Council ponders winery buy
Heated debate among Maranoa councillors over future of Romavilla
The abandoned Romavilla Winery which stands as Queensland’s oldest winery has been the subject of heated debate as to whether Maranoa Regional Council should purchase the property.
Now councillors are calling to reveal the price to the community as part of a consultation process to determine the building’s future.
At the April ordinary meeting, councillor Wendy Taylor proposed to get a written sale price from the owner of Romavilla Winery and then reveal it to the community so residents can make an informed decision.
Councillor Johanne Hancock agreed and said revealing the asking price of the winery to the public followed “the principles of local government, where we’re being open, transparent and having meaningful consultation with the community.”
“Since it’s gone out to the community, I have had people come to me and ask me about it,” she said.
“The very first question they ask me is ‘how much’?
“We can’t give that detail, so we’re asking the community to provide feedback without giving them the whole story. I don’t think that’s open and transparent as councillors.
“I do think we need to be respectful of the person selling the winery, and that’s why we’re just putting (price) range out there.”
Ms Hancock said she as a sitting councillor would like to be privy to the written sales price as she herself hadn’t seen it yet.
“I think as council we need a written sale price, not just verbal.”
However council CEO Edwina Marks argued against these claims and said councillors had been supplied with the price “at least twice” and reminded her that this sale was a “commercial in confidence transaction”.
Mayor Tyson Golder disagreed with disclosing the price to the community before they’ve made a decision.
“I don’t think we’ve always had (price) negotiations of this nature in there (community consultations), I think it needs to be confidential.”
When Councillor Taylor asked the mayor how you could negotiate on something if you didn’t know the price of, the mayor said she was being disrespectful.
“That’s disrespectful councillor Taylor, you know I’ve spoken to the owner of it.
“It is disrespectful when two people (the mayor and CEO) have told you they spoke to them and got a price.”
The motion for councillors to get a written asking price for Romavilla Winery and inform the community was lost with a 4-5 vote.