Luis Feliu
Tweed Shire’s official opening yesterday of its new multi-million-dollar administration building, a former university campus in downtown Tweed Heads, marks the start of a new era.
Council managers say more council meetings should now be able to be held at Tweed Heads in the new refurbished building, right next door to the existing council civic centre complex in Brett Street.
Council meetings are normally held in Murwillumbah’s main council offices, but to mark the occasion, it met in the new building last night for the first time.
The three-storey Tweed Heads building, the former home of Southern Cross University’s (SCU) Tweed Gold Coast campus, was bought by council in December 2014.
Council general manager Troy Green said council ‘now has a greater presence in the populated northern end of the shire’ with the opening of the Tweed Heads Administration building.
Mr Green officiated at yesterday’s opening, 14 years after the building’s first opening as SCU in 2002.
‘The state government’s Draft North Coast Regional Plan recently identified Tweed as a regional city – and what better way to cement that reputation than for council to have established a strong and welcoming presence for our residents, customers and visitors at our new Administration Office at Tweed Heads,’ Mr Green said.
‘Purchasing this building has allowed us to simply move “next door” and take our customer service focus from a small office in the back of a building, to a welcoming and fresh customer service centre,’ he said.
‘It also provided the added benefit of co-locating our existing Tweed Heads staffing complement into one building, while maintaining Murwillumbah as our main office.
‘In turn – and as part of the bigger Tweed Heads Civic and Cultural Centre precinct – it has provided opportunity for growth and expansion of the Cultural Centre with significant improvements planned to the Tweed Heads Library and other community spaces,’ Mr Green said.
Council bought the three-storey building from SCU when the university relocated to its new bigger, 10-storey home near the Gold Coast Airport.
Mr Green said the refurbishment of the building’s Harvard Room provided a suitable and accessible space for council and planning committee meetings, allowing for more meetings to be held at the northern end of the shire.
‘We hope to see some new faces in the public gallery when meetings are held at Tweed Heads, as more people take up the opportunity to see local decision-making in action,’ he said.
To see where and when council and planning committee meetings will be held, go to www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/CouncilMeetings
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