A NEW three-year sponsorship deal with Skillset looks to have secured the immediate future of the Rotary Young Driver Awareness (RYDA) program.
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A meeting on Tuesday afternoon between Skillset CEO Craig Randazzo, RYDA co-ordinator Graham Bright and Bathurst councillor Jess Jennings brokered the deal that came after two days of public anger over council’s reluctance to grant the program a full fee waiver for the hire of the Mount Panorama pit complex.
Mr Bright told the Western Advocate on Monday that Bathurst Regional Council’s offer to waive just $4333 of the usual $6500 hire fees made no sense in light of a number of recent tragedies involving young drivers.
But Tuesday’s meeting ended with a commitment from Skillset to pay 50 per cent of the pit complex hire fees for the next three years – a total of $3250 a year.
Mr Randazzo said the deal was a good fit for Skillset.
“Skillset not only runs Skillset Senior College here in Bathurst but we are also the largest employer of young people right across the region through our Skillset Workforce and Skillset Environment Program,” Mr Randazzo said.
“Driving is the most dangerous thing most of them will ever do and we need to keep our young people safe on the roads.
“Bathurst East Rotary Club makes an enormous contribution with RYDA and we are delighted to help support the valuable work they do with this donation.”
Mr Bright said the Skillset deal was welcome news.
He said it came out of the blue following a Western Advocate article this week that detailed the plight of RYDA.
“Skillset see themselves as a like-minded group to us in that we’re looking for community input and they’re targeting an audience similar to ours,” he said.
“They were pretty keen to come on board and called me to ask me to a meeting.
“This is a win all-round as it is the sort of thing that Skillset likes to get involved in and the sponsorship will help us keep the cost down for students to maximise the participating numbers.
“That’s what we’re all about.”
Rotary will now reopen talks with council in a bid to lock in dates for RYDA for the next three years and to confirm future waivers for hiring the pit complex.
Tuesday’s sponsorship deal will also relieve the pressure on councillors at Wednesday’s meeting to overturn the recommendation of staff and grant a full fee waiver to the program.
RYDA is award-winning program co-ordinated for the past 10 years by Bathurst East Rotary Club.
The program has been praised for its contribution to young driver safety and was last year named the winner of the Toyota Community Supporting Excellence Award at the national Excellence in Road Safety Education Awards.
A key to the program’s success is the opportunity to take advantage of the pit complex at Mount Panorama and Rotary had relied on council waiving the usual hire fees to help keep costs down.
That is no longer an issue – not for the next three years, at least.
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