Hilltops Council was without a General Manager from March 23 to May 23 In 2018.

Two months.

During this time an item titled ‘Confidential Mayoral Minute’ was tabled at an Extraordinary meeting on May 9, held in the Young Council Chambers at 5:30pm. 

It has not been fully disclosed by Hilltops Council to rate payers, what business was dealt with during this 2 month period by Hilltops Council.

Anthony McMahon resigned from his position on March 23 and Council did not appoint David Aber until a meeting held on May 23 2018.

   According to the May 30 agenda, an extraordinary meeting was held with 2 items discussed. They were “Acting General Managers Closed Report and the Acting General Manager’s Contract.”

   It is understood that during this two month period a number of important documents were dealt with by Hilltops Council and the NSW State Government in regard to the Joint Use Library Facility and Schools Infrastructure NSW (SINSW). One such document was delivered to Hilltops Councillors on May 9 and included information pertinent to the Joint Use Library facility. 

Council dealt with the matter in ‘Closed Council’ under the following legislation.

Item 1: Commercial Matter states that the under section 10A(2)(C) of the local Government Act 1993, which permits the meeting to be closed to the public for business relating to the following: (d) commercial information of confidential nature that would, if disclosed: (I) prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied it.

What if any commercial position could be prejudiced if the matter was between Schools Infrastructure New South Wales and Hilltops Council? They are both organisations. A question Hilltops Council needs to answer.

It was resolved during the ‘Confidential Mayoral Minute’ on May 9 “That Council confirms its support for the Memorandum of Understanding which is in place between SINSW and Hilltops Council to investigate the possibilities of a joint use Project Agreement for the design development and operation of an integrated school and community library as a key facility in the Hilltops Cultural, Community and Educational Precinct centred in Young NSW.”

The question now is, when was the Memorandum of Understanding put in place between SINSW and Hilltops Council? And, why, was a steering committee appointed when it appears some at Hilltops Council had already begun steering the matter towards the end result tonight via the MOU with Schools Infrastructure NSW?

   The same steering Committee failed to meet between December 2018 until June 2019.


Previous to this, the November 2017 Minutes from Council’s meeting state

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. 

No resolution or money appears to have been allocated by Hilltops Council to a report which details costings between Hilltops Council and Schools Infrastructure NSW. However, such a report exists. Who gave the delegated authority for the report to be produced? Who paid for it?  and why were Hilltops Councillors not made aware of the report until May 9 2018?

A decision may be made at this month’s monthly meeting on the future of the project, the meeting is set down for Wednesday June 26 in regards to allocating $6.5 million to the Library facility. 

    Fairfax Media’s legal Counsel Larina Mullins told the Young Witness that Council did not have any

validly-appointed General manager from the day Anthony McMahon went on leave until the resolution was passed. (to appoint one by Hilltops Council)

   Ms Mullins told Fairfax “The council was in breach of section 334 of the Local Government Act that requires ‘a council must appoint a person to be its general manager’.  In addition, all actions taken by Mr Aber as GM during that period were without the necessary power and were void,” she said.


The proposed Library which is to be placed on Department of Education Land is set to cost Hilltops Council rate payers $6.5 million for construction and a yearly rental of $70,000. A bizarre situation where the ratepayer pays to build the structure and then pay to rent it off the NSW State Government. 


How has Hilltops Council got itself into a position where it is making such a large contribution and then has to contribute $70,000 each year in rent for its own facility?


The Library will be over 7 times the size of the current Young Library.