Mayoral Memo - 26 June 2024
I must congratulate the former Council for starting a process that will largely conclude this Thursday night. It was following a meeting of the Dubbo Regional Livestock Markets (Saleyards) Technical Advisory Panel on 16 February 2021 that the Council noted issues with the current operating model of the saleyards, even to the extent that Council made a formal request to DSSA to provide advice on new agent entry requirements.
It was obvious in early 2021 that change was required – but what changes?
All Councils in NSW are obliged to undertake service reviews of their functions. Changes to the Integrated Planning and Reporting framework that Councils must abide by has been an ongoing topic of discussion between Councils and the State Government. Councils must have a rolling process of review to comply with relevant legislation. There is also the Local Government Code of Accounting that states the return on invested capital in a Council owned business should be better than a return on a Commonwealth 10-year bond, currently 4.3 per cent.
A service review process was started in July 2021 to review different functions and businesses of Council. Council determined that its priorities for service reviews were functions that had higher degrees of complexity than more typical Council services. For example, many Councils run water treatment plants or sewage treatment plants so the operating model is more established with less variability. Council determined that the Wellington Caves; the saleyards; the Macquarie Regional Library network; Dubbo Regional Airport and subdivision development approvals were areas that needed to be reviewed initially.
One of my great frustrations when I was initially elected to Council was that things seemed to move slowly. I am sure that Douglas Hofstadter was thinking of Councils when he coined his self-referential adage: “Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.”
In business, there is often a need to be agile and nimble. To make decisions quickly to respond to the market. A Council needs to ensure that the community is well-informed about a decision that will be made. Over the last three years, information has been brought to the public via saleyards committee meetings and Council meetings.
After the years of review, discussions, meetings, legal advice and hearing from the community, the final 26-page report is now in the publicly available business papers. What is clear is this: no decision is not an option. There are three clear options that Councillors will choose from. 1. Sell. 2. Lease. 3. Retain but modify the operating model and increase prices by circa 30 per cent.
I don’t know which option will be chosen but I do know that you have ten Councillors who are informed and will make the best decision for the collective interests of residents, ratepayers and the local community.
Councillor Mathew Dickerson
Mayor of Dubbo Regional Council
Last Edited: 25 Jun 2024