month left on its current license agreement.
Moyne Shire Council has since removed the office furniture from the community meeting room.
As the Mortlake Dispatch reported last Thursday, Moyne Shire Council has sought to terminate the MCDC’s existing lease agreement at the Mortlake Information Centre.
The shire defended the move as necessary as Moyne and Corangamite shires adapt to a new shared service library model from July, following the impending dissolution of the Corangamite Regional Library Corporation.
But concerns were raised when the new lease agreement offered to the MCDC excluded use of the community meeting room at the centre, which will be repurposed by the shire into an office space.
MCDC president Kelvin Goodall said the shire’s treatment of the MCDC had been “unfair” after he received a phone call from a shire representative last Friday, who advised the furniture would be moved in to the community room within hours.
“I was very surprised that just over an hour later two blokes were coming through the front door with a removal van out the front,” he said.
“I contacted a number of people and put it on Facebook, which hsparked outrage and the shire then removed the furniture.
“The shire removing the office equipment is certainly an acknowledgement they had done wrong, and they have handled it badly.”
Mr Goodall said the showing of support from the Mortlake community spoke to the importance of the issue.
“The support has been very good, certainly passionate and some very good ideas regarding what we should do,” he said.
“The community is extremely upset.”
Moyne Shire director of corporate and community services David Rae acknowledged the furniture had been moved to the community room as a result of a “misunderstanding” and offered an apology on behalf of council.
“Council apologises for this and has acted quickly to rectify the situation,” he said.
Mr Rae said the shire would continue with its plans to utilise the community meeting room as a management hub from July due to the practicality of the location and the necessity to develop a new lease agreement with the MCDC.
“MCDC holds a joint lease with the soon-to-be defunct Corangamite Regional Library Corporation,” he said.
“That agreement states if the corporation is to disband, the lease must be renegotiated. With the winding up of the CRLC, that lease expires on June 30 and MCDC has access to the room until that date.
“MCDC will be able to use the library building for its meetings and will continue to operate the information centre and Centrelink service under a new license agreement with Moyne Shire Council.”
Mr Rae said Moyne Shire Council would work to accommodate any community groups impacted by the loss of the community meeting room.
“Again, council recognises that change like this is difficult and several meetings have been held with MCDC about this situation over the past six months,” he said.
“This room remains the most suitable location for the new joint library service hub in Mortlake and represents the best and most cost effective use of ratepayers money while ensuring library services can continue across Moyne Shire.
“Council will work with other organisations impacted by this change to ensure they are accommodated.”
The MCDC plans to further voice its concerns during the public participation segment at the next Moyne Shire Ordinary Meeting of Council.
“We just want to get a simple view across to get it on record,” Mr Goodall said.
“I just want to get across that even if the legal advice suggests the shire can do this, that it’s not right and we shouldn’t just be removed.
“Surely between Corangamite and Moyne there are other facilities available without having to take a community facility off Mortlake, where we have to bear the brunt of this amalgamation because the shire was too lazy to look elsewhere.”
The next meeting of council will be held next Tuesday, June 7 at 2pm at the Moyne Shire Council office in Mortlake.
Mr Goodall encouraged members of the Mortlake community to attend as a show of moral support.
