A BUZZ of excitement permeated last week’s council meeting as councillors gave the go-ahead to upgrade the Civic Centre and build the Wyndham community centre.
The upgrade to Wyndham Council’s home of the past three decades will cost $15.6 million.
The community centre will cost $8.7 million and feature several meeting rooms councillors and the area’s various groups will share.
Wyndham mayor Shane Bourke said the developments were designed to cater for the increasing number of residents and council employees.
“This development will go down in history as one of the most important initiatives council has undertaken,” Cr Bourke said at the meeting.
“At the moment there are council employees having to meet in hallways and work in portable buildings.”
However, public controversy has surrounded the two developments and the millions of dollars they poured into them.
“The community needs a lot of other things before a civic centre redevelopment,” Werribee resident Lori McClean said.
Star recently published the concerns of people who wanted to be assured money for the projects would not come from ratepayers’ pockets.
“The money for these developments will come from three budgets,” Cr Bourke insisted.
“This plan has been well researched and there is no way rates will be going sky-high as a result,” Cr Bourke insisted.
The revamped Civic Centre is expected to house 416 staff members by the year 2025, compared with 231 working there today.
Cr Bourke said Wyndham’s population stood at only 30,000 when the Civic Centre first opened.
“Today there are 119,000 residents,” he said.
“I feel it in my gut that this is the right decision for council to make.”
