As reported in Tuesday’s BDN, the Bega Valley Historical Society urged the council to reverse its decision as it has “a duty of care to protect and maintain...the iconic piece of local history”.

Questions were also asked after council staff told councillors, incorrectly, the relocation was a recommendation from CBD landscape consultant Spiire. Those questions were responded to by Mayor Michael Britten this week.

“Prior to a decision being made, a question to staff resulted in an answer that was partially incorrect,” Cr Britten said.

“This answer referred by error to an earlier draft of the same report. Councillors are within their rights to lodge a rescission motion if they believe their final decision was influenced by this minor error.”

Cr Britten said while the Spiire report recommends celebrating the clock tower’s heritage and the need for traffic lights at the Carp St/Gipps St intersection, a staff report to councillors “identified safety issues relating to Spiire’s recommendation”.

“The report was presented to provide information relating to costs associated with the clock's operation and to gain direction from council on a number of views regarding its location.

“No recommendation was included except that Council resolve its position.

“Decisions are made in the chambers based on a variety of reports and information, and in this case a consensus was formed because to install traffic lights at the intersection would compromise pedestrian safety and would likely be rejected by the NSW Roads and Maritime Service.

“The staff recommendation asked that Councillors resolve our position, and this is precisely what we did; we chose to move forward with a community consultation that asks where the clock tower should be located.

“This will allow us to celebrate the clock tower’s heritage while moving ahead with intersection changes that will be safe and compliant.”

Clarification

In earlier BDN coverage of this issue, it may have been inferred that Bega businesswoman Judy Geary was upset with council’s decisions on heritage items. Ms Geary clarified to say she used terms like historic and cultural significance, rather than “heritage”, which infers an official classification.