Burnouts - MidCoast Council leadership vacuum!

The response we received from MidCoast Council on the feedback from our 8 February burnout community meeting is woeful.

Two weeks ago, on 10 February, I sent Council’s General Manager (Adrian Panuccio) an email with the feedback from the meeting, together with copies of the dossier on resident’s burnout experiences and the burnout tragedy video from March last year. A copy of this email was posted on our website.

In my email to Mr Panuccio I requested answers to six questions on the burnouts, as follows: 

1. Considering the feedback from the meeting on the “lower cost options”, and the attached feedback file, please advise what Council now proposes to do to stop the burnouts, and the timetable for doing so?
2. What has the (approx.) $200,000 that was provided to Great Lakes Council by the State Government for Gooreengi Rd maintenance been spent on, and how much of this funding remains?
3. Why is Council willing to install CCTV for “the protection of community infrastructure, facilities and Council staff”, but it is not willing to install CCTV for the protection of North Arm Cove residents, and its own infrastructure (Gooreengi Rd)?
4. In the management of the burnouts problem, why has Council not taken action to fulfill the community safety outcomes it describes in MidCoast 2035?
5. Why does Council consistently decline Police requests for CCTV to be installed at similar crime hotspots, considering that one of its community outcomes in MidCoast 2035 is “together, all levels of Government deliver the facilities and services we need”?
6. What is Council planning to do to repair the damaged Gooreengi Rd intersection pavement and reinstate the lanemarkings, and what is the timetable for doing this work?

On Monday this week I received the following response from Mr Panuccio:

Thank you for the feedback following your meeting on 8 February 2025.  Your comments with respect to the low-cost options are noted. 

With respect to CCTV, Council has previously outlined its position, namely that the installation and responsibility for CCTV is not a matter for Council.  That said, Council would be supportive of NSW Police if they opted to erected cameras at the location. 

Illegal driving is not something Council regulates or has the resources to manage.  Despite not being a function of Council, installing CCTV to monitor this type of behaviour is simply not financially viable given that the behaviour may move elsewhere leaving ratepayers potentially having to fund CCTV in other or   future hotspots where illegal activity is being undertaken. 

Please note that future requests/correspondence in relation to this or new matters should be submitted using Council’s online Report and Request System: Report and Request.  This will allow requests to be accurately logged/allocated and tracked.  

Regards
Adrian

Not one of the six questions were answered.

We don’t know what action Council is going to take, if anything, to stop the burnouts.

We don’t know what Council is going to do, if anything, to repair the damaged intersection and linemarkings.

This response is woeful and disappointing! 

By ignoring our concerns for the safety of our community, refusing to meet with us to discuss the issue and develop solutions, and not answering any of our questions, Council is treating our community with disdain.

In its current Community Strategic Plan, Council lists five community values that “describe what is important to us and how we would like to live as a community”. One of these values is:

Unfortunately these words are just hollow words, they mean nothing. Council couldn’t care less about what our community thinks and our concerns for our safety. There is no working in partnership or community focus at all!

Council just does what it likes with no regard to community views.

The burnout problem has been going on for over 18 months, with no resolution in sight.

We know how dangerous burnouts can be – in March 2024 a burnout at North Arm Cove resulted in a 14 year old girl and a 20 year old woman being seriously injured and admitted to hospital.  

Three weeks ago, a burnout at Abermain resulted in eight people being injured, including two young children, and taken to hospital.

It is only a matter of time before a resident or motorist is seriously injured or killed by a burnout.

Council says we value strong leadership – well we are not getting strong leadership, in fact we are not getting any leadership at all from Council on the burnout problem.

Strong leadership would mean acknowledging that the burnouts are a serious safety problem for our community, and meeting with our community and the Police together to develop solutions. 

Refusing to acknowledge resident’s concerns, refusing to meet with our community to develop solutions, ignoring our queries on what is going to be done, failing to take any action to prevent the burnouts or even repair the damaged pavement, and then telling us to lodge future correspondence through Council’s online reporting system, is not strong leadership, it is weak or non-existent leadership!

MidCoast Council is abrogating its responsibility for the safety of its residents and ignoring the commitments in its MidCoast Community Strategic Plan – it should be ashamed of itself!