Patricia Hellier - 23 October 2018

Patricia Hellier made the below comments at the Ordinary Council Meeting 23 October 2018.

Good morning Mayor Innes, Councillors, General Manager, Staff and Gallery.

I am here today in relation to Community Consultation, early this year there was an assurance given that there would be a "walk over at Albert Ryan Park and Rotary Park" with Council and our group, to date our group Save Albert Park has not received any notification of any arrangements as such.

To our surprise in reading Councils "Living in Eurobodalla" October -December 2018 listed under What we'll build this year- Batemans Bay and Mago -Albert Ryan stairs $61,400-we therefore have the following questions –

Are these proposed stairs to replace the current stairs if so has the community been consulted on this issue?

Did the community of Batemans Bay originally build the current stairs to have access to the grave yard that was located at the top of these stairs as it is known that head stones were removed and have been relocated to the current cemetery?

Are the current stairs considered unsafe if so why aren't these stairs simply closed.

Who actually owns the land at the top of the current stairs know as the Peak is this land privately owned if so what is the view of the residence in the units that face this area of land as there could be a privacy issue with the public walking past their units.

How many people use the current stairs and does the numbers warrant this expenditure or could this money be used in other areas of Albert Ryan Park?

Is there a new set of stairs to be erected if so where are they to be located?

At a previous Council meeting we ALL heard Cir. Lindsay Brown state in relation to Albert Ryan Park words to the affect "we don't have the money", I have looked at the Councils Web site under CURRENT WORKS and I have not found this proposed staircase listed and I find it extremely interesting that this money has been allocated given in recent correspondence Mr. Warren Sharpe stated in relation to the toilets at Albert Ryan Park "We can't be diverting resources on an on-going basis to repaint we simply don't have the budget for that" and yet here we have $61,400 being allocated and yet there appears to be NO community consultation of this project or the park area that was promised.