Current BBC the ‘bearer of bad news’
As outlined in last week’s Murray Pioneer, extensive remediation works and repairs are required on the Wilson Street premises before council office staff can relocate from their rented Riverview Drive facility.
THE current Berri Barmera Council is the “bearer of bad news”, in part created by past councils, an elected member says as BBC faces a $1.4 million repair bill to return to its Wilson Street base in Berri.
As outlined in last week’s Murray Pioneer, extensive remediation works and repairs are required on the Wilson Street premises before council office staff can relocate from their rented Riverview Drive facility.
Councillor Ian Schlein has suggested a lack of “long-term asset management and fiscal accountability” had contributed to the building’s current state, and believes the current council – led by Mayor Ella Winnall and CEO Tim Pfeiffer – has been left to pick up the pieces.
In a letter to the editor in today’s Pioneer, Cr Schlein – speaking on behalf of himself, not the BBC – says the current council had “uncovered not only significant infrastructure shortcomings, but broader issues relating to long-term asset management and fiscal accountability that had developed over many years”.
“We became, in many respects, the bearers of bad news,” he says.
“Not because we created the problems, but because we had the tenacity and will to identify and acknowledge them publicly.
“That honesty has at times been uncomfortable for both council and community, but it has also allowed us to begin putting real plans in place to improve Berri Barmera Council’s infrastructure and restore long-term financial sustainability.”
In last week’s Pioneer, former long-serving Berri Barmera mayor Peter Hunt defended the actions of past elected members, saying they “go by the information supplied by the staff”.
However, Cr Schlein says current “challenges” could be traced back to “legacy issues”.
“…the role of elected members is not simply to accept reports at face value,” he says.
“Our duty is to rigorously examine, question, analyse and test the information before us, using our professional skills, life experience and judgement to ensure decisions assess risk, are financially responsible, strategically sound and genuinely in the best interests of ratepayers.”
