By Jeremy Sollars
SOUTHERN Downs Regional Council says all it’s trying to do when it comes to cutting its grass is to create a level playing field – and that’s exactly what the Stanthorpe Sports Association believes it’s entitled to.
The association and the council have been at loggerheads over mowing the McGlew Street sports ovals which the SSA leases from the council.
While the region’s other sporting groups use volunteers to cut their own grass, the SSA said its lease requires the council to keep the grass under control.
At a media conference in Stanthorpe on Wednesday morning Mayor Tracy Dobie and councillor Yve Stocks, who manages the council’s events, sport and recreation portfolio, said the days of the council mowing at the McGlew Street facility were over.
“No other club in the region has the level of support the Stanthorpe Sports Association has been provided,” Cr Stocks said.
“They have had a top level of service and they have come to expect it.
“Council is seeking a fair and equitable service level for the region.”
The Southern Free Times has viewed a copy of the lease, which was signed in May, along with a letter from council CEO David Keenan.
While the lease requires the council to mow the grass it does not specify the frequency and Mr Keenan’s letter says the council will mow “within 10 business days of the grass reaching 100mm”, which is the standard for parks and gardens mowing across the region.
Cr Stocks said the SSA may have to make its own “refinements” to the maintenance program if the grass wasn’t being kept trim.
SSA president Colin Britton would not comment on using members to mow the grass but said the service at the McGlew Street fields had a “long history” and the facility was “very different” to others in the region such as Warwick’s Queens Park, which also has multiple sporting groups, and organises its own mowing.
Mr Britton said the SSA grounds represented “a third of Stanthorpe’s green space” and that the association had a lease obliging the council to mow it.
However, he acknowledged that the lease condition was vague.
He also conceded that the SSA had not discussed specific mowing arrangements when the lease was negotiated and that the SSA “had not expected council would be doing anything differently”.
He also conceded the SSA did not pay water and other utility charges – as do the majority of sporting clubs in the region – but said there were historical reasons behind this and complexities to do with the recycled water scheme in Stanthorpe.
When asked if he felt the SSA had been fully consulted by the council on the changes to mowing his answer was a firm “no”.
Deputy Mayor Jo McNally told the media conference that the council had fewer staff since the last five year lease was signed with the SSA in 2007 and the council’s physical ability to mow the McGlew Street fields had reduced.
Mr Britton said the groups in the Stanthorpe Sporting Association had collectively invested around $2.5 million in infrastructure at the McGlew Street facilities from a “variety of funding streams”.
