KIAMA councillors will attend a briefing to shed further light on the business plan for the proposed $58 million Kiama Hospital redevelopment, following a heated debate at Tuesday night’s meeting.
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Councillors denied Cr Neil Reilly’s request for a comprehensive business plan to be immediately prepared for the proposed redevelopment.
At the October council meeting, a resolution was passed that council prepare a business plan for the development of the site.
“During the planning stages of this project a number of documents have been prepared, reported to council, and further refined,” council’s report for the November meeting said.
According to the report, these plans together constitute the business plan for the hospital site and include the financial feasibility documents, the architectural plans, the Capital Expenditure Review and associated attachments; and business case prepared by Capital Insight consultants for the submission of the Restart Illawarra application.
Council’s business papers indicated that it was intended that a briefing be held early in December for councillors to review the documents that constitute the business plan.
“This briefing will provide an opportunity for council to review how the business plan has evolved as more detailed analysis has been undertaken.
“Information will also be provided related to the cashflows of the project and the implications for council’s long-term financial plan and strategic planning.”
Kiama councillors voted 5-3 against Cr Reilly’s motion.
The majority of councillors instead supported Kiama Mayor Brian Petschler’s proposal to wait until after a councillor briefing in December, when there would be greater certainty surrounding the council’s purchase of the site, to prepare a detailed business plan.
“I don’t think that a group of reports from disparate consultants can possibly form a business plan for a $58 million development,” Cr Reilly said.
“It’s inherent that our future lies somewhere in that $58 million development, and I think it deserves more than a bunch of reports, thorough as they are, to determine our goals and our objectives, and what we want for our community out of this.
“We need to have a very solid plan for this.”
Cr Reilly said they had asked in June for a project manager, but nothing had happened.
“I got a timeline, and it was out of date, it had no relevance whatsoever.
“Then I was given a second timeline which looked like it had been knocked up in Excel the night before.”
Cr Petschler said the request for a project manager had been acknowledged, once council knew whether they would purchase the land.
“There’s no point having a project manager until we know whether we’re going to buy the land,” he said.
Cr Petschler said a briefing had been called in the first week in December.
‘‘We also need approval from the Office of Local Government for the development to proceed,’’ he said.
‘‘This (the briefing) is where we expect to have all of the questionable areas resolved so the council can chart a clear path forward to the December 16 council meeting where the council will decide if it proceeds with the purchase or not.
‘‘Once that is completed we will look to appoint a project manager, which the council has already authorised, and push the project as fast as we can ... that is if the council decides to proceed.”
The council is in the process of buying the 3.3-hectare hospital site from the Health District for a $58 million Blue Haven aged-care development, with the health service to build a new facility for outpatient services.
The recent discovery of asbestos in areas of fill on the site complicated negotiations regarding the site’s purchase.
The project has attracted $8 million ($4.8 million for the council and $3.2 million for the health district) from the state government through the $100 million Illawarra Infrastructure Fund.
