Uralla Court House: proposal to move Uralla Shire Council chambers into old court house has councillors asking questions

Council staff submitted an application for a $925,000 grant to makeover the disused court house in 2020, without the knowledge of councillors Cr Tara Toomey said in a report to Tuesday's meeting.

She said councillors should have been approached to decide upon such a large application prior to when it was made.

"Lodging the application without the support of council puts councillors in a position of having to either post-approve or reject a government grant," Cr Toomey said in her report.

"Councillors need to understand the full impact on our budget including depreciation, changes to ongoing maintenance and materials costs, prior to providing approval for the lodging of these applications.

"This is a building of significant interest to our community. This information should be publicly available, not shared only with councillors."

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Council staff have since included this information in the meeting's business papers, which are available to the public.

The meeting will now see councillors vote on whether to go forward with the application, under the state government's Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund.

An executive staff member said the refurbishment would "restore the building to a useable condition, protect existing heritage value, and reduce the building maintenance backlog at minimal cost to council".

The application figure would cover work on the building from top to bottom, inside and out. This would include painting, re-flooring, installing fencing, a new kitchen, installing lighting, and much more.

In December 2019, the council engaged in a workshop on the possible options for refurbishment for the courthouse, and councillors took a tour of the building.

There, an informal idea cropped up to have the council chambers situated there.

Councillors will vote for, or against, applying for funds at the meeting on Tuesday.

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