UNANAMOUS DECISION TO POSTPONE THE PUBLIC MEETING

June 7, 2016, 8:20 p.m.... CLICK HERE

A public meeting to discuss the City of Launceston’s transfer of land to the University of Tasmania has been postponed for two weeks due to the ongoing flood emergency.  ......... The public meeting at the Albert Hall in Launceston on Tuesday.   ......... About 100 people filed into the Albert Hall just before 7pm on Tuesday to attend the meeting, which had been organised in early May.   .........  A motion to postpone the meeting until June 21 was put to the floor just after chair Don Wing was appointed.   ......... A number of attendees spoke to the motion, many urging the meeting to support it, but some voicing their disappointment at the “waste of time.”   ......... Former alderman Basil Fitch told the meeting that petitioners had tried to persuade the council to postpone the meeting throughout Monday and Tuesday.   .........  Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the council had been in a difficult position because he did not believe they had the “prerogative to make unilateral decisions” on cancellation.   ......... He said the decision had been to convene the meeting and then the meeting could determine whether to postpone in fairness to all parties.   .........  A petition on the UTAS land transfer deal was presented to council in March.  .........  The petition called on the council to hold a public meeting on the decision to transfer the Willis Street Car Park and Old Velodrome.  .........  It also called on council to rescind the transfer passed at the meeting of November 9, 2015, and for the land to be placed for sale on the open market with a reserve auction price of $5 million.