Community & Business
31 July, 2024
Igloo ‘neglect’, survey sparks formal complaint
A COMPLAINT will be lodged with a State authority alleging Tablelands Regional Council has breached the Local Government Act principles over the way it has handled the Patrick English Pavilion at Malanda.

The igloo was closed off in mid-May by the council after receiving a structural assessment report that revealed it would cost $2.3 million just to repair parts of the building to make it safe.
The closure sparked community outrage about council’s failure to do any critical repairs to the building over the past nine years despite receiving multiple reports that the curved timber trusses were in urgent need of replacement.
Mayor Rod Marti then gave an assurance that the community would be given an opportunity to have their say on the future of the building but when community consultation opened on 19 July, it caused even more uproar because the online survey did not provide any option to repair the building.
The survey only provides two options – to demolish it in favour of a new multipurpose centre, or demolish it and replace it with a similar “igloo” style building.
That has raised the ire of community advocate Matt Lachlan who is so incensed over the way council has failed to maintain the building and the current “phony attempt” at consultation that he is lodging a complaint with the Office of the Independent Assessor which investigates complaints about local government.
He has already sent a letter to TRC chief executive officer Gary Rinehart and has flagged his intention to also put a complaint to the Queensland Ombudsman.
Mr Lachlan said the consultation at the recent Malanda markets was troubling insofar that the TRC officer had advised community members that the pavilion could not be repaired, that the engineering report by Black & More dated 24 May 2024 had stated as such, and that council would not consider any other option other than what was on the survey.
“Aside from the first two points being factually incorrect, these assertions make a mockery of the entire consultation process,” he said.
“They show TRC’s ‘engagement’ to be nothing more than a phony attempt to tick the box on consultation, while circumventing due process entirely. In doing so TRC has completely ignored the principles outlined under the Local Government Act 2009.
“The false information provided to members of the public on Saturday makes it clear that council cannot be trusted to conduct consultation in good faith.
“I have no confidence that the concerns raised by community members through this format will be properly handled and passed on to councillors.
“There is no transparency, and no proper process to ensure that occurs. Indeed, the lack of an option for ‘additional comments’ on the survey specifically precludes that from happening.”
The post about the consultation on TRC’s Facebook page drew around 120 comments, with a large number complaining there was no option to repair the igloo, and Mr Lachlan now has more than 1300 signatures on a petition to save the building.
But Mr Rinehart dismissed claims that the wider community was upset by the decision not to repair the igloo and said council was not going to ask residents about that option if it was not a real possibility.
“The angry feedback is a minority and does not seem to be representative of the broader community’s emotions. People mostly seem frustrated they cannot have a balanced public conversation,” he said.
“The two options provided in the survey are the only two options we can deliver. The engineer’s report says the deficiencies are likely to be cost-prohibitive to repair and render safe for occupancy and the pavilion has exceeded its design life and is no longer serviceable.”
Mr Rinehart said the report recommended that council consider retiring or demolishing the asset as “it is not permissible to patch repair the curved timber trusses due to the severity of the defects and the importance of the primary structural components to the structure”.
“Therefore, the extent of the structural repairs will trigger upgrades/replacement of the whole primary structural system, including foundations, connections, hold-downs, members, etc, to meet modern design criteria. The scale of work required is essentially a reconstruction of the compromised superstructure…,” the report states.
Asked why the council did not undertake major repairs when the first building assessments made it known that the repairs were needed, Mr Rinehart said the organisation had to weigh up what it spent its maintenance funds on.
“Our responsibility is to a broad approach to asset maintenance that considers community need and ability to fund. We apply this approach to our 300-plus community facilities,” he said.
“With regard to the Patrick English Pavilion, annual site inspections have been carried out by staff along with regular engineering reports.
No significant funds have been spent on structural repairs in recent years but over 30 separate works orders have been performed at the facility since 2019 in order to maintain a safe, compliant and functioning community space.”
Mr Rinehart also strongly defended the consultation it was currently undertaking with the community.
“Our process for consultation with the community has and will continue to be conducted in a meaningful way that is open, transparent and accessible to the community,” he said.