Local Politicians Speak about Coffs Pool Leases

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Coffs Harbour Mayor Denise Knight, and State MP for Coffs Harbour Andrew Fraser have both spoken on the backlash from the local community regarding the decision to lease the local pools to a Hunter Valley company.

In an interview with Triple M Breakfast host Moffee, Mr Fraser expressed his disappointment with the decision made by the Council's staff, however confirmed that the delegation of issuing the tender by the General Manager is allowed.

Mr Fraser said "under the previous Act, council could not delegate the issuing of a tender to the General Manager, unfortunately under the new Act, yes they can".

"I think the poor thing about this situation is that Councillors were unaware of it from what I can see", Mr Fraser said.

The Coffs Harbour MP said that his office had been bombarded with calls from locals not happy with the outcome.

He said, "It's a decision of council that is appalling as far as I'm concerned".

Mayor Denise Knight also appeared on the program on Tuesday morning.

When asked why the tender process for the pools didn't involve councillors, the Mayor explained that in October 2016 Councillors voted to give the General Manager delegated authority.

She said, "I think what's happened is the General Manager and the staff probably were not as aware of the community backlash and the community involvement".

"As it is, what's done is done unfortunately".

When asked whether the General Manager or staff actually understand the local community, Cr Knight said, "Look I think that they do, I am not defending anybody, and not blaming anybody, this has all been misconstrued and twisted around on Facebook."

Triple M listeners have not been happy about the decision.

One listener Brendan said that "I think it's disgraceful, if the council wanted to do something about it they could".

Listen to the full audio below:

9 May 2017




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