Raw deal

By Melissa Meehan
CARDINIA Shire Ratepayers and Residents Association (CRRA) president Gloria O’Connor has labelled the council’s deal to build their new shire offices in Officer as “blurry”.
But Cardinia mayor George Blenkhorn said the process had been open throughout the past two years.
This month the council along with VicUrban and Gembrook MP Brad Battin announced the move, which will see Officer become the central point of the Shire of Cardinia when the council moves into new offices in 2013.
The council will lease the building from VicUrban for 1.3 per cent of revenue each year over 15 years with two additional five year options. The council then has an option to purchase should it choose to.
The modern building will be the feature of the Officer precinct, something both VicUrban and the Growth Area Authority said would be a buzzing metropolis for the area.
But the most exciting part of the announcement for many residents is the possibility of movie theatres being part of the complex – with VicUrban stating it had been approached by two interested parties.
But Ms O’Connor, speaking on behalf of CRRA said many questions arose from the announcement – especially why it was such a secret.
“I was very disappointed it (the announcement) was such a surprise,” she said.
“I think we as residents had a right to know a little more about the deal before a decision was made.”
She said moving the offices to the western end of the municipality was also disadvantaging residents in the rest of the shire, especially those in the Hills and Bunyip and Port wards.
“Quite a few people thought the new shire offices would be in the Pakenham CBD,” she said.
“I’d like to know about the other 17 sites they looked at – but it’s such a tight secret.
“They might need to look at branch offices in the outer areas – which would cost a great deal more.”
Ms O’Connor applauded the council’s attempts to bring all council staff under the one roof, but said she had doubts about the move – highlighting the high amount of debt the council was already in.
“They say the lease is fairly low cost, but who fits out the building?” she said.
“There is that many people struggling in the shire, and I’m not sure that council is doing the right thing by wasting money moving into the Taj Mahal.
“I’ve always thought the council has done the right thing by the community, but it’s all just a little blurry.”
Cr Blenkhorn said the council’s move would ensure it could continue to represent the best interests of all residents and ratepayers across the shire.
“The council advised the community when it began this process over two years ago that it was calling for expressions of interest for the provision of new civic centre accommodation,” Cr Blenkhorn said.
“Public updates have been provided via Connect, media releases and at council meetings.”
Cr Blenkhorn said the council undertook an extensive investigation of potential sites within the growth corridor, including Pakenham, but none met the criteria or had the advantages of the chosen location in Officer.
“Furthermore it was the best financial offer of the multiple tenderers,” he said.
“We did consider rebuilding at the current site or building new offices at a new location but they were ruled out as being too expensive.”
He said because the negotiations were commercial in confidence, it was not possible to provide further detail, but now that arrangements were finalised the council would continue to inform the community as the process moved forward.