‘It’s not possible for me to give any forecast…’ – (Nov 2025 edition)

The official minutes recorded the shire’s response as follows: “The Shire was successful with 10 other local governments in a joint funding application of $32 million dollars to develop affordable land for affordable housing.

The Shire of Toodyay will receive grant funding of nearly $2.2 million to develop the land.

The cost to develop the land was estimated to be $2.2 million therefore no cost to Toodyay ratepayers.

Funds received from sale of lands will be available to pay down debt if determined the best outcome.”

In an email exchange with the Herald on October 7, the Toodyay Shire CEO Aaron Bowman reiterated that regulations only require a summary of shire responses’ to public questions to be provided in minutes – that are, in effect, the public record.

However, this summary omitted a crucial element of the Shire President’s actual response during the September meeting.

According to the livestream video recording the Shire President stated, in addition to the above summary, “At the moment, we don’t know what the revenue from the sale may be in the future.

So, it’s not possible for me to give any forecast of the revenue in the future.”

This omission of the actual answer provided in the meeting was highlighted in an email sent by the Herald to the CEO and Toodyay Council on October 7 – providing ample time for the then unconfirmed minutes to be amended.

These unamended minutes were then subsequently confirmed at the October council meeting with a 6-1 vote (For: Crs McKeown, McCormick, Dival, Prater, Mills and VanDerHeyden; Against: Cr Madasci) and an alternate motion to amend them did not make the agenda.