Chapter 12

Council Capers

The Shire Council meetings are open to the public, but rarely does the public attend if they don’t have something to do with the meeting. On the Tuesday evening the doors open for this month’s meeting at six forty-five for the seven o’clock meeting. When the security guard who opens the doors he’s surprised at the crowd waiting to enter.

All of the elders of both local tribes are present and so are most of the influential independent loggers as they’d been asked to be at the meeting because they’ll find one of the items of interest to them. Although large the crowd is orderly when they make their way in to find seats. Mack and the senior officers of Walkers Enterprises are right at the front.

With just a few minutes to go to seven the council members arrive to take their seats. Mayor Miller arrives with a large pile of files, as usual, and the last in is General Manager Ken Saunders. He smirks at Marker and Hammer while he takes his seat.

Right on time the meeting starts and it goes through the agenda with no issues until they get to the item ’New Business’ and Marker puts up his hand to be allowed to address the meeting. He’s recognised when Mayor Miller asks, “You have something to put to the Shire Council, Mister Hanson?”

Marker stands and says, “Yes, Mister Mayor. I wish to bring to the attention of the Council the General Manager’s unfair treatment of the company I represent and his unsupported court action later this week is likely to cost the council a lot in compensation for our legal fees and time to attend court for a frivolous matter where Mister Saunders is in the wrong due to his laziness and incompetence.” A few of the council members sit up to pay close attention to this while Saunders is angry and starting to speak.

Miller waves Saunders to silence and asks Marker, “Would I be right to assume the court case and attendance here tonight relate to the work at Sandy Knoll Farm you spoke with me about yesterday?”

“Yes, Mister Mayor.”

Miller turns to Saunders, “It appears you have something to say on this. Please tell us the full story, as you see it. I want the whole council to hear what you have to say on this matter.”

Saunders is angry when he replies, “A few weeks ago a member of staff was returning from visiting a rate payer and saw some significant work going on at Sandy Knoll Farm. They mentioned it in casual talk to another member of staff. The talk eventually reached the ears of the Head of Planning and he went out to view the work after checking the recent Development Applications on file. There were no DAs there for Sandy Knoll Farm. At the property he spoke to their construction foreman and was told to go away because they had all the relevant approvals. On his return to his office he checked all of the DAs for the last two years as the by-laws say they must be completed within two years. There are no DAs for Sandy Knoll Farm or Walkers Enterprises, the current property owners. I went and spoke to them, and I found out their construction foreman is Mister Dean Darling. He told me to go away since they were legal. As per the standard procedures I wrote to them and then I commenced legal action when they refused to comply. The case is down for court on Thursday.”

Mister Jacobs, a councillor and supporter of Saunders, says, “That all sounds correct. Something in violation of the laws and by-laws is not for the Shire Council to interfere with.” He looks smug when he speaks.

Miller calls for attention and says, “Before we get into a discussion about what is and isn’t correct I think there are a few more facts to be sorted out.” He turns to Saunders, “When this matter was brought to you what steps did you take to check out the facts of the matter?”

Saunders frowns while saying, “I visited the property to confirm the work was happening and the extent of it. I checked the Development Applications Register for the last four years to see if there was a DA for any work out there. Then I commenced corrective action by writing to Walkers Enterprises because they’re the current owners of the property since it was sold to them by Missus Irene Dean almost two years ago.”

“I see,” is Miller’s reply. He turns to his secretary, “Daphne, please tell us what you did in checking this for me yesterday morning.”

His secretary looks around the room then replies, “Early yesterday I had a call asking for a time when Mister Mack Dean could talk to the Mayor. Knowing Mack’s history and the staff talk about Sandy Knoll Farm I thought it was likely to be about the farm so I checked up on the farm. A check of the Rates Payers’ Register showed the property known as Sandy Knoll Farm is owned by the private company SKF Limited. A check of the company shows it’s a wholly owned subsidiary of Walkers Enterprises and all of the officers are the same. SKF Limited has owned the farm for about twenty-five years and is the legal owner, so all legal action should be addressed to SKF Limited. I then checked with the Planning Office Clerk to see if they had any Development Applications in the Open DA files. We checked all of the names that might apply and found one still outstanding for SKF limited. It’s an old file but still open and current. I had the file signed out to the Mayor and I took it to him.”

