Cr Jarman was voted down 2-5 after closing the debate on the issue of council supporting an application for $458,000 in funding from the Local Roads and Community Infrasture program.
The decision comes on the back of the town spending an entire summer without the use of its council-operated swimming pool, due to significant damage caused by the floods, along with the delay to a significant development of Rochester Bowling Club.
Windridge Oval, Rochester’s Diggora Rd tennis courts and sporting facilities at all of the schools in the town also suffered damage during the record-breaking flood.
Cr Jarman said council had missed the chance to “lift the spirits’’ of the town by denying its support of this project.
He has Kyabram-Deakin ward councillor Daniel Mackrell in his corner, but even he was firmly sitting on the fence when it came to the lengthy debate on how the $1.1 million project would be funded.
The two sticking points for the seven councillors at the meeting — councillors Leanne Pentreath and Tony Marwood were absent — was that Moon Oval was on Crown land and that council would be responsible for finding the funds if the LRCI application was unsuccessful.
Cr Jarman, who fought hard for the recommendation to apply for the funding, said there was no policy stopping council from supporting the project, just “a mindset’’.
“The tragedy about this is we are potentially also voting on prohibition on every other project on Crown land,” he said.
“This project is not about its validity, it is about the will of these councillors. There is millions being spent on other reserves managed by council, fact, fact, fact.”
A re-written motion to support a $250,000 funding request from the Victorian Government’s Country Football and Netball Program was given a unanimous tick of approval by councillors, but the second motion for LRCI funding fell flat.
Council has an unofficial policy of not funding projects on Crown land, but Cr Jarman said it should not shut the whole project down just because of what it had done before.
"This project is completely valid. It has multi users, is sustainable and viable. The oval needs new lights, the recreation reserve committee has its own cash and is not asking council for money,“ he said.
“If we can’t support this, what other projects are going to die?”
Cr Jarman said council decided to put funding for council-owned properties in one basket and projects on Crown land in another in 1994.
“That’s the only thing stopping this project and it is wrong,” he said.
He described the new motion to support the CFNP funding request as a "watered down version’’, saying “there was no reason not to move this community project along’’.
“This has rattled me because we are essentially putting a hold on every Crown land application until we build a policy,” he said.
“If this is the precedent you want to set, fine, you achieved it.
"You can chew gum and walk at the same time. This is a really good opportunity missed, particularly with the fact the rec reserve has raised $400,000.
“If we can’t even get this one over the line, with no restrictions, I shudder to think what happens going forward.”
Numerous master plans for the recreation reserve and the new lighting have been presented to council by the committee of management.
The thing that sets this project apart is the money the community has raised and brought to council with its application.
There are 11 user groups who call the Rochester Recreation Reserve home and, during winter, the the lights are in use five nights a week.
Cr Jarman accused the council of hiding behind policy documentation when it didn’t even have a policy.
"This community has been through enough. It has found its own money, it is not asking us for money,“ he said.
“It is just asking us to advocate on its behalf.”
5-2 AGAINST MOON OVAL LIGHTING
Tradition was the reasoning provided by Cr Adrian Weston when speaking against the motion to apply for funding through the LRCI.
He said he was concerned that if the application was unsuccessful, council was committing to coughing up the $458,000 shortfall in the project.
Cr Weston said in his 11 years on council, it had never funded a Crown land project.
“I will, regrettably, speak against the motion, not that I don’t think it’s a worthy project — I do — and not because it is a crown committee management piece of land,” he said.
“The trigger for me to speak against the motion in its current form is that the position of council in my time, approaching 11 years, is that we haven’t been of a mind to fund projects on reserve-managed Crown land.
“I don’t feel comfortable. I would prefer we had a defined and established position into whether or not we continue to distinguish between funding council-managed recreation reserves and committee of management reserves.”
Deputy mayor Colleen Gates suggested the council deal with the motion in parts, but that was refused by Mayor Rob Amos.
As it turned out, only one motion was successful, that of approving a $250,000 application for funds from the Country Football and Netball Program.
Cr Gates did, however, support Cr Weston’s outlook in not funding Crown land projects.
“We don’t want to put the cart before the horse on what our position will be going forward around Crown land,” she said.
Cr John Zobec said he also, regrettably, spoke against the request to apply for LRCI funding request on behalf of the recreaton reserve committee.
"I totally support Rochester sport and recreation, but not the motion in its current form,“ he said.
"It is certainly a worthwhile project, but we need a policy in place.“
Cr Daniel Mackrell said council could make a decision and be a “trail-blazer’’.
“If this does get through, and I hope it does, it will open the gates to a lot of other funding opportunities,” he said.
Cr Mackrell said it was a chance for council to “get rid of some of the red tape’’.
"We can do whatever we like here, this is for the betterment of the community,“ he said.
Once the motion was lost, Cr Mackrell said “I hope the Rochester community can forgive us, Cr Jarman’’.
Cr Weston, in moving a motion to apply only for the $250,000 CFNP funding, said officers should pursue every opportunity to find the $458,000 in funding.
Cr Chrissy Weller shared her concern for an unsuccessful LRCI application, saying she was worried that if it didn’t get through, it would come back on council.
