Row Over Shepherds Hill Cottage

BY MATT JOHNSTON

"Never have volunteers been treated so badly," shouted by Marine Rescue Newcastle Commander Ron Calman to Newcastle's Lord Mayor and Interim Council CEO on top of Shepherds Hill.

Cr Nuatali Nelmes and CEO Jeremy Bath were announcing the ramping up of the cottage's restoration, following the damage it received from the superstorm in April 2015. Marine Rescue had been using it as their base up until strong winds tore the roof off the structure.

Photo credit: Newcastle Herald

Since then, "Newcastle's best real-estate" and the "missing link" in the Bathers Way coastal path has been sitting on top of the hill, disused and sustaining further damage according to Jeremy Bath. Marine Rescue was forced to relocate from their seaside vantage point to Warabrook.

It's taken years for the restoration work to be signed off by heritage bodies and the state government, but the green light has finally been given for work to kick off in the New Year. At that point, council will also be open to expressions of interest to lease the land upon its completion - a move which has angered the volunteers at Marine Rescue Newcastle.

"The position is now that we'll have nowhere to go once our tenure is up with Newcastle City Council at Warabrook, and then we'll be looking for premises at Newcastle or... I really can't [tell you]", said Ron Calman. According to him, it should be easy for Marine Rescue to return to the site, given that their radio tower is still located on the property.

 "Power struggles- that's all [council] is about with the young ones... They don't care about us, they don't care about the membership or our training, they don't care about anything at all with Marine Rescue."

But while Ron says the views over the water aided Marine Rescue's safety operations, Jeremy Bath says they can monitor the radio waves from anywhere, just like Warabrook where they've been operating for the past 2 years.

He says the opening of the site to expressions of interest is a more transparent way of letting the community vote on the site's future, rather than previous agreements he said were done "behind closed doors".

"Unfortunately, in the past that is how Newcastle City Council did the tenancy agreement with Marine Rescue. What matters is that the public are given an opportunity to participate in the expression of interest for the future tenancy of the Shepherds Hill cottage."

"I have privately written, as well as met with Marine Rescue, and encouraged them to participate in the EOI process, and that way the public can have absolute confidence that there are no favours being done to anyone, that ultimately the future tenancy agreement is one that is above board and ticks all the criteria that the community and council require for what is undoubtedly the most valuable piece of land anywhere in Newcastle."

So far, there are proposals of a stop for walkers on the Bathers Way path to refresh themselves and take in the views from the top of the city.

Newcastle Council Making a City-Change

BY IAN CROUCH and JESSICA ROUSE

Newcastle City Council is making a city-change, moving its administrative headquarters to a new building in Newcastle West.

Council's 400 admin staff will start to move into the building in 2019 to the new five-level building which will be on the corner of Hunter Street and Stuart Avenue.

It'll cost council $7 million dollars to relocate, but Interim CEO Jeremy Bath said it's going to create long-term savings.

"Council was faced with a $6.3 million bill if we chose to stay in our current location of roundhouse and specifically the Frederick Ash building. We estimate savings will be in the vicinity of up to $14,000 per relocated employee,"

Artist impression of the new Council building Image supplied

"The majority of those savings will come about as a result of substantially improved productivity, reduced absenteeism and also a significant reduction in turnover," said Jeremy Bath.

Council says they'll be making savings by reducing absenteeism within the council staff which has been the case at other councils like Melbourne and Ryde.

"For example seeing a 41 per cent reduction in absenteeism. Absenteeism at Newcastle City Council costs us in the vicinity of about $2.5 million per year so if we're able to bring that down by around 40 per cent, we're looking at savings straight off the bat of $1 million every single year," said Jeremy Bath.

The building will form a part of council's Smart City Plan and will be on lease to council for 15 years.

Where there are savings, there will also be benefits to the nature of the work council does and how they do it.

Interim CEO Jeremy Bath & Lord Mayor
Nuatali Nelmes.

"We're dealing with 1970s technology and 1970s workforce layout. It frankly is too difficult to collaborate and communicate because your own teammates aren't beside you, they're not on the same floor and they're often not in the same building.," said Jeremy Bath.

The decision has also been applauded by the Hunter Business Chamber who see the benefits for council and also the possibilities for what can happen with the buildings council staff are moving out of.

"After such a long period of time the workspace has become difficult to adapt and we're aware council was stretched over a number of buildings in the CBD and that in turn no matter what you do about it does impact productivity," Chamber CEO Bob Hawes.