At last night’s Council meeting Councillor Landsberry demonstrated again her strong support to Save Carss Park Pool and attempted to move an amendment to the 20/21 Operational Plan (budget) to defer the $3m allocated to demolish and remediate Carss Park Pool.

Councillor Landsberry’s Amendment:-

That the $3m allocated in the proposed changes from the Draft Budget 20/21, item CCL036-20 (Kogarah War Memorial Swimming Pool Demolition and Site Remediation) be deferred for consideration to the 21/22 Financial Year to reduce pressure on Council’s budget during the current financial year.

The Mayor sought advice from the GM who ruled that Councillor Landsberry’s amendment was Out of Order. The advice was that the amendment breached Section 16.7 of the Code of Meeting Practice.

Councillor Landsberry challenged the Mayor with a point of order stating that her amendment was a different motion entirely and did not seek to substitute the resolution of the May 25 Council meeting, nor the rescission motion that was lost. The amendment was a completely separate item and was purely in relation to the allocation of funding for a resolution of Council.

Yet, the Mayor insisted the amendment was out of order under Section 16.7 of the Code of Meeting Practice and prevented it from being considered and voted upon by Councillors.

Councillor Landsberry valiantly challenged this ruling, stating it was outrageous and that she didn’t accept it. But unfortunately the Mayor stated that his ruling still stands.

Watch the webcast to see for yourself (go to 2.03.23).

Supporters of Save Carss Park Pool will remember, this is not the first time The Mayor has used this tactic, stopping a Councillor from making an amendment in favour of Carss Park Pool, by ruling it out of order.

Transcript from the November 2019 Council meeting.

Councillor Landsberry also questioned why $3m was allocated for the demolition and remediation, when in June 2018 the estimate to decommission the site and return it to 60 additional car spaces and passive recreation was estimated to cost $1.15m. (Refer Page 30 + 31 from the Finance and Governance Committee Meeting in June 2018)

Further Councillor Landsberry raised that she had asked a question in writing to the GM and had not yet received a response regarding the lawfulness of the May 25 resolution in which Councillors determined to immediately demolish the Carss Park Pool. Given that Councillors no longer have any legal authority in relation to Development Applications, which includes demolition, her question to the GM is whether Councillors can even lawfully resolve to immediately demolish the pool.

Councillor Hindi raised the point that when Councillors voted on the May 25 motion to demolish the pool they were not provided with financial implications of this decision (this was in breach of Section 2.12 of the Code of Meeting Conduct, as Councillors are not meant to make decisions without knowing the financial implications). The $3m was only added to the budget last week. Had Councillors known that the implications of their decision to demolish the pool was going to cost $3m, then perhaps they would not have supported the motion to ‘demolish’ the pool and the vote may not have been lost 8-7.

Section 2.12 of the Code of Meeting Practice

To top it all off…...all of this happened on the same night that Council voted to cut pensioner rebates to save $1.2m in the budget!