The road to financial recovery will not be easy, but we have taken the first steps by following the objectives of our recent council resolution to consider all options for Blue Haven.

The financial statements are decoupled...

At Tuesday’s Audit Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) meeting, our financial team, comprising of internal staff and contractors, presented Blue Haven’s notional Statement of Assets and Liabilities. This document and others were developed from the limited information available and are a good guide to inform our future deliberations.

Community engagement has begun...

We are developing a schedule of community engagement that has started with face to face meetings with the Blue Haven residents and staff. On Tuesday we met with the residents of Blue Haven Terralong. The week before, we met Blue Haven Bonaira residents and carers in the Residential Aged Care Facility and residents of the Independent Living Units (ILUs) at Bonaira.

We will soon be holding public meetings with all our community who are interested to come along this journey down the road to recovery. The council website now has a Frequently Asked Questions page that will be updated regularly, as more and more questions are answered. There are many other ways we will employ to listen and learn from our community.

Negotiations have started with our bankers...

We have put a number of proposals to TCorp, our bankers, and are awaiting their consideration of these.

From the limited information available, the sale of our Akuna Street landholdings is well underway and will be brought to council in June. The rest of our assets, such as Spring Creek, Holiday Parks, and other Council facilities and landholdings and will also be scrutinised to determine how we can maximise their use and ensure we maintain the best balance of community services and financial stability now and into the future.

Budget...

The 2022-23 budget and Long-Term Financial Plan will be presented at our June meeting.

Community survey...

A qualitative survey of residents and ratepayers will be undertaken to further gauge opinion, views and thoughts as to Blue Haven’s future.

Ministerial support...

I personally have made arrangements to meet with the new Federal Minister for Aged Care, Mark Butler. Also, through our association with other council bodies, we have made arrangements to meet with NSW Ministers and NSW Shadow Minister for Health seeking their advice.

On a similar note, I’ll be reaching out to the Mayors of other Councils that own aged care facilities which are leased out or run as joint ventures, to get their feedback and so we can discuss the challenges we all face as Local Government owners of aged care. Note, Kiama is the only remaining Council in NSW that still both owns and runs a residential aged care facility.

Focusing on our future...

We will take this journey one day at a time, focusing on our future, learning lessons from our past and dealing with the present. Our process will be guided by experts both within and external to council maintaining governance from the Local Government Act and ensuring we take the community with us.

As always, please get in touch with me if there’s anything you’d like to discuss. And watch this space for further info on when and where our upcoming community consultation sessions will be held.