15 OCTOBER 2021
ISSUE 314
News
First taste of freedom
Despite fears that a major upgrade of the Tumbi Rd/Central Coast Hwy intersection at Wamberal could spell the demise of the nearby Valley Fruit, the popular fresh food outlet will remain and may gain a new carpark. See page 3
Out&About
Bakehouse 2000 at Kincumber has been keeping smiles on customers’ faces throughout lockdown with its zany theme days and intends to keep up the fun right through to December 1. See page 17
Central Coast residents flocked to their favourite retail outlets, hairdressers, cafes, restaurants and watering holes as the region emerged from its 15week lockdown on October 11.
Business
See page 3 CCN employees, Harry Mulholland and Lucillia Eljuga, at Hotel Gosford
Complete ‘cluster mess’ Former Central Coast Council Interim Administrator, Dick Persson, called an article critical of his work at Central Coast Council “academic wankery” during his evidence at the Public Inquiry on October 13. Mr Persson said the financial crisis that resulted in him being installed in November 2020 was “I don’t want to be crude – a cluster mess”. Under cross examination, he warned his interrogator not to treat him in a “smart-arse” way. He described suspended
Deputy Mayor Jane Smith as a fine environmental activist and said he considered himself a bit of one too. Persson published three reports when he was Interim Administrator. “Sometimes when you write a document, time passes, you look at it and you go ‘Ouch’, or whatever. Well, I’m very comfortable with every word in those documents,” Persson said. Commissioner Roslyn McCulloch said: “Although you did change your opinion about whether an inquiry was appropriate?” “No, no, I recommended an
inquiry,” Persson replied. “Ultimately, yes,” the Commissioner said. Persson said the Councillors weren’t up the job and gave special mention to suspended Councillors Greg Best and Jane Smith. “He’d been around for a long time,” Persson said of Cr Best. “Asking questions on notice was his modus operandi. “I said to him – he probably showed you the 56 motions he’d moved, or whatever. “I said, ‘Well, after the first 20 didn’t work, did you think about some other way of dealing with it, because clearly it wasn’t working, yet you claim to be
aware that there was a financial calamity?’.” He said Cr Jane Smith acted to a large extent like a mayor from the 1990s when the mayor was chief executive under the Local Government Act. “In my view – and I’ve talked to all the Executive Leadership Team and quite a number of other people – Mayor Jane Smith, who I believe has a very fine record as an environmental activist, and I consider myself a bit of one as well – she came in determined to effect changes. “She employed a person, and one of the Councillors on the Inquiry mentioned to me that
she wanted to employ a woman but, ‘If I can’t get a woman, I’m going to get a non-alpha-type male’. “She acted to a large extent like a pre-’93 mayor. “She attended ELT meetings, took over the meetings to a large extent, you know, was tough on staff directly. “Mr Murphy (former CEO Gary Murphy) didn’t intervene, in my view, from all accounts, to provide the balance that the chief executive should do under the Act between that, and I think that was sort of the beginning of when it went off the rails.” Continued page 4
Two homes in Calais Rd, Wamberal, have sold for a combined total of more than $5.5M. See page 31
Sport
The sixth event in this season’s Sail Grand Prix (SGP) has been won by the Australian team, helmed by Gosford Sailing Club Alumnus and Olympic Gold Medallist, Tom Slingsby. See page 40
Puzzles page 22
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