After more than 12 months of deliberation, Yass Valley Council has unanimously agreed not to purchase the Liberty Theatre for $500,000 from owners Touie and Denise Smith.
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The council concluded that it didn't have the funds allocated to purchase or renovate the theatre and that purchasing the theatre didn't fit any of its asset acquisition strategies.
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The cost to restore the theatre and manage the upkeep was unknown, said the report given to councillors at their September 25 ordinary meeting.
Advice alone on the current state of the building, repairs and compliance was estimated to cost the council $40,000, the report said.
Mr Smith said he and Mrs Smith were "disappointed that the community wasn't engaged" in the decision-making process.
"If there is a major decision to be made by Yass Valley Council then the community should be involved," he said.
Mr and Mrs Smith are waiting to see if the Friends of the Liberty Theatre group can provide a way forward.
"In the meantime, we wait until September 2020 (council elections)," Mr Smith said.
Friends of the Liberty Theatre's Ian McClung said there was support from the group's member to renovate the theatre and even purchase the theatre one day.
"We would hope to take the offer from Mr and Mrs Smith for $500,000 in two to three years' time," Mr McClung said.
"They want to see it restored as a community building, so the Smiths said they'll keep the offer at that."
Mr Smith confirmed that was true.
Mr and Mrs Smith offered the theatre to the council in August 2018.
In March 2019, the council agreed to host a community forum before deciding on the purchase. That was put on hold, however, as concerns grew about the risks attached to the council considering an 'unsolicited purchase'.
A probity advisor was hired to conduct an independent review of the offer, which cost the council $14,000 and recommended the council assessed the offer for a second time.
The council's acting general manager Chris Berry carried out the second assessment, peer-reviewed by Tarang Kamath at Snowy Monaro Council.
Here's what Mr Berry's report said: "It is acknowledged that there is general community support for retention, restoration and reuse of the building ideally with some community access. However, this does not necessarily extend to the building being in public ownership.
"There are many commercial buildings such as gymnasiums and shopping complexes that provide for public access without being in public ownership.
"There is no information on the cost of re-purposing the building or bringing it into line with contemporary requirements for the current or proposed use.
"Accordingly it is not possible to advise on the whole of life costs to the community, the potential impacts on the organisation's financial position and whether there is any broad community appetite to consider a rate increase for the building's ongoing operations as a community facility.
"At this point in time, there are too many uncertainties associated with the purchase of another property."
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