COUNCILLOR Ben Taylor kicked off a discussion during the reports from committees and councillors section of the Wednesday, 31 July City of Ballarat council meeting.<\/p>\n
He talked about the community\u2019s lack of faith in recycling and the frustration felt by ratepayers and the municipality due to the ongoing dilemma with SKM, the city\u2019s recycling service provider.<\/p>\n
Terry Demeo, Director for Infrastructure and Environment said that recycling service provision was a changing landscape.<\/p>\n
Mr Demeo outlined the plans for the waste interchange transfer station in the north-east corner of the Ballarat West Industrial Zone, noting it is crown land that is unserviced and a submission has been made for transfer of the land.<\/p>\n
Justine Linley, CEO suggested contacting the Premier and Treasurer for the money to get the waste station up and running.<\/p>\n
Councillor Mark Harris said, \u201cIt is time the State government gets off its arse, it is a joke and a failure of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Councillor Grant Tillett said he was feeling miffed by the lack of effort from the Economic Development Department seeking businesses who can reprocess the recycled waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about the reuse and adapting of rubbish, there is no point in just collecting the stuff, we need businesses to change it into something useable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
All councillors agreed with the CEO\u2019s suggestion, with a motion passed to request a deputation to the Premier, Treasurer and local Members of Parliament for support.<\/p>\n
Council supports Clemente Ballarat<\/strong><\/p>\n Josha-Lyn Gibson sat patiently in the public gallery until the motion to approve a five-year Strategic Partnership Agreement with Clemente Ballarat for $15,000 per year was put forward.<\/p>\n Ms Gibson gave an impassioned statement on her experience in the Clemente partnership.<\/p>\n Clemente Ballarat is a free tertiary educational program for local adults facing multiple forms of disadvantage. It is a formal partnership between Australian Catholic University, Federation University, Centacare, The Smith Family, The Ballarat Foundation and the City of Ballarat.<\/p>\n Ms Gibson is in a first year of a Bachelor of Arts at Fed Uni and she said she owes it all to the Clemente Partnership.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has completely changed my life around, if I hadn\u2019t had the opportunity to do this via Clemente I would be on a different path in my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Councillor Des Hudson said her speech was more than justification for giving the $15,000 funding to the partnership.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a small contribution on our part, to hear a young person say she was dealing with mental health issues and had forgotten how to learn and now she is a catalyst for others to learn is validation indeed,\u201d Cr Hudson said.<\/p>\n The motion was carried unanimously.<\/p>\n $10 mill borrowed<\/strong><\/p>\n Most councillors approved a loan for $10 million to advance recreation projects as per the current municipal budget.<\/p>\n Councillor Amy Johnson, along with Cr Harris and Cr Taylor voted against the recommendation as they do not support further borrowings.<\/p>\n The proposal to take a $10 million loan for sporting infrastructure projects originated from a pre-election promise by the State government in August 2018, that a low interest loan would be provided for these purposes. To date the loan has not materialised.<\/p>\n Councillor Johnson said it has been nine months since the election when this money was promised.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to live with our means, if we knew it would take this loan maybe we wouldn\u2019t have gone down this path,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Councillor Hudson said council has lost 12 months of opportunity where it could have had things done.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is in our budget so we should proceed and not take the dropped ball attitude of the government, we need to save face with the sporting groups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Councillor Jim Rinaldi agreed with Cr Hudson saying it is about the sporting community and they should not be disappointed.<\/p>\n