Cr Owen Sharkey, along with Crs Les Rowe and Clayton Whitfield, voted against the move and Cr Sharkey was critical of the process behind the purchase.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very important to be open and transparent,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way this has come about is not right.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this was so important to us, I just don\u2019t know why a conversation couldn\u2019t be had two or three years ago with the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s several risks involved with the old church being there, and from all the reports we have is that the church will be difficult to demolish.<\/p>\n
\u201cRatepayers like myself get frustrated that council can never find a few thousand dollars for issues around the Shire but yet we magically just pull a figure of $550,000 out for something that we\u2019ve been told is only worth $340,000.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The church, which sits on 1350 square meters of land, was originally located at Haddon and moved to Smythesdale in 1959 with the grounds consecrated in 1965.<\/p>\n The building was sold by a trust for the Catholic Church and while regular services ended about 12 months ago a large funeral was held at the site more recently.<\/p>\n Before the auction, or council\u2019s decision, no public consultation was held on the purchase and that lack of process didn\u2019t sit well with Cr Sharkey.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the reasons I voted against it is because we didn\u2019t have that community consultation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand parcels of land may need to be strategically purchased, but we should have a policy behind that where the ratepayers of the Shire are given the opportunity for feedback to guide us in situations like this.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should have been having this meeting weeks ago, the auction didn\u2019t pop up on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n With $384,000, not including stamp duty and legal fees, spent on buying the church, Cr Sharkey questioned who was going to miss out on services or resources following the \u201cunbudgeted spend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have any community consultation, but more importantly, we didn\u2019t have any money allocated in the budget,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As for what the land will be used for now it\u2019s owned by the municipality, there are a lot of ideas but no plans.<\/p>\n Cr Getsom supported the purchase and praised the outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is for the community,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t buy the church, we bought the land and that was to seal the historic precinct off.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat it becomes after this, I don\u2019t know, we haven\u2019t discussed it because we haven\u2019t had time.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy it was bought for below the recommended price, which means we have some change.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great outcome for all the ratepayers and council.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the suggested justifications for the purchase of the land was to extend the nearby municipally owned and run facility known as The Well.<\/p>\n Yet in between the church grounds and The Well as a right-of-way providing rear access and parking to the Woady Yaloak Historical Society building in the old courthouse.<\/p>\n Historical Society acting-president Pauline Riches said she supported the land purchase and its use as a public space.<\/p>\n However, with a right-of-way running between The Well and the purchased land, Ms Riches said she didn\u2019t support cutting off access to the back of the Historical Society\u2019s building.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a brilliant idea, as long as we don\u2019t lose all the carparking,\u201d she said. \u201cI would like to see the right-of-way maintained.<\/p>\n \u201cThe [church] building is pretty old and decrepit, and if you were going to do anything you\u2019d have to demolish it, it\u2019s not worth conserving, but we\u2019ll take lots of photos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A MAJORITY of Golden Plains Shire councillors have voted to, and subsequently purchased, a church at Smythesdale. The move was approved after two behind closed-door meetings. With a municipal representative then buying the St Mary’s Catholic Church and surrounding land on Brooke Street at auction for $384,000 on Saturday, 30 July. During a special secret […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/08\/image-02-e1659424248899-600x380.jpg\")