A meeting brokered by ‘’white knight’’ Peter Conway, who has pleaded the senior citizens’ case for the past two months, resulted in council agreeing to joint occupancy of the premises.
The council-owned facility has been at the centre of a lengthy debate, regarding Policy 161 and a change to lease arrangements for community groups that occupy council-owned buildings.
Echuca Neighbourhood House will become the lead tenant of the building and the senior citizens will operate under the umbrella of that organisation, meaning the seniors will not be required to have a lease agreement with council.
Mr Conway, who met with council interim chief executive Tim Tamlin on Friday, said it was a great outcome for all involved.
“I must praise the CEO. He is a very civic-minded CEO and was a key component of this agreement being put in place,” Mr Conway said.
“This is a win for all involved.”
Mr Conway said he was hopeful the successful union of the two Echuca groups would be a pointer to potential partnerships between other groups facing new Policy 161 lease agreements at other council-owned buildings.
Since the unveiling of the Campaspe Asset Management Plan, and identification of several buildings for “disposal’’, council has faced significant lobbying in regard to the future homes of its community organisations.
Neighbourhood House manager Sarah Peake was also ecstatic with the outcome, suggesting all parties would benefit tremendously from the new arrangement.
“I am so rapt, today has been the best day, it is unbelievable,” she said.
An agreement has been reached between the council, Echuca Neighbourhood House and the seniors, which will see ENH become the lead tenant and Echuca seniors operate within its framework.
“This result allows the neighbourhood house to not only provide extra services to the community, but we can take the seniors under our wing and expand on our programs that we offer in that space,” Ms Peake said.
Ms Peake said the High St South premises, where ENH has been based for 29 years, had served its purpose.
“We will not leave High St South, it will become our education centre, where our classes will operate,” she said.
“The new site will become our community hub.”
Ms Peake said the move would cost ENH at some point, but she would continue to seek community support and grants to operate the service.
The cohabitation of the Landsborough St building came about after a staffer for Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh, who had a working knowledge of ENH, put the group in touch with Mr Conway.
“We have a really good working relationship with council. Without council support the neighbourhood houses wouldn’t be able to offer the community what we do,” Ms Peake said.
The ENH High St South building is owned by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
“We were the only neighbourhood house that didn’t lease their premises through council,” Ms Peake said.
Ms Peake said the new building would be the home of the ENH community lunches, which were previously restricted to 16 people due to the size of the building.
“We had to send everyone else home with a takeaway meal,” she said.
“The hall at Landsborough St will allow us to seat 50-odd people comfortably. It also will have access to showers for homeless people and be a much more comfortable operating space for the Foodbank service.”
Ms Peake explained the ENH Foodbank operation had been operating out of a small garden shed.
Mr Tamlin said while it took him a while to get his head around the Landsborough St situation, this was a great outcome.
“This is how Policy 161 should work,” he said.
A letter of appreciation has been sent to the interim CEO by Mr Conway, thanking him for the role he has played in the agreement.
“They are doing handstands at Echuca Neighbourhood House,” Mr Conway said.
The “white knight” did present a parting request to council, suggesting it create a position titled ‘manager of community wellbeing’, to work through these issues.
