Club sheds new light on saga

By Rebecca Fraser
A JUNIOR sports club is shaping to buy the floodlights that were the centre of a controversy involving Casey’s deputy mayor earlier this year.
The Narre South Lions Junior Football Club (NSLJFC) are taking steps to purchase the lights from small business owner Ron Bell after they received a minor capital works grant of $21,000 in the recent Casey Council budget.
The club will fund the rest of the lighting bill themselves.
Last April, Cr Rob Wilson ordered the floodlights from Mr Bell of DBE Floodlighting, after he sent an email asking him to proceed with the order for the installation of the four towers for Strathaird Reserve in Narre Warren South. Cr Wilson was acting on behalf of the Maranatha Methodist Cricket Club for which he was former secretary, but sent the email from his council email address and identified himself as the council’s deputy mayor.
Mr Bell is still waiting for the account to be settled and has previously sent a letter to Cr Wilson’s home address threatening to take legal action if the bill was not paid.
NSLJFC president John Rich said this week that deciding to purchase the lights from Mr Bell certainly had nothing to do with issues surrounding Cr Wilson.
He said the lights had been specifically designed for their home reserve, and were already made, hence the club would be able to have them installed quickly.
Mr Rich said they would probably be able to buy the floodlights at last year’s price, which would also benefit the club.
“The fact is that we got the grant and there was an opportunity to have the lights for the kids and that is what it is all about,” Mr Rich said.
“The lights will be of huge benefit to us and a huge asset.”
When the News contacted Cr Wilson this week he said he was aware that the NSLJFC had received a minor capital works grant but was not aware they were using these funds to purchase the lights from Mr Bell.
Mr Bell this week said he had been contacted by NSLJFC in regards to purchasing the lights, but final costing and a price was yet to be determined or finalised.
Earlier this year, a council committee determined that Cr Wilson had an undeclared conflict of interest last December when he voted on a funding application put forward by the NSLJFC to help pay for flood lights.The matter has since been referred to Local Government Victoria, which yesterday confirmed that the matter was still under investigation.
As previously reported in the News, the (NSLJFC) lodged the complaint after a council meeting at which Cr Wilson successfully moved that an application for government grants be discussed in camera. During the in-camera session, the club’s light tower application was removed from the list of grant applications.