Council & Business
12 October, 2023
Councillors back return to town hall meetings
Central Goldfields Shire councillors have backed a push to move their monthly meetings back into the Maryborough Town Hall’s council chambers in a renewed bid to reopen the historic building for community use. Councillors voted in favour of...
Central Goldfields Shire councillors have backed a push to move their monthly meetings back into the Maryborough Town Hall’s council chambers in a renewed bid to reopen the historic building for community use.
Councillors voted in favour of a motion to source funding for the building’s revitalisation and enable its reopening for community use, with ordinary council meetings to once again be held in the council chambers once refurbishment is complete.
Introducing the motion to council, councillor Geoff Lovett said the current meeting set up at the Maryborough Community Hub lacked “soul” and disregarded the important nature of council decisions.
“About 12 years ago a decision was made that council meetings would no longer be held in the council chamber of the Maryborough Town Hall, but relocated to the Maryborough Community Hub,” he said.
“The reason given was that (the hub) was closer to the shire’s administration base, meaning less disruption to staff and since then, weekly briefings and ordinary council meetings have been held at the hub.
“The community hub, although adequate, in my opinion is bland and completely devoid of soul and has no sense of history. The importance of decisions made by council — decisions that impact the shire and its future — are diminished in the public’s eye.
“My firm belief is a return to the former council chamber will not only enhance council meetings, but will bring a sense of occasion to proceedings.”
In introducing his motion to the meeting, Cr Lovett clarified that council meetings would only relocate once the building had been refurbished, highlighting the necessity of the Maryborough Town Hall’s return to community use.
“Currently work is underway to upgrade the town hall’s electrical system but this is just the start,” he said.
“A lot of money, more than we can afford, is required to bring the town hall back to the required standard before it can reopen to the public.
“What is required is a strategic plan on how and where to source the funding required to undertake this work, a plan that needs to be well thought out, articulated and targeted.
“If we don’t do this as a matter of urgency the town hall will remain closed and continue to deteriorate — the ball is in our court to do something about it.”
The town hall has been closed to the public for more than two years after it was deemed inaccessible in early 2021 due to safety concerns.
While electrical works are currently underway, councillor Chris Meddows-Taylor said further planning was needed.
“This has been in our priority projects plan for some time,” he said.
“We have to not only attend to the infrastructure, but to think very carefully about revitalisation — how do we activate it and what is the use of the town hall because that will give us the best business case not only for the funding we need, but to ensure its sustained use in the community.”
The motion was passed unanimously with all councillors in agreement, with councillors Wayne Sproull and Gerard Murphy stating works needed to happen to preserve the building for the community’s benefit.