Pound questions go unanswered

Baw Baw Shire is refusing to release details of financial and operational matters concerning the Utopia boarding kennels and cattery at Longwarry North that it bought for $1.2 million.

The 2.023-hectare property, including a residence, is also intended as the site of a new shire pound.

Council has indicated it expects it will cost an additional $150,000 to establish the pound.

The Gazette has made several inquiries over the past eight weeks seeking details of the business plan on which the council made its decision to buy the commercial boarding facility at a confidential meeting on August 10.

The contract was settled three weeks later on August 31 and council has managed the property since then.

No details of the business plan supporting the purchase have been made public.

In announcing the decision via media release the day after the in-camera council meeting Mayor Joe Gauci said “council is excited by the commercial scope available” and “we have to look for every opportunity to reduce costs … (and) provide us with an extra revenue stream”.

The purchase price and cost of relocating the municipal pound leave a shortfall of about $400,000 on the amount allocated for a new pound in council’s current budget.

The Gazette was told in August by then Corporate and Community Services Director Liana Thompson that the shortfall would be funded through “savings from other capital works projects”.

However, follow up questions by the Gazette, that had to be made in writing through the communications section, seeking details of the expected extra revenue streams have not been answered.

The first response on October 27 (in writing and attributed to Director of Planning and Development Matthew Cripps) stated council was continuing to operate the business “in line with the previous owners’ business model”.

Earlier this month – in response to further questioning in writing about the business plan – Mr Cripps wrote “appropriate due diligence” was undertaken prior to Utopia Lodge’s purchase.

He said “the financials of the business are commercial-in-confidence” but were provided to the council at the time of the decision and to the new council elected in October.

Nor are staffing details and, therefore, operating costs or how the premises are run, deemed by the shire to be any of the public’s (ratepayers’) business.

The response by Mr Cripps to questions about whether council employees were staffing the pet boarding facility including at weekends, and if someone was living on site full-time, was that “conditions of employment are not appropriate for discussion within the public realm”.

The answer DID NOT address how the premises was being operated and managed; the questions were not about the terms under which people were employed.

The Gazette last week received credible information that while the council is still operating the current pound in Galloway St, Warragul, it has employed another person to maintain it.

It has also, we were told, employed one person to manage Utopia Lodge and two to three additional people to run it.

The purchase of Utopia Lodge became an issue during the council election campaign.

A “stoush” between a councillor and shopkeeper over compliance concerns about council operating a joint commercial boarding kennel and pound led to the shire’s business manager Allison Down emailing all candidates about the decision.

The email revealed that the possibility of buying Utopia had been under consideration for some time culminating in an audit of the premises by the State Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR) in July.

It was stated the proposal “passed audit” and allowed for registration of a council operated domestic animal business other than a pound or animal shelter. Ministerial approval was granted based on the department’s recommendation.

However, several people have contacted The Gazette with concerns about not just the cost of the venture and new pound but whether it is proper for the council to conduct a commercial enterprise in direct competition with local private operators that have to meet annual council rate imposts.

Since 2015 council had been investigating options for a new pound claiming the current facility in Galloway St, Warragul, no longer complied with State Government regulations.

It began an extensive community consultation in January this year asking for preferences for a new pound location between three council owned sites – the existing pound property in Galloway St and others in Normanby St, Warragul, and at Lardner.