The Beagle Editor, Next Tuesday the Council will be voting on leasing our community centre. The staff are recommending it and telling the councillors it is Ok because they are relocating all the groups and centre users to Hanging Rock. Council want the money from the centre to pay for the blowout in the new swimming pool and they even admit to thinking about selling the building all together. The council have now got expressions of interest to lease the building and a little bird told us it will probably be decided between South Coast Colleges and SEARMS. Word in social media is that there is a protest organised outside the Community Centre at 10:30am on Friday 20th November. If you can't make it and you want your opinion known then you can make a submission to talk to the councillors before they vote on Tuesday. If you want to do this it will be on ZOOM and you have to send your statement on Monday by noon to the council. They give you seven minutes to talk and can then ask questions. Going on what has happened before Batemans Bay councillor Liz Innes will vote to back the staff recommendation and her Community Action partners Jack Tait and Maureen Nathen will do what they are told and vote the same. Lindsy Brown will vote which ever way he thinks he will win votes. Watch out for him. He is a sly one and needs Batemans Bay votes to remain a councillor next time round. James Thompson will vote the same as the Mayor. Rob Pollock will vote the same as the mayor because we have heard he is going to run on the same ticket as Innes in September 2021 Council elections. If you believe that a community owned centre should not be leased out and the community should not be booted out then give Liz Innes a ring and tell her to vote to support the Batemans Bay community. Her number is 02 4474 1301 or 0417 411 851. Drop her a line at mayor@esc.nsw.gov.au The other Batemans Bay councillors who vote with Innes are Maureen Nathan 0429 957 403
clrmaureen.nathan@esc.nsw.gov.au and Jack Tait 0429 959 487
Community Action told us to VOTE for them "To build a Council you can rely on. A Council you can trust. A Council which is your friend not your enemy.We won’t just listen to our residents’ reasonable concerns. We will take notice and we will take action." If these three are fair dinkum they will back Anthony Mayne's motion to return the community centre to the community where it rightfully belongs. If he gets the backing of McGinlay and Constable (which he will) then they just need three more votes to block the staff intention to lease and sell the centre. It all comes down to how the Batemans Bay councillors vote. Give Innes, Tait and Nathan a call. They say they stand shoulder to shoulder with the community. Let's see if they are genuine. Real Eurobodalla
