POUND OPTIONS
Nine months after purchasing a property at Longwarry North for a new animal pound, Baw Baw Shire has revealed it is still considering options for the pound.
Amid social media criticism of the existing pound last week, council released a community update, saying options for a pound on the Longwarry North site would be considered next month.
According to council, the intention of establishing a new animal pound to co-exist on the Utopia Pet Lodge site at Longwarry North had not changed.
Council paid $1.2 million for the privately owned pet accommodation business and site in August last year.
The community update said the Utopia Pet Lodge was “among the options to be considered and decided upon by council.”
“Until council decides the best way forward for a renewed facility, temporary measures have been implemented to the existing pound as a short term solution,” the community update said.
But mayor Joe Gauci denied the “report on options and recommendations” meant council was looking to back out or rescind its motion from August last year.
Cr Gauci said the new council had every right to change the decision of a previous council but said “I think the pound will go ahead on that site.”
He said construction and the model of operation would depend on the options considered by council next month.
He said the intention of council had not changed since the purchase last year, and that was for Utopia to provide revenue to offset the new pound. “I still think it’s a great scenario and a lot of benefits. In the end, I think it will be a winner, but it’s up to council,” he said.
Interim chief executive officer Phil Cantillon said the report to be presented next month would look at a “range of options of how we might operate the site.”
“How do we want to move forward and get the best value for the community long term.
“In deciding how we want to operate the site, we have to decide what size the (pound) facility should be and should we have a facility that is scaled to a certain size.
“It is not a report on where it is going but how to utilise the Longwarry site and how we go forward,” he said.
Mr Cantillon admitted some of the future options may be whether the pound and pet lodge should be separate models and whether council should operate the pet lodge or possibly contract out the service like the Warragul Leisure Centre.
The Gazette asked why these options were not considered when due diligence was undertaken during purchase of the site. Cr Gauci said due diligence was based on the Utopia business and potential to incorporate an animal pound on the site.
“We knew the possibilities of the site with the cattle yards and enough room for the pound by revamping the existing facilities.
“There was no business case done on designs, it was the potential of the site, licensing and do all the benefits weigh up.
“The final operating model is still to be decided and if in two year’s time it (Utopia) is not what council wants, we could lease that side of the business out,” he said.
The Gazette has been asking questions of the shire since August last year about its rationale behind the private business purchase and plans for a new pound. But council has never publicly released any details of the business plan, financials or timelines for the new pound.
The Baw Baw Shire Ratepayers and Citizens Association also gave notice of 14 questions before Mr Cantillon and Cr Gauci addressed its meeting last month. Group members were disappointed that the financial rationale behind the purchase was not answered.
Cr Gauci defended the time taken, saying the previous council went into caretaker mode after the purchase and since the election, new councillors had been taken through a lengthy process to bring them up to speed with the project.
“There’s been a time lapse since September last year and now.
Cr Gauci said council staff had been running Utopia since November last year and admitted the figures were probably “even or a slight loss.”
“It needs 12 months to run on a model to deliver the best efficiencies. We are only just starting to re-market it,” he said.
Council has included $460,000 in its draft budget, which Mr Cantillon said was “for construction of the animal pound on the Utopia Pet Lodge site that was identified at the time of acquisition.”