I’ve spent the last week talking to a lot of people about last week’s Council meeting, trying to work out whether others were as astonished, and as disappointed with our representatives, as I was.  Across the board everyone I have spoken to expressed disbelief about the “hidden agenda” and disappointment about the secret dealings “in the back room”.  In fact I think there are so many problems with what transpired that I’ll be covering them over a number of blogs.

Today, the failure to include such a substantial item on the agenda.  Dominique Tassell in this week’s Stanthorpe Today was told by a Council representative that it was “nothing sinister”.  Really?  Let’s put this in some context.

Firstly, the item related to a document that has been under negotiation for at least 7 months.  It is simply not believable that it suddenly became so urgent that it was too late to be included in the agenda.

Secondly, the Council had received 3 “valuations” (their description, we won’t know until we can see them) of its water allocation.  These have also taken Council quite some time to obtain, more than a year since the original “report”, so again it simply makes the claim of a “late item” look even more ludicrous.

Most importantly, this is a very large deal for Council: the sale of a valuable public asset for an undisclosed sum and the buy-in to a controversial project at around $3.51 million upfront together with an ongoing annual commitment of more than $230,000 per year even if no water is taken from the dam.  To race this on to the agenda, without proper disclosure to the electorate, absolutely fails the pub test.

Finally, the Council has offered no explanation to ratepayers for the massive cost blowout in the dam, no doubt first of many, from $84 million to over $210 million, nor how it might impact Council as an investor.

So much for the “open and transparent” platform that the Mayor campaigned on.  Why the secrecy?  Could it be because they’re scared of POW?  Last time this deal went to Council there were last minute changes to ensure that the water allocation was sold for full value.  Perhaps POW was a little too successful in protecting ratepayers’ interests, so now Council is reduced to sneaking items on to the agenda to avoid the clear sunshine of public scrutiny.  How embarrassing!  Where’s integrity I wonder?  Maybe it was hiding out in the back room with the Councillors ... 

Bet that’s whet your appetite for the next blog!