Kiama Woodcraft Group president John Hanna is removing the “gag” and speaking out against Kiama Council after the club’s cabinet of books went missing.

Hanna is unhappy with the Council’s handling of reimbursement of misplaced books by sweeping it under Section 10A(2) (a) and (f) of the NSW Local Government Act 1993 which was voted on and against confidentially by Councillors.

“Because of the silent treatment, [in the end] you couldn’t talk to anybody,” Hanna said.

“I got gagged.”

Last September, Kiama Woodcraft Group (KWG) relocated their meetings to Jamberoo due to the renovations taking place at the Joyce Wheatley Community Centre in Hindmarsh Park.

Hanna says the group were told by Council that they could leave their secured collection of books - which the group has valued at $4021.80 - at the Centre.

Upon returning to the renovated Centre, the collection had vanished into the ether.

“They [Council] went looking for it [the library of books] and there was some shrugging of shoulders,” Hanna said.

Council workers returned three milk crates of books, but this was 'a couple of cows short of a dairy' in comparison to the inventory KWG provided the Council and The Bugle.

After a volley of informal correspondence between KWG and Council, club member Mal MacRae sent a detailed timeline of events to Kiama Council CEO Jane Stroud.

Stroud responded to KWG with a letter in March addressed to MacRae which was shared with The Bugle addressing the formal complaint to Council stating:

•  Council staff have no knowledge of the whereabouts of the alleged missing books and strongly deny the accusations that they were stolen by staff during the renovation works.
• The matter of the books was investigated with our outdoor crew, who assisted with the removal of excess furniture and materials during and after the refurbishment.
• The group’s public liability insurance should cover the loss of property.
• Council has no records for the property of groups utilising the Joyce Wheatley facilities and therefore are not covered under Council’s insurance.

The process of investigation escalated to involving NSW Police, but the consensus among KWG was a continuation of conflicting reports on the conga line of Council workers right up to the CEO.

“When the Police report was done, they visited MacRae and verbally informed him that it had been investigated,” Hanna said.

A formal NSW Police report is yet to be passed on to the necessary parties.

Hanna and the group are frustrated with how the leadership of Kiama Council has handled the matter. 

“Where do we go from here? It just makes us angry,” Hanna said.

“Is this the Mayor’s responsibility to clean up Jane Stroud’s mess?”

The Bugle can confirm that Mayor Cameron MacDonald has been in contact with the group and has offered to meet the group in October.

A spokesperson for Kiama Council said that it considers the matter of the request for reimbursement from the KWG to be resolved.

“Council is satisfied that a thorough investigation of the matter was undertaken, including a police investigation, which we cannot comment on,” the spokesperson said.

“In terms of Community Hall Hire, Council’s information on public liability and storage equipment is clear: For regular hirers storage of equipment within a hall is at your own risk. Council is not liable for damage to your equipment, stored or otherwise.

Kiama Municipal Council is in the process of updating its Community Hall Hire terms and conditions and finalising its Lease and Licence Policy. 

KWG contests the Council’s stance on storage equipment by saying it was not stated to members regarding their tenancy until after the books went missing.