Hilltops Council may resolve to accept the Regional Cultural Grant from the NSW State Government at their Council meeting on Wednesday night. It is listed in the business paper under 18/104

The recommendation has two parts to it. “1. Accept the Regional Cultural Fund Grant of $3.0 million for the Joint Use facility with Young High School thereby acknowledging the Joint-use facility as the site for the new Young Public Library; and 2. Delegate to the General Manager to begin negotiations on a Heads of Agreement for the facility.”

Council never really looked at any other site other than the Carrington Park, joint-use proposal and it states this in the report when it quotes Option 1 (Undertermined). They never held a town meeting, even when there was much public opposition. They held 3 steering committee meetings.

The report states, “The Council applied for and was successful in gaining $3.0 million from the Regional Cultural Fund. The Council had considered three options in the business case for the project. These were: Base case – Do minimum option involving refurbishment of the current site. Option 1 – New stand-alone library facility to be developed by Council at a new site (Undetermined)

Option 2 – New Joint-use library facility with Young High School. The Council has now received the funding agreement which states that the grant is for a purpose built joint-use facility with Young High School.”

The report goes on to state “Council is now in a position where it needs to accept the grant and commit to a joint use facility with Young High School on Carrington Park or reject the offer and go back to revisit the provision of a new library as a stand-alone project without assistance. If the grant is accepted, then Council will need to enter into a Heads of Agreement with Schools Infrastructure NSW. The Heads of Agreement is the process by which the fine details of the facility and its operation are agreed.”

Council never formally resolved for an application to be sent to the State Government for a Library which was joint-use with Young High School. How then has the funding arrangement become contingent on this?

If they don’t accept the $3 million dollars they will lose it. Does it matter that they have been

rail-roaded towards a decision under duress, which wasn’t of their making?  It sure does when you read the last two Councillor columns.

According to Councillor Tuckerman’s Column dated June 14, “When under pressure we can be too focused on a task to the extent that we may close our eyes to what is more important.  So what is more important, what does probity, ethics and good governance mean and what can be done to promote the standard expected? An effective way to understand probity is to think of the principles of honesty, ethical conduct and a transparent process.”

John Walker was equally concerned in Council’s direction the following week on June 21, when he said, “A quotation by former British wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill of “one cannot leap chasms in two jumps” is realised as an extra vibrancy is felt as community and Council unite through mutual support, fulfilling strategic progress. All residents within Hilltops gain by a healthy, visionary, and unconditional cooperation.” “It is hard to ignore a couple of thousand warning signs in the form of names on a petition before we take a leap across the chasm into visionary uncharted territory. No one can deny there is need for a new style library, for a cultural centre, for recognised all age learning facilities, and for continuing community engagement. It is concerning when current indicators are ignoring community input.”

The grant represents what is likely one of the largest one off grants received by a local Council.

The consultation part of the document states that “Consultation on the Library has been ongoing for the last year.” This is not the case.

If 3 meetings with the steering committee and no architectural drawings is consultation, then the people of Hilltops could fairly feel, disheartened.

When the project started Hilltops Council had received $2 million dollars towards a library. Somehow it changed to the following description somewhere along the way. “The centrepiece of a new Cultural, Community and Education Precinct in Young will enhance cultural opportunities for the whole community through access to state-of-the-art facilities not currently available in the region. Hilltops Council, in partnership with School Infrastructure NSW, is planning a purpose-built joint-use facility with Young High School to provide a jointuse library service and a range of other services that currently don’t exist in the Hilltops community. These include arts workshop and exhibition space, support for tertiary education, a proactive youth focussed well-being hub and a Wiradjuri learning and cultural centre.”

On November 22, 2017 the following resolution was made by Council, “1. Delegate the General Manager to commence the process to acquire Lot 701 DP1021359 and Lot 1 DP 901476 for the site of the Cultural, Community and Education Precinct; 2. Write to the Minister for Lands advising of the proposed project and seeking support to have the land matters resolved expeditiously and at no charge; 3. Commence a further round of community engagement to determine the elements of what the precinct may include to meet the current and future needs of our community; 4. Establish a Community Project Steering Committee; and 5. Collaborate with the Department of Education for an initial scoping of the site in preparation for preliminary architects plans for the purposes of community engagement and feedback.”

It certainly did not explicitly state that the facility was to be joined to Young High School with a funding agreement.

Council were preparing to have the bases covered if the site was chosen by the community and then Council.

The people of Young didn’t feel quite as robbed during the amalgamation, unlike Harden, when the twin towns were forced into a 3 way merger.

Young had under 60 people turn up to the town meeting, Harden had several hundred.

However, now, the residents of Young are getting a taste of not being listened to, not being involved, sham consultation and an unwanted merger with the local high-school. One that will see Hilltops residents foot the ongoing bill.

For Harden and Boorowa what they thought would happen, has happened.

Young will be getting by far the biggest bite of the cherry and in this case all of it. It’s just unfortunate it has happened so quickly. There were those who fought the merger and those who welcomed it. Where are they now?

Hilltops residents now find themselves in a strange situation where those in Harden and Boorowa will get nothing and likely have their services further eroded by the cost of running the new facility. Those in Young will get a facility they never really wanted in a place they don’t really want it. How can all of this have turned so sour so soon?

Councillors can still vote against the funding agreement. Some understand the gravity of the situation and others likely don’t.

This will not be the end of this story. There will be Government Information Public Access Act requests (GIPAs) and probing into how this process occurred. How a New Library transformed into a Hilltops Cultural Community and Education Precinct Joint Use Facility With Young High School.

Widespread political interest has already commenced from not only the coalition who may be angry at the process, but also from those opposing them at the next state election, including the Labor Party, the Greens, the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party and the Christian Democrats Party.

9 months until a State election.