Jumpers and Jazz – the next big festival – is gearing up. Council has changed its grant funding policy to “depoliticise” it. And yet there still is no clarity on what happened with the Apple & Grape Harvest Festival funding fiasco as per the funding contract.
Did it, as the Apple & Grape committee claim, contain insurmountable changes in conditions from two years previous or did it, as Council has claimed, contain no substantive differences? Either way, it appears to be a political football game where no one is winning.
Were negotiations attempted? Did anyone act in bad faith?
We decided to find out. And the mystery deepens.
The Town & Country Journal put in a Right to Information request in February with the expectation that material would be made available on 7 April. The documents will shed light on the proposed funding agreement that was refused by A&G.
Council’s Governance Officer told the Town & Country Journal this week that they “require a further specified period of fourteen business days to process your application”, bringing the date to 27 April.
When we asked for explanation, a council spokesperson told us that “council can ask the applicant for extra time if more work is needed to process and RTI request”.
Given that the entire episode has been actively in the media for the past two months, it is reasonable to assume that the contracts and associated material are on hand and not archived.
A pointed comment closed the council spokesperson’s response to the paper:
“…there is no set limit on how often or how long extra time can be requested.”
The Town & Country awaits the upcoming 27 April deadline with council’s caveat in clear focus.
