Council to appoint independent probity advisor to assist with the unsolicited proposal to acquire lo…

On 6 August 2018, the owners of the Liberty Theatre in Comur Street, Yass wrote to Yass Valley Council with an unsolicited proposal for Council to purchase the property for a price of $500,000 (Unsolicited Proposal). The proposal was considered by Council at its meeting held on 27 February 2019, where Council resolved to “seek the owner’s consent to conduct a community forum, followed by a council workshop, on options for the Liberty Theatre.”

On 10 April a letter to the editor was published in the Yass Tribune from the owners of the Liberty Theatre, which was critical of Council’s handling of the Unsolicited Proposal. Council does not agree with the assertions and implications in that letter which suggest that the Council has not acted properly and reasonably after receiving the Unsolicited Proposal. Contrary to what was written in that letter, Council has taken a number of steps, and invested considerable time and cost, to properly assess and consider the Liberty Theatre proposal.

Nevertheless, it is extremely important to Council that the community remain confident that any Council decision on the Unsolicited Proposal will have been properly made. To this end, at the Council meeting on 22 May 2019, Council adopted the following recommendations of its Audit Risk & Improvement Committee:

The use of probity advisors is consistent with public sector best practice for high value and/or uncommon public sector procurement. It is proposed that the probity advice will cover the process that Council has already undertaken to assess the Unsolicited Proposal and, if Council continues to assess the Unsolicited Proposal, that further assessment. The probity advisor will also assist Council with the development of a framework for the consideration of unsolicited proposals in the future.

Yass Valley media contact: Gill Elphinston Media & Communications Coordinator 02 6226 9232

22 May 2019

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