The major topic of consideration at the Bungendore meeting was for councillors to choose a location for the new council headquarters and to allow the next stage of redevelopment to commence. 

Council staff provided two possible locations, 50 Lowe Street and the corner of Crawford and Rutledge Streets.

Lowe Street would have been a stand-alone council building with a potential smart hub and lettable office space. 

The second option would have involved purchasing a stratum from developers Downtown Q and the building also having residential and commercial uses.

However, Mayor Tim Overall stepped in and put a contrary motion which created a third option, for council to consider building the new headquarters on the currently vacant council building site at 257 Crawford Street.

Cr Overall’s motion specifically rules out the option of a special rate variation to be used to service loans raised for the construction of the council office and lettable office space.

General manager Peter Tegart told the council any loans to build the headquarters could be paid off with savings and not a rate increase.

He said a special rate variation would only ever go towards public projects such as carparks and laneways.

Cr Overall’s motion was passed unanimously, however a final decision to proceed at 257 Crawford Street will be made after a workshop.

The motion was a rare occurrence of unanimous agreement within the council on a major issue.

Cr Mark Schweikert said it was critical council staff are housed in one location which could create significant efficiency savings.

Cr Harrison said he supported the motion as it gave the council a chance to develop a plan before implementing it and not the other way around.

 Cr Winchester said he liked the option of 257 Crawford Street as it would not impinge greatly on the Lowe carpark.

Cr Marshall questioned if the motion brought more delays as it meant “going back to the drawing board” in terms of plans before ultimately voting for the motion.

Mr Tegart said some of the plans from the original proposal could be repurposed for a new building with similar construction costs.