The agenda for Tuesday's ordinary meeting says the council should undertake a feasibility study and make further reviews before deciding if it should be involved with purchasing the facility.
The council previously met with the Federal Government and Murchison community, where it was proposed that it could become a potential saviour for the facility which officially closed in 2020.
Despite the Murchison community and Federal Member for Nicholls Damian Drum urging the council to proceed, the agenda reveals there are concerns surrounding what roles and responsibilities council can assume.
Overall the agenda makes it clear that if the council is to proceed with purchasing the facility, if problems arise council must be in the position to take on as little burden as possible.
“Whilst officers acknowledge that residential aged care is an essential and important community service, there are many other residential aged care providers and private buyers who may be better suited and positioned to purchase and/or operate the facility that are not bound by the same limitations and conditions of local government.”
The summary said that information requested by the executives from the deputy Prime Minister's office remained outstanding and it was awaiting a response.
“Based on this preliminary due diligence there are many outstanding issues to be resolved before council could make a meaningful decision,” the agenda said.
The agenda said the council would be effectively reimbursed for purchase of the facility through the Federal Government's Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Funding Program. This also includes immediate infrastructure and maintenance needs.
The agenda said a figure of $700,000 was floated but nothing official had been confirmed, while infrastructure improvements could cost about $300,000 with an official figure still to be confirmed.
The agenda also said that the council would then hand the operational side of the facility to Honeysuckle Health, which is Bendigo-based but also runs the aged care facility in Violet Town.
Since the DP Jones facility shut, it has remained in the hands of liquidators.
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