The new Yass Valley Council administrative centre will be built around the historic Crago mill. Photo: Sally Hopman.
There’s something rotten in the state of … Yass – and for once, we’re not talking about the stink coming out of local taps (although we’ll sniff that out later).
Locals are talking, and not about the usual stuff: The weather, sheep and what pastries are on special in the town’s first/best/only patisserie.
They’re talking about the construction of a huge civic centre, to be known as the Crago Mill Precinct, that will house a new council chambers and administrative building, a “world-first” library, rooms for community members to change their world in, more parking (more parking, we’re hardly talking Canberra here), a cafe, space for long-term government tenants, a plaza and public amenities.
The historic Crago Mill, circa 1872, is staying – or at least we hope it does. Little has been done to it over the years, except to build other things around it. It was reinforced a few years ago when the carpark that Aldi built next door was deemed a little too close for comfort.
The mill has the real flavour of the town – from providing locals with their breakfast cereals in the early 1900s to operating as a rabbit processing and freezing works during the Great Depression.
Yass Valley Council is borrowing rather a lot of money to finance this project – up to around $50 million.
The existing council chambers were built in the 1970s, apparently not a good year for architecture. Spread along the main street, part of the reasoning behind the call for a new centre was “to maximise efficiency”, good news for those folks who have been waiting, waiting, waiting for a DA on their shed.
Now, let’s have a read on what exactly is a “world-class” library. Yaaaaass, those fashionable boys would say. Not quite sure what that means, although we do hope books are involved.
What locals hope won’t be involved is what is known in local government jargon as an SRV. Translation: Special Rate Variation – where councils increase rates so they (ratepayers) pay for something the council borrowed money for that it probably couldn’t afford to pay for in the first place.
But wait, there’s more. The council is also borrowing money to fund what some locals reckon is more important than a new council chambers – having clean water come out of their taps.
The brown, stinky water problem – just imagine dirty socks and you’ve nailed the aroma – has been a problem in the town for longer than most people can remember, and they’ve had a gut-full, literally.
Everyone who is anyone has promised to fix the problem, but it’s going to cost money, big money. The town’s water treatment facility is simply too old to deal with the growing population.
When residents asked how council could justify spending $50 million on a new admin centre when locals couldn’t drink town water let alone wash human/animal/just about anything else in it, they were told fixing the water problem came from a “different bucket of money”. Not sure if that was deliberate council humour … “bucket” get it? Clearly washes straight over this head.
The problems facing Yass Valley folk are hardly unique. Too many things need doing, not enough money to do them.
It doesn’t seem like locals are asking too much when they question why the money is going where.
But you have to ask, if the rumour is true that the NSW Office of Local Government is sending one of its senior execs to the next council meeting, something is not quite right in the state of Yass.
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