THE Bega Valley Shire Council has agreed to spend $280,000 fitting out council chambers in the new civic centre.
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The move raised concerns with one councillor, but the mayor and deputy mayor offered assurances it will be a facility used by many outside organisations.
One of the new innovations of the room will be the capability for live video streaming of council meetings.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, councillors voted to proceed with the Bega Civic Centre fit out at a cost of $250,000 for the general fit out, plus another $30,000 specifically for the IT, AV and live streaming facilities.
Bega Valley Shire Mayor Michael Britten said the function room will not be for the sole purpose of council meetings.
“It will function as a multi-purpose room, and the actual live streaming is going to be made available for many other things other than just the council meetings,” he said.
“The furniture also has various stages of use.
“They’re flexible and hopefully will add to the multi-function facet of the new civic centre.”
However, councillor Sharon Tapscott was concerned by the cost of the fit out and chose to abstain from voting.
“I’m very conflicted over this,” she said.
“I can understand there’s been a lot of work done.
“The design is outstanding, very functional and probably worth every penny, but, to this day, it’s never been really articulated to me exactly who is going to use it.
“We say it’s going to be used for many other things, what things?” Cr Tapscott asked the council.
“It’s unfunded, it’s outside of the brief, it’s outside the costings.
“I’m hoping that I will be proven wrong and it will be used every single day, it’s just the amount of money that’s going into it, then we’re going to have to manage it with more money.”
Cr Liz Seckold said she remembered the old town hall was used extensively before it started to deteriorate and she hoped the public would use it once again.
“The adding of a live streaming capability will allow people to sit at home and watch the council meetings, but the room will also be perfect for entertaining small groups for meetings, conferences and for functions.”
Cr Seckold said the new chamber would be finished and functional by the end of the year.
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