COUNCILLOR Jess Jennings is calling on the public to have their say about the use of a $2.25 million loan Bathurst Regional Council obtained.
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He has started a petition to stop a "massive waste and mismanagement" of the money intended for the construction of a go-kart track.
It says that the loan has to be reversed or repurposed.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had received 170 signatures.
There are multiple items regarding the go-kart track project up for determination at Wednesday's council meeting, but Cr Jennings said the petition was started in anticipation of finalising council's 2021-22 budget.
"It's primarily because the overall budget for the next financial year is being determined next week, and that's the opportunity where people have the ability to make their thoughts felt to council, and hence it's to coincide with that," he said.
"I wasn't expecting Warren's notice of motion and only saw it when it was in the business paper, so it's really to coincide with the annual operating budget."
Cr Jennings made it clear from the start that he was against the loan.
The loan was pitched in a mayoral minute, which councillors had just minutes to read before voting on.
A rescission motion failed to overturn the decision, with Cr Jennings saying at the time saying that the mayoral minute was "robbing [ratepayers] blind and treating them like fools".
Cr Jennings is personally in favour of reallocating the funds to other projects.
He has suggested spending $1 million to activate the Bathurst CBD by retrofitting the old TAFE building, $685,000 to activate lower Keppel Street with angled parking and street trees, deliver a master plan vision for top of Mount Panorama-Wahluu at a cost of $200,000, and to activate the Mount with a $365,000 café or bistro.
He believes this would be much a better use of $2.25 million than a go-kart track.
"The economic benefit of a high-ranking project is massive compared to a community sporting club, that is in essence the difference," Cr Jennings said. "Activating our CBD, activating lower Keppel Street, activating the top of Mount Panorama, all those have an enormous economic return and unfortunately the go-kart track does not."
The petition is called 'Stop massive financial waste at Bathurst Regional Council' and can be found on change.org.
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