Councillors don’t backflip on this, you will lose all semblance of credibility

There is a rumour banging around town like a screen door in the wind.

A number of councillors are looking to backflip on their previous strong support for the new $100M+ Community Building and Council Headquarters.

I have written about this project on a number of occasions and remain a staunch advocate for it.

Not only for its obvious need, but also for the real crippling costs of not going ahead, that we will burden later.

Where is the new library going to go, what the Disaster Coordination Centre and all of the community use spaces?

The commentary about this being just a Taj Mahal for Council is absolute folly.

Make no mistake, the drums are beating loudly, and they are playing a tune that goes a little something like this.

‘I’m going to get voted out in March if I keep supporting this, so I’m finding a reason to do a backflip that Cirque du Soleil would be proud of.

Bear in mind that nine out of the eleven councillors endorsed this project, except Mayor George Seymour and Cr. Paul Truscott.

Both have a vested interest in not upsetting the good people of Maryborough. I get it.

There is a full Council meeting on July 26th to review the build and contract award. It’s going cost more than what was floated in 2021.

No kidding – everything does.

If the Council backs out of this deal, the $40M in Federal funding will be lost and any funding already received and spent by Council, will likely have to be repaid back to the Government.

I hope we’ve got that down the back of the couch.

Here is something you can take to the bank, this whole scenario will come up again after next March, surprise, surprise, just like it has done since 1996.

When you take a leadership position, you stick to it.

If councillors change their position on this, they might well find a chorus of calls, to have rate payers changing their position on them.