Resident thrown out of council meeting for asking too many questions about hall

Retired architect Jim Dickenson attended the final City of Launceston council meeting and sought answers on the Albert Hall renewal project.

This was announced in 2019 and has been beset by issues including a lack of tenders, supply and labour constraints, and a budget shortfall the council attributes to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Dickenson asked if there was a "big secret" around the completion date as it was not in the agreement with contractors Shape Australia.

Acting chief executive officer Shane Eberhardt said the overall project would be finished by the end of 2024, however there were multiple stages to the project, not all of which were contracted to Shape Australia.

Mr Dickenson then asked if workers from Shape Australia were on-site, which Cr Garwood said counted as his second question, despite Mr Dickenson's objections.

Legislation says at least 15 minutes must be set aside at meetings for public question time, however councils can set further policies.

The City of Launceston council has an additional policy that allows the public to ask a maximum of three questions, and questions with multiple parts are classed as separate questions.

The council policy and legislation both say questions and answers are not to be debated.

Mr Eberhardt said contractors were on-site, leading Mr Dickenson to ask what they were doing.

Cr Garwood said the council did not have specific information, but said the contractors were "working through the project they had been employed to do", and told Mr Dickenson he had asked his three questions.

Mr Dickenson said he had received "four or five" different answers about the project from multiple people over its duration, and asked if a project manager had been appointed.

The acting chief executive said an external project manager had been appointed from the beginning.

The mayor asked Mr Dickenson to sit down as he had exhausted his allocated time, however the retired architect asked for more time - something the mayor said was not an option as they had already been lenient.

The pair attempted to speak over one another, before the mayor gave his final warning.

"Mr. Dickenson, I will have to give you a warning that if you do continue, I will have to have you removed," Cr Garwood said.

Mr Dickenson attempted to speak again, prompting the mayor to ask council officers to remove the resident from the chamber.

As he left Mr Dickenson urged urged councillors to read the answers he had received to a question on notice, also tabled at the meeting, which he said were "total rubbish".