Coffs Harbour Council general manager Natalia Cowley on Yarrila Place

New to the role, Coffs Harbour’s general manager has quickly realised the controversial building is like a ghost that will continue to haunt council.

Coffs Harbour council’s new general manager Natalia Cowley has been in the role for just over two months and has quickly realised the level of scrutiny and suspicion surrounding arguably one of the region’s most controversial developments.

She was appointed after the previous GM Steve McGrath’s contract was terminated via a mutual agreement just after the first meeting of the newly elected council in February this year.

Construction of The Cultural and Civic Space, now named Yarrila Place, is well underway in the CBD.

The glass panels are going in and it’s starting to resemble the concept drawings used over many years of often fiery debate about the pros and cons of spending more than $80m on the building which will house a new art gallery, museum and council offices.

See a timeline of crucial votes on the controversial building

Even as the building nears completion, the three tiers of government remain divided on the project with it being blamed for the recent deferral of a number of major capital works projects.

At an extraordinary meeting on August 30 councillors voted to adopt a scaled back capital works program for 2022/23, deferring more than $50 million worth of projects.

Council said the decision will “maintain financial sustainability, set an achievable level of deliverability and to realign the expectations of both the council and the community to a more sustainable level”.

In the lead up to the extraordinary meeting, the State Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, and the Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan, issued a joint statement laying the blame for the delay of local works largely with Yarrila Place.

“It needs to be said that these projects are predominantly being deferred due to the Cultural and Civic Space Project,” the statement read.

“This single project has been revealed to be an extremely poor financial decision and a drain on the many other worthy and previously funded projects.”

Pat Conaghan.

Ms Cowley said the move was a necessary step and about being realistic and financially responsible.

She says an unrealistic, over-ambitious, capital works program was one of the problems she inherited when she worked with Central Coast Council.

Concept designs for the Woolgoolga Swimming Pool upgrade.

Major works to be deferred to the 2023-2024 financial year include:

• Sportz Central Upgrade $6.032m
• Upgrade of Sawtell and Woolgoolga Pools $9.45m
• S7.11 North Boambee Road raising and infrastructure works $7.8m
• Brelsford Masterplan Works $4.0m
• Water supply infrastructure capital works $3.25m; and
• Sewer treatment infrastructure capital works $6.74m.

No appetite to keep things hidden

Ms Cowley says council is obligated to keep moving forward with the Yarrila Place project.

“We are contractually obligated; whether the building is finished or not, we still have to pay for it,” she said.

She says there is nothing to “suggest or justify” any cost blowouts and that the project remains on budget.

“I can guarantee that if, at any point, there is any exceedence, it will come to a full meeting of council,” Ms Cowley said.

“I have no appetite to keep things hidden.”

She considers herself “still a tourist” since moving to the area with her husband and 12-year-old son - spending the weekends exploring the Coffs Coast.

Originally from Bulgaria, Ms Cowley is a chartered accountant with leadership experience in the local government and international financial services sectors in Australia, New Zealand and Bermuda.