The time has come for bold and decisive action. I have spent a good part of the past 10 months as Mayor receiving data and the undeniable conclusion is: as a council, we need to change. It’s time to make difficult choices and be responsible.

We have been more open with our community this year than ever. I appreciate that transparency and I know the community value this as well. It’s part of being the change we need to see.

As anyone who has been following our story will know by now, we are in crisis. We need $30 to $40 million dollars in the next two years to service our loan repayments and that won’t come without some tough choices. We have had written warnings from the Minister for Local Government, statutory committees and our own Finance Advisory Committee on this. They all tell us that we need to change and correct our course.

Blue Haven’s Residential Aged Care Facility is currently running at a loss of $75- $119 per bed per day, whereas the average for the industry is only a $24 loss. We have 134 beds and that means yesterday we lost $16,000, today we’ll lose $16,000 and tomorrow as well and so on and so on. If we continue running at this level of loss, we will need to severely cut council services and considerably raise rates. That would be nuts. It’s time for us to re-examine our core function, which is as a local council.

To this end, I will be calling for an Extraordinary Meeting to be held next week on 13 October. At the meeting, I will seek to rescind the previous motion from our September Ordinary Meeting (item 20.1) which talked about our cash flow, the long-term financial position of Council, Blue Haven and the Barney Street Quarry.

As well as seeking to rescind that motion, I will be proposing an alternate motion.

This will be a balanced and sustainable approach, one which demands compromise, a little give from everyone. Compromise is necessary to enact the sort of strategic advantages that will lead to real improvements for the whole community.

Here is the compromise I’ll be putting to council:

• Point one: The sale of the entire lot of Blue Haven Bonaira, ensuring uninterrupted operations of the Independent Living Units and Residential Age Care Facility.
• Point two: Following the completion of the business case and valuations we retain Blue Haven Terralong and seek the highest levels of residents’ engagement with any future use.

The time to act is now, while we still control our destiny. Any delay now could be fatal to our council and our future. I’ll be addressing these initiatives with the Minister for Local Government, seeking her assent for the motion to be put. This bold motion will naturally require a majority of councillor’s support to be adopted.

None of this has been easy, we are making big decisions and everyone has had to accept some degree of compromise. But we all know it’s time to change. To continue to deliver the local government services you need, want and expect, we must return our full focus to our core business. The end result will be the best outcome for Kiama Council, our community and the residents, families and staff of Blue Haven.