Mayor Loretta Baker has used her casting vote to reject a proposal that would have seen funding frozen for the Maitland Regional Art Gallery, as well as a proposed job cut from council’s marketing department.
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The Liberal Party’s Ben Mitchell and Kanchan Ranadive voted alongside the four present Labor councillors at Tuesday’s council meeting to knock back the proposed amendments to the 2018-21 draft delivery program and 2018-19 operating plan.
Cr Philip Penfold moved the amendments, citing his concerns over the amount of money council currently spends on the art gallery and the proposed three-year place activation officer position.
Cr Penfold said he would rather see existing officers fill the role of the place activation officer, instead of "asking the ratepayers of Maitland to contribute to the position".
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He also expressed concerns about increasing council funding for the art gallery.
“Its expenditure in my view … continues to go up with little check by this council,” he said.
The amendments earned a sharp rebuke from Cr Baker, who said the value of the art gallery extended beyond “bricks and mortar”.
“Cr Penfold, I suspect this is your favourite hobby horse because you’ve been talking about this art gallery since the minute you arrived at council,” Cr Baker said.
She said it was “very disappointing” that councillors had spent four hours in a briefing workshop relating to the budget, only for amendments to again be added at the meeting. “We might as well have been polishing firewood,” she said of the workshop.
"I just do not know where this is coming from except very personal agendas," she said of the amendments.
"You’re here for the public good, not for your individual little gripes."
In his reply, Cr Penfold said he was “surprised to see (Cr Baker) get so fired up” over the matter.
"Just because councillors have a different view to yours does not necessarily mean they’re wrong," he said. "It’s our job to be prudent of the money that is spent on behalf of the ratepayer.”
Cr Mitchell praised the far-reaching reputation of the gallery in explaining why he couldn’t support the funding freeze.
With the four Penfold members and Liberals Cr Sally Halliday and Cr Mitchell Griffin backing the amendments, Cr Baker used her casting vote to swing the result back to the original recommendation.
