Albert Park caretaker to be evicted by Gympie council

A four-year bureaucratic brawl over the Albert Park caretaker has finally reached its conclusion. Find out how each councillor voted:

The days of Albert Park having an onsite caretaker will soon be a memory with Gympie councillors “biting the bullet” and voting to abolish the position.

Councillors unanimously supported to remove the role in the wake of a four-year bureaucratic stoush with the State Government over zoning laws.

In February 2018, the State Government’s Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy told the council an onsite caretaker was not permitted on the land as it was zoned as a Reserve for Park and Recreation.

The land is owned by the Queensland Government.

Managing and recruiting the caretaker has been the job of the Gympie Recreation Association.

Following pushback on that declaration, the Department agreed the caretaker could stay under several conditions, including that the council accept all responsibilities for the role.

On Thursday, the council rejected those.

The caretaker role had been caught in a four year bureaucratic clash between the State Government, which owns the land, and the Gympie council. Picture: Shane Zahner

Councillor Dan Stewart said he wanted to resolve the matter back in 2019, when it first went to the council and was ultimately left to lay on a table until a later date.

“We’ve just got to bite the bullet and follow State guidelines,” Mr Stewart said.

Councillor Bob Fredman said it was “regrettable” but “a superior being is hell bent on getting them out of there”.

“I accept with regret we have to go down this path,” Mr Fredman said.

The vote followed a scathing letter to councillors from GRA president Bernadette O’Neill, who said the organisation had not been “properly consulted to find solutions”.

She said the GRA disputed many of the points put to councillors in the report, including those around insurance.

“We can get cover for him and we can get WorkCover,” she said.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said after the meeting any personal views about the benefits of having a caretaker were “irrelevant when the State has legislative requirements that increase council’s risk and exposure and therefore ratepayers’ risk and exposure”.

“We are here to make tough decisions and this is a tough decision.

“This thing has been consulted to death.

“It came to the council originally in 2017 and many representations were made by the former mayor (Mick Curran) to ask for a relaxation of the requirements.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said the matter had been “consulted to death” and the State Government had offered little in the way of concessions on the matter. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“The State Government did not make a concession other than council taking on the financial and litigation liability for the individual,” Mr Hartwig said.

There was also “considerable cost” in ensuring the caretaker’s residence met building code.

Mr Hartwig disputed any suggestion no changes would be needed.

The existing set-up did not meet the building code, he said, “and it would require a permanent structure to be constructed that met current building code standards”.

“That’s very different to a caravan.

“It’s sad that what has been done for many years in the past under modern regulations... can’t be done, but that is part of the world that we live in.”

The caretaker will be given two months to leave.

An onsite caretaker has been at the sporting grounds since 1989. Picture: Google Maps

Council staff recommended at a November 2019 meeting these conditions not be accepted and the caretaker be evicted.

Instead councillors gave the job a stay of execution and voted to leave the matter on the table for a later date.

The report put to councillors at the meeting said removing the caretaker position was in line with the Albert Park master plan backed by councillors in 2016.

On Wednesday, they will again be asked to reject the State Government’s proposal.

Instead staff will recommend the council give the caretaker two months to vacate, with additional night patrols and more CCTV installed to address any security concerns.