Saunders is very shocked and most of the council members are very interested while Miller takes over the account. He moves a thick file from the pile beside him and he opens it. “This is the file Daphne got from the Planning Office. It was there, filed where it should be and easy to find, if the Head of Planning or Saunders bothered to make a proper check. Just because the current by-laws say one thing it doesn’t mean they’ve always applied, and new by-laws can’t be applied to existing cases. This file is nearly twenty years old and it includes correspondence where the council gave approval for the owners to take as long as they wanted to get on with the planned construction. Yesterday Mister Hanson and Mister Dean spoke with me about this case and I’ve had a few things checked out since then. I even had one of the building inspectors from Rivers Council visit the site. His written report will follow, but his verbal report is that everything on the site is in accordance with the plan in this file.”

He glances around the room at his fellow councillors then says, “To summarise the situation. Our new Head of Planning and the General Manager did not properly research the property or its owners or the Planning Office files before taking action. They both made a number of wrong assumptions and have started a legal action against the wrong people. The court action is against Walkers Enterprises not SKF Limited who are the legal owners of the property. Plus the people are within the laws all the way. Not a good way to do business, in my mind.”

Councillor Tanner says, “I gather all of that is in the file or records we can check!” She gets a nod yes from Miller in reply. “We don’t have time to check it all in detail tonight ourselves. But I accept Mayor Miller has the facts on this issue and we can easily bring this matter back before the full committee later if we find any errors in the facts as presented.” She looks at each of the other councillors and gets a nod of agreement from each of them. “That being the case, I move we instruct the General Manager to see the court action is stopped tomorrow morning and we review all future court actions before they start. I also move that from now on we have two members of the council review all Development Applications of a value of twenty thousand dollars or more as well as any lodged by the parties involved in this case of any value. Considering the amount of anger Mister Saunders is showing I’d not be surprised to see him deny any future DAs from them just to get back at them for proving his inability to deal with this matter properly.” Both of her motions are voted on and unanimously approved by the all the council members.

Miller says, “There is one other item arising from my meeting with Mister Dean and Mister Hanson yesterday I wish to bring up here. In the discussions we spoke of the new DA rules in the by-laws. Mister Dean raised some points about how much they’ll increase costs and how that’s likely to stop people doing the work. When they were first put to the committee we were shown a list of other councils that have them in their by-laws and found they didn’t affect application rates. I now want a more in depth evaluation of that because Mister Dean showed me such by-laws will work in major cities without trouble because people are in more need of getting the developments done, but they would not work well in small rural areas like ours. I feel this needs a further independent review and analysis so I ask we approach the Planning staff of the Rivers City Council to look into this for us. I think our staff are too close to this to give a fair answer on it, either way.”

Tanner is quick to make such a motion and it’s soon passed as well.

There are a few more new items that are soon dealt, with and the meeting is closed. Saunders is not a happy person when he leaves, while everyone else is very happy.

Farm Fun

Many of both of the local tribes’ working adults leave their children at Sandy Knoll so they can be with the other kids during the day, and other loggers also leave their children there. So there’s a large group of kids of varying ages at the farm during the school holidays. They have a lot of fun playing in the Playground, what they now call the open areas of the plateau on the other side of the dam. The weather is too cool to go swimming in the cold dam water and the main plateau is too busy with workers and vehicles for the kids to be safe there. Thus it’s relegation to the other area which is big enough to have a number of sports games playing at once, and all are safe there due to the fences surrounding it.

A few times the older ones take small groups of the younger ones out into the forest to show them the flora, fauna, and how much life is in the forest itself. They keep well away from the cliff edges while there.

Some days the older children from the farm go rabbit hunting while the rest help out in the extended gardens to bring in more food to eat. A lot of the collected food is also made available to those who need it. Although there are a lot of people employed working on the village not everyone in the area can be there working at the same time, so it’s shared about to give as many people as possible some income. Thus the need to supplement their larders with food from the farm.

