The Wattle Range Council held their first meeting of the new council term on Tuesday.
It was a packed agenda, with plenty of issues to discuss.
BEACHPORT MEDICAL CLINIC TO CLOSE
More than 2000 patients of the Beachport Medical Clinic will be left without a doctor when the Beachport Medical centre closes it’s doors this month.
The clinic will close for good on December 16.
Councillor Sharon Cox asked about the situation at the the Wattle Range council meeting on Tuesday.
Chief executive Ben Gower said the clinic was owned by council and leased to the doctors for “peppercorn rent” and that the current lessors had chosen not to renew the lease, which expired in 2020.
The lease expired more than two years ago, but the leasing doctors did not sign another one.
He said the clinic doctors had advised council that they were speaking to other clinics in the area, including Millicent to possibly take over the lease, but said there had been no formal arrangements presented to them.
He said council would be ready to handover a lease if and when a new lessor is found.
COMMUNITY TALKS ABOUT BEDFORD
A community meeting was held last week to discuss the upcoming closure of the laundromat, which is currently operated by disability employment service Bedford.
The closure has seen 22 staff lose their jobs.
Lats Thursday, employees, carers and parents gathered in Millicent to discuss the issues, and come up with a plan.
Director Development Services Emma Clay said there was a lot of distress around the issue and lots of discussion.
She said there were two ways for the laundry to continue – through a private enterprise taking over or a community led not for profit set up.
Ms Clay said the group is looking into that and was “tasked with actions” to move forward.
One issue that arose out of the meeting was the condition of the laundry itself.
She said the building is not fit for purpose and the equipment was at the end of it’s life, so one action was to find out what Bedford are selling the laundry and the business for.
Council Chief executive Ben Gower said the model of funding has changed which has prompted the closure.
“The operator was collecting large amount from NDIS and very little was making it back in the way of wages to the members,” he said.
“That model has changed.”
However, he said new operators are likely to come in.
It was suggested that the council hold a barbeque to thank the staff for their work, with some staff working there for more than 30 years.
DEPUTY MAYOR APPOINTED
Councillor Peter Dunnicliff will be the new deputy Mayor of Wattle Range Council.
He was chosen by majority vote in a secret ballot, beating out crs Moira Neagle and Chris Brodie, who were also nominated.
He will serve as deputy for two years, as per a motion received at the meeting.
He will succeed Cr Neagle, who served as deputy mayor in the last term.
OPPOSITION LEADER “WON’T APOLOGISE”
Mr Gower said he doesn’t believe Opposition leader David Speirs will apologize for comments made at a public forum regarding Wattle Range Council’s “shenanigans” regarding the proposal for the new council building.
Earlier this year, at a community forum in Mount Gambier, a member of the public raised the matter of the proposed $9.2m Wattle Range council office, to which Mr Speirs said he would keep an eye the “shenanigans in Millicent”.
Cr Neagle asked whether Mr Gower had discussed the incident with Mr Speirs, to which he said he had taken the opportunity to asked the leader of the opposition during a recent visit to Southend.
He said he was told the clipping from a news article about the incident hung in Mr Speirs office because it “gave them a chuckle” and Mr Gower clarified the facts for the opposition leader.
However, when asked if Mr Speirs had apologised for making the comment, Mr Gower said he “did not apologise and does not intend to.”
TREES TO BE PLANTED
Councillors voted unanimously to plant a tree in each of the council’s 13 communities in an appropriate public space, in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.
The motion came from a letter sent by local woman Alice Cruikshanks, who asked that a tree be planted in Millicent.
Cr Neagle, who moved the motion, said she supported the idea but thought it should be spread to all communities.
