MOVE it now, don't wait.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Wagga's Visitor Information Centre (VIC) could be back at its former Tarcutta Street home as early as September, if an outspoken Wagga City councillor has his way.
Paul Funnell will urge his fellow councillors at Monday night's ordinary meeting to consider resuming VIC operations at its original site by September 15 - before the current six-month Civic Centre trial finishes.
Under the proposal, the centre's existing car park would also be reinstated by September 1, weather permitting.
Both would be achieved using money in the reserve set aside for the neighbouring gasworks remediation.
In the report, Councillor Funnell noted the relocation was a trial and that a staff health and safety issue from the remediation site had "contributed greatly" to the decision.
"We are approximately three-and-a-half months into the trial and there has been an overwhelmingly adverse reaction to the move from many sectors of the community," Cr Funnell said in his report.
"While there has been no particular issue or report presented to the elected body up to this point, by moving staff until the odour was contained, it is assumed that the (workplace health and safety) issue can now be considered dealt with".
Work at the gasworks site is due to be completed in early October and, because the contamination has been removed, Cr Funnell considered now was "an appropriate time to make a decision on re-instating the VIC to the original site and not wait until after the six-month period."
He said the time needed to prepare reports would further delay the re-instatement, one of the reasons that prompted the report to council.
"The problem is ... that (the reinstatement of the VIC) is what the public want and the majority of councillors want," Cr Funnell told The Daily Advertiser this week.
"We can't even action it, we can only ask for a report."
Mayor Rod Kendall supported council's current resolution but said "anybody has the right to ask for a debate".
"The Visitor Information Centre had to close for a period of time ... those works (at the gasworks site) are largely complete," Councillor Kendall said.
He said the "potential to re-open is there now" but preferred to wait for the outcome of the trial, to be tabled at a future council meeting.
"It (the trial) has presented a great opportunity for council not just to assume what we've done for a long time is the best way to do business."
Another of Cr Funnell's recommendations is to sell Civic Theatre tickets at the VIC once it returns to Tarcutta Street.