'Absolute overkill': Residents want proof Ray Walsh House was unsalvageable

She says after submitting a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) Act she received a treasure trove of documents which show a much more benign problem than the picture Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) has been painting so far.

"I do feel what's happened is an absolute overkill, that's my opinion," Ms Fenn told the Leader.

And her opinion is well-informed.

Sharing her binder of documents with the Leader, Ms Fenn said she was particularly struck by a series of reports by EnviroScience Solutions dating from early 2020 to early 2022.

"For example, the very first point is the entrance to the building, the customer service. You can see [in the documents] there was no sample taken because there was no asbestos," she said.

"So why now do we have a building that's been gutted and all the floor tiles taken out when there's no asbestos there?"

In June 2022 the historic structure was deemed unfit for staff after the air conditioning on Levels 1, 2 and 3 stopped working, and fixing it was deemed a health risk.

At the time TRC said replacing the system would expose staff to asbestos, but Ms Fenn says she isn't convinced.

"What they need to show is the extent of the damage or the reasons why the air conditioning failed, and where are the costings or the quotes that show it wasn't viable to stay there?" she asked.

"They need to be more transparent in their decision-making regarding Ray Walsh House."

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb says Ms Fenn's call for transparency will soon be answered.

"All of the paperwork relating to that will be out in July. Admittedly it will be a bit later than I thought it would be, but by July 28 it'll be all over our website," Cr Webb said.

Councillors resolved to make all documents relating to Ray Walsh House publicly available during a meeting on May 28.

Cr Webb says it's taken a while to follow through on that commitment because some of the information enclosed has to be redacted.

"There were some prices [on options for Ray Walsh House] we got out of different groups, different organisations. We had to redact that because we spoke to them and they didn't want those prices revealed," he said.

"That's commercial confidentiality, we just can't put it out by law."

But the clock is ticking for the local council.

Member of the NSW Legislative Council Mark Banasiak told the Leader he's planning to refer the matter to the NSW Minister for Local Government in August, after the state parliament's winter recess.

He'll recommend the minister's department investigate TRC for the potential misuse of a public asset.

"If you take the report at face value, there is a valid concern that the council's not been completely upfront and honest about the state of affairs," Mr Banasiak said.

"I'll put it in their hands as to whether they want to investigate it or not. In the meantime the local government can come out and be completely open and transparent with the ratepayers."

A TRC spokesperson said they encouraged the community to read the whole suite of documents soon to be published on the council's website before jumping to any conclusions.

"Looking at only one of the documents will not give a true and accurate perspective on the matter and that is why Council is working to have the full suite of documents published on its website," the spokesperson said.

Mayor Webb also said TRC's original justifications for moving out of Ray Walsh House still stand.

"We know there was asbestos in the vermiculite - the sprayed fire coatings - of the building. We've known that for a while. The level of that is probably reasonably low, but it's everywhere," Cr Web said.

"Some of that stuff is starting to fall off the roof on to the ceiling tiles, and when that powder comes through and falls on people's desks we've got to evacuate that area and clean it up."

He said "an amount" of the asbestos-containing dust also contaminated the floor of the air conditioning room, so when the system failed in the middle of summer they couldn't safely send workers in to fix it.

"You can't ask people to work in a building where there's no air conditioning. Our duty of care to our employees is such that we had no choice," Cr Webb said.

The mayor also pushed back against rumours TRC is looking for ways to sell or demolish the near-50-year-old building.

He said while they have decided not to move back in, the future of the building is far from certain.

"We can't hang around, we can't afford to refurbish it at the moment, and we can't stay as we are in so many different locations for the next bloody three or four or five years," Cr Webb said.

"So we're not going to move the staff back in, that decision's been made, but we have not made a decision to either sell it or what we're going to do with it.

"That'll be something for the new council to decide upon."