The few rainy days have the kids in the houses. With the two large family rooms and two lounge rooms there’s enough space for them all without being too much in the way of the others.

Twice Mack hires buses to take all of the kids and many adults for a drive into Rivers so the mothers can do some shopping while the kids watch a movie at the theatre. The two and a bit weeks at the farm pass quickly with all of the city, town, and farm kids having a lot of fun. Much more than they used to have when restricted to the two towns they lived in. For some kids this is the first opportunity to spend some real time with the children from the other town and get to know them, despite being related to some of them.

Loan Adjustment

It’s almost time for Mack and his crew to head back to Queanbeyan when Ma sits Mack down to talk with him about the results of the latest meeting by the tribe’s elders and senior women in a combined council. It’s soon clear he’s not happy with what he’s being told.

After about twenty minutes of very heated talks Ma says, “Mack, I want you to think about this from their business point of view. They haven’t finalised the books for the financial year just ended, once they do they can’t make any changes. Right now they can amend the details of the loan and have it show in the books at that value. Marker and a few others took a lot of time explaining it to me so I’d understand their reasons, so I’m sure you can see where they’re coming from. The bigger the loan shown in the books the larger the property value they can show and the better the books look. By having a larger loan amount they also show a larger liability to offset it. It makes no difference now, but it will when they talk to banks etcetera for loans for other purchases.”

Mack interrupts her, “I understand all that side, Ma, but I don’t need the extra money they’re talking about paying me for the loan.”

She waves him to silence and says, “OK, Mack. I want you to think of it this way. With the rents and income from the trees the tribe is a lot better off financially and it’s employing so many of the tribe as staff it has a lot of individuals better off too. They can afford the new payment rates for the adjusted loan based on the new evaluation. The current income can handle it OK, and when the new businesses and house rentals come in they’ll have a lot more extra money. If it stays in the company bank accounts they will get pressured to spend it. If they pay it to you they don’t have to manage or spend it and it looks like a more appropriate business deal. No one outside of the Elders and I know the actual amount. In the joint council they only said they wanted to raise the appraisal to a more appropriate level and to increase the payments, no figures were given. So just take the money and put it aside, please.”

Mack sighs while he nods yes, “I still don’t see the need. Nor can I see how I’ll ever spend that amount of money! I still can’t see why they want to pay it off over ten years and not the original twenty, either.”

“I didn’t really understand the reason they gave for the shorter time, but I think that was all guff to cover the real reason. Personally, I think they want the bulk of the profits out of the company bank account for the next few years because they expect to have some issues with government oversight people and they don’t want to be showing much in the bank but they do want to show some big liabilities to offset the assets. Plus a few of the elders are pushing to have what they call the excess profits handed out to the tribe’s members while the others don’t.”

Giving a slow shake of his head Mack says, “That’s the last thing we want! We want to make them all work for what they get in the way of cash! Food for the table is one thing, but not cash. OK. I can also see if I’ve got the money when they need some cash I can always loan them more and we can always renegotiate the loan later, if they want. You can tell your dear sons they owe both you and me for this.” Ma frowns at him. “They both know I wouldn’t accept this from them or the elders. You’re the only one I’d take this sort of argument from, and they all know it!”

Ma laughs while she replies, “Good. You don’t have to do anything except let Mister Malcolm know you accept the amended contract. He felt you would do so, reluctantly, but do so. He’s got it all set up as if the payment schedule was scaled to allow for early growth. He wants to talk to you about ways to offset the taxes a bit by business expansion and donations. May I suggest you see about setting up scholarships for a few more of the kids to go to university?”

“That’s a good idea, Ma. I’ll talk to Mister Malcolm to organise a few for the kids that work hard to get reasonable marks. The really smart ones will get good grades and the other scholarships already on offer, but this way we can get a few more kids off to uni. Well, he’ll have the hard work with the taxes etcetera on this so I’ll let it ride. However, I’ve no idea on how I’m going to deal with that much money. Four hundred thousand bucks per month starting this month is a lot of cash, and very tempting too.”

Both are still thinking about the talk’s subject when they head off to do other things now the matter has been agreed on.

