By JESSE GRAHAM
A FORMER Yarra Ranges mayor has lashed out at the council for not notifying groups that an item was before council until the day before the meeting.
The council said the lack of notification was an “oversight” and that the deferred item would be discussed with groups before it came up again.
Former mayor, Tim Heenan, spoke on an item at last week’s council meeting, concerning the Mount Evelyn Aqueduct Reserve and possible mountain bike trails.
As current president of the Friends of Mount Evelyn Aqueduct (FoMEA), Mr Heenan said that he received no formal notification that the matter was coming before the council on the night.
He said he had seen hundreds of people attend council meetings over the years, unprepared for items due to a lack of notification.
“People come up, and seeing the look on their face when they say they didn’t know what was on until a few hours ago – I now know how they feel,” Mr Heenan said.
“The officers get the agenda on Tuesday night, and the letters go out the next morning – some people may not get the letter until Friday night,” he said.
“If you have a substantial development – and you don’t count the weekend – you’ve got two days to prepare.
“It isn’t fair.”
Members of the Yarra Ranges Mountain Bikers (YRMTB) also spoke on the evening and expressed that they, too, had no formal notification and had used the time leading to the item at the meeting to prepare.
The council meeting began at 7pm on 24 June, and the item was not up before councillors until about 11pm.
The item was ultimately deferred by councillors to Tuesday 22 July by councillors, after both groups expressed confusion with the material in the officer’s report.
One of the specific items of concern related to options for the future of the Mount Evelyn Aqueduct, and trails that had been closed for recreational use since 2012.
In the report, option four – keeping the upper and lower aqueduct trails closed and restricting use of the main aqueduct trail to passive recreation, closing it for mountain biking – is listed as the preferred option for FoMEA.
Mr Heenan said that was not the case, and that FoMEA has never wanted to exclude bike riders from the main track – only from the high conservation areas in the upper and lower tracks.
He said the report also fails to mention the zoological significance of the area surrounding the aqueduct, including the areas discussed for potential trails in the report.
Meanwhile, the YRMTB representatives said at the meeting that they weren’t familiar with some of the options presented.
Councillor Terry Avery described the situation as a “communications breakdown”, and said that neither group had reached a consensus on the matter.
He moved for the item to be deferred for a month, in order to allow for more consultation to take place on the matter.
Billanook Ward Councillor, Maria McCarthy, said that while both groups were aware of a formal report being made to council, the lack of notification was an oversight.
She said that the options presented to the council involved consultation with the groups over the last six months, and that council would continue working with the groups before the matter came up again.
“While council has deferred this item, it creates a good opportunity for officers to work further with the two groups over the coming weeks, to identify if an agreed view can be found.”
The item will be brought before the council again on Tuesday, 22 July.
