Richmond Valley Council has voted unanimously to lease the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange (NRLX) in Casino.
Key points:
- Casino agents will continue selling cattle through the Lismore Saleyards for the foreseeable future
- Auctioneers say they want a “decent negotiation” with the council over the arrangement
- The council says residents want it to get on with fixing roads and recovering from the floods
The decision follows an ongoing dispute between the council and the Casino Auctioneers Association over new selling agreements.
The council has approved an open market tender process for a long-term lease of the facility.
Mayor Robert Mustow told the council meeting that the last 12 weeks had been divisive and distressing for the community.
He said he had been approached by residents and councillors who told him what the community wanted.
“They want our town to be respected again and they want our council to get on with the business of leading flood recovery, fixing our roads and solving the housing crisis, rather than becoming embroiled in bitter disputes over who pays what at the cattle saleyards,” Cr Mustow said.
General manager Vaughan Macdonald said the council had drawn a line in the sand.
“It’s a great facility — we need to move forward and leasing takes that control away from political interference,” he said.
“So we’ll put that out to the market and any entities, including the current agents if they want to put a bid together.”
He said the tender applicants would be independently assessed and that the lease term could last from five to 30 years.
“We will get commercial advice on the best lease structure to make sure that we get the best value for money for Richmond Valley ratepayers and the stakeholders who would use this facility,” Mr Macdonald said.
The council also voted to explore avenues to re-establish sales at the facility.
“We’re open to the conversations with the local agencies, we’ve also got a couple of other interested agencies and we’re having negotiations with them,” he said.
Auctioneers concerned
Casino Auctioneers Association president Mr Andrew Summerville said agents still had no intentions to sign the selling agreements until a “decent negotiation” process had been undertaken.
He said all such discussions had to involve the entire council and be properly recorded.
Mr Summerville said “the fear” was that the NRLX could end up in the hands of someone only interested in profit, which could negatively impact the community.
But he said agents were not “totally against” the decision to lease the facility.
Mr Summerville said agents had resolved to accept the 0.2 per cent yard usage fee, but council controlling the delivery of stock was non-negotiable.
He acknowledged that the successful bidder for the tender could also take away control of delivery of stock from agents.
“I believe that agents would definitely try to apply to lease the facility and I believe that could be a very good outcome,” Mr Summerville said.
He said councillors should not be allowed to make decisions about arrangements that could be in place for decades.
“I think before any decisions are made on NRLX, those councillors should stand election again, or if any decisions are made on NRL X, those councillors should only be able to make decisions to their election date,” Mr Summerville said.
