Waverley Cemetery proposal dies in council

By Kayla Canne

Waverley’s Liberal councillors voted down a motion requesting an investigation into generating revenue from the Caretaker’s Cottage at Waverley Cemetery at their last council meeting.

The cemetery has recently gained a lot of attention after council received reports highlighting the financial distress and instability along the cliff- face of the site.

Labor Councillor Paula Masselos asked council for an investigation into the use of the Caretaker’s Cottage, a building on the cemetery site that, until two years ago, was held under a residential lease. Since then the building has been used as a meeting place for cemetery staff and potential clients.

Clr Masselos said she saw the building as an “under-utilised” resource that could possibly generate more revenue for the preservation of cemetery grounds if repurposed successfully. Her motion comes after reports of potential plans to build a pavillion in the lower gully as a way to increase income at the site.

“What I wanted to do was look at that existing resource and investigate how we might be able to use it in a way that means we may not actually need such an expensive building down at the other gully in the cemetery,” Clr Masselos said.

“Why not investigate what we’ve got first? … Money that would potentially go to build a pavillion could be used for better things for the community directly that will benefit the residents of Waverley.”

When council denied her motion seven to four, Clr Masselos said she was “astounded.”

“I think they were short-sighted and I think it’s just about them voting down a motion just because they can. Here was an opportunity for council to be acting in a bipartisan approach for something that makes sense in the scope of management resources and in our budget, and they chose not to,” she said.

“It certainly doesn’t make sense to me, and I don’t think it makes sense to the community either.”

Former council director Dr Bronwyn Kelly has also developed her own proposal to enhance cemetery funds. She said she disagreed with Clr Masselos’ motion and rejected the accusation that the Caretaker’s Cottage is under-utilised.

Dr Kelly said that under the previous residential lease, the cottage only generated $35,000 a year in revenue.

Since the cottage has been repurposed as extra office space, cemetery staff have been able to create a private and comfortable setting for their clients — something they lacked when working out of the small and crowded main office in previous years.

Dr Kelly said each sale made inside the cottage generated around $50,000, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue every year. She said the cottage acted as a more valuable asset to the cemetery when used for this purpose.

“I would suggest that the real reason that [Clr Masselos] moved that is because she’s focusing on the minute way rather than on a holistic solution, and that’s what [the cemetery] needs. It’s time for a holistic solution and I think the majority of councillors would agree with that, which is why they voted it down,” Dr Kelly said.