Money Management

The Queanbeyan group leaves for home real early on the last Friday morning so Mack can stop in Rivers to talk with Mr Malcolm on the way. The others do some shopping while the two talk about Mack’s trust company and what to do with the money.

After the greetings and they sit down in the discussion corner of the office Mr Malcolm opens the serious talks with, “The scholarships, do you care about what they’re called, Mack?” He gets a head shake of no in reply. “Good, from what I can find out we have a lot of restrictions if we call them scholarships. If we call them grants we can hand out money to anyone for almost any reason. So as well as paying for tertiary studies we can pay for post graduate research work, living expenses, materials, high school fees, and just about anything to allow people to study any level of schooling anywhere in the country.” Mack grins and he waves for him to continue. “I want to set up a sub-company and have it hand out money as a Kelly Educational Grant to...”

Mack interrupts him, “When Ma Hanson finds out I’m giving kids a KEG she’ll either come down to rip me apart or laugh herself silly. The good thing is these KEGs do them good.”

Mr Malcolm continues, “I’ll talk to Ma about the name. Anyway, as grants we can give them any amount for any fair reason. One reason I want to go this route is to be able to move some of the better students from poor quality inner city schools to more challenging schools that take live-in students or to pay to have the kids come back here to the tribal lands for their high school studies.”

“Yeah, I can see how that’ll be good. Go for it. I’m sure you’ve got everything set up for the new loan details!” He gets a nod yes in reply. “As you have to worry about the tax implications I’ll go with what you say on it. What I do want you to do is to set up a new company and to look at buying the two small freehold farms on Outlook Point and a few of the farms up against the cliff below them. No urgency, but I want them at a fair price and not an over the market price.”

“Sure, Mack. I’ll put it down as something to keep an eye on. Why?”

“Those farms were OK when they were first set up over a century ago, but now they’re too small to make a real go of it due to all of the fees and charges from various government bodies. They only get by because the last few generations made their main income as loggers and the farms provide them with supplemental food. Dad had an idea to set up a medium sized retreat style holiday centre there. Keep one farm up top and the bulk of down below growing food for use at the resort. Also build an elevator and stairs into the side of the cliff. People could take walks in the forest or the open lands below.”

“Yeah, and in an emergency there would be a way down off that spur. No more incidents like the Blue Dog one.” Mack grins while he nods in reply.

They talk on many aspects of managing Mack’s cash and income for another half hour. They break up the meeting in time for Mack to meet the others back at the Yukon at the agreed on time, and they get rolling home again.

Note: It takes three years before Mr Malcolm can organise to buy the land Mack wants, but he does do it at fair prices. He even hires some of the families to stay on to work the properties for Mack. He buys the two on the top of the cliff and three farms in Rat Valley at the bottom of the cliff.

When Mr Malcolm tells Ma Hanson about the Kelly Educational Grants (KEGs) she has a long laugh at the acronym of the name, and she loves the reasoning behind what they can do for the younger generation.

Life Moves On

The travellers take their time driving back with a few other stops to break up the journey and they arrive back in Queanbeyan late that night. They’re soon unpacked and in their own rooms again. The next week third term starts and goes by without any issue worth reporting.

Mack, Tanya, and Diane continue to take cooking lessons from a number of the women in the area, to the delight of their families who end up eating the finished products. The Thomas family, Mack, and Tanya keep up their fitness training. Mack teaches Tanya, Diane, Mary, and James how to hunt with a bow. Mack pulls out of the bowling sports list and stays with his oval walk group which is now an official school sports activity. Mr and Mrs Stein all but adopt Mack, so do some of their children and grand-children. The tribal families in the area all do better than they were, also they’re now back in contact with the other family members and the senior tribal members.

The Sandy Knoll Farm Village is finished in late July with people moving in to take up residence in the houses during the first few weeks of August. Surprisingly, most of the people in both towns know about the farm due to the reports in the local papers, but none of the property owners causing trouble in Wood Valley bother to go out to look at how big it is until after they find many of their properties are empty and there are no new tenants for them. The Wood Valley Town Council ceases looking at ways to expand the town due to the sudden high level of vacant residential accommodation in the town.