‘Eleventh hour’ offer on chambers throws council meeting into chaos

“Will you please let me speak?”: The meeting descended into disarray and two councillors got into a shouting match following the revelation a last minute offer had been made on the Castle St chambers.

The council meeting was thrown into disarray following the revelation a last minute offer had been made on the Castle St council chambers, which is up for sale in order to help fund the Cultural and Civic Space.

The Coffs Harbour City Council meeting turned to chaos on Thursday night following the revelation an “eleventh hour” offer had been made on the Castle St chambers.

Moments after voting to sell the historic museum for $1m to help fund the Cultural and Civic Space, councillors were set to debate whether to accept an offer of $7,250,000 for the Castle St property when things went awry.

Mayor Denise Knight was unexpectedly informed by council staff that the discussion would need to go into confidential immediately, which was met by anger from councillors including Paul Amos.

An irate Cr Amos asked General Manager Steve McGrath why the discussion had to be kept confidential from the community when the debate on the sale of the museum took place publicly.

A last-minute offer has come through for the Castle St council chambers, it was revealed on Thursday.

Mr McGrath revealed it was because a last minute offer had been made to council on the chambers that morning.

“Are we not supposed to have three days notice, I mean really … we either debate this in open session or defer it,” Cr Amos said.

Cr Keith Rhoades echoed these sentiments and said it was “totally against code of meeting practice.”

The meeting descended further into disarray as a flustered Mayor Cr Denise Knight, who attempted to move that the items be deferred, got into a heated clash with Cr John Arkan.

Cr Arkan attempted to repeatedly put forward a motion which the mayor stated was not “to the point.”

Mayor Denise Knight moved to defer the decision on selling the Castle St property.

“Will you let me speak – sit down,” the mayor shouted.

Councillors ultimately voted unanimously to defer the matter to the next council meeting.

“My gut is telling me to defer … to get a full report so that we have every opportunity to read it, digest it and discuss it with each other,” Cr Knight said.

The Castle St building is one of four properties that have been put up for sale to help fund the Cultural and Civic Space under construction in Gordon St.

Council has held the property since the mid 1980s and it has operated as their central administration building and chambers since.

The disposal of four Council buildings, which also includes Rigby House, is an integral part of the funding model for the Cultural and Civic Space estimated to cost $81.27 million.