Design cash splash for South Gippsland ratepayers

SOUTH Gippsland Shire ratepayers will be slugged with the $100,000 cost of design and planning to replace Leongatha’s defective Splash Stadium roof, with most councillors deciding that it is an undesirable necessity.

However, Cr Scott Rae voted against the recommendation before councillors at Wednesday’s meeting to take that course, arguing “The ratepayers of South Gippsland have paid for this roof at least twice now.”

While conceding everyone has the right to play basketball on a dry, safe court, Cr Rae hit out at those who have failed to complete work to a satisfactory standard previously, producing a roof that continues to leak and failing to fix it.

“When you take on a contract, you commit to doing a job, you do the job,” he declared.

He labelled the situation a gorgonzola sandwich, remarking, “It smells like something else,” before biting into a sandwich, his latest prop in the council gallery, seemingly not perturbed by the aroma.

“Someone needs to step up and cover the cost to fix this because we’ve paid for it at least twice,” Cr Rae said, describing the roof situation as disgraceful and embarrassing.

“This is what you get having a council sacked and administrators coming in and signing contracts and flitting off into the distance,” he said, noting that’s what subsequently elected councillors have been delivered.

Cr John Schelling also labelled Splash Stadium “an embarrassment” but feels the horse has bolted on holding those responsible to account.

“If we cannot pursue original architects or contractors who performed work on the roof previously, then we have to look forward as a group to ensure the correct fix can be achieved, and we need to do that by allocating the money for a successful plan,” he said.

Cr Sarah Gilligan expressed her support for spending the money to come up with a solution that the council can act on, alongside efforts to recoup any of the costs incurred previously.

Mayor Nathan Hersey stressed that having a viable design in place would put the council in a favourable position when applying for funding from higher levels of government to complete future replacement work on the Splash Stadium roof.

Cr Clare Williams spoke of feedback from community members calling for action, highlighting issues such as children having to play half-court basketball games, volunteers mopping up water from the court during matches, and economic loss due to the stadium’s unsuitability for holding tournaments.

Apart from Cr Rae, all councillors voted in favour of the recommendation, with Cr Steve Finlay absent.

Cr John Kennedy strongly considered voting with Cr Rae but was swayed by the fact “Kids don’t care about cost; they just want to play basketball.”