The shire council has voted to approve the construction of a toilet block and wastewater dump point at the Eddie Woods Memorial Park truck stop on Throssell Street.
The council voted to award the contract to Modus Australia to design and construct the facility at the council meeting on January 23.
Debate between the councillors centred on whether the the facility should include shower facilities and whether there would be a cost involved for users of the facility.
Councillor Joe Italiano said including the shower facilities was important for Collie in becoming an RV-friendly town, however other councillors claimed that maintenance and cleaning of the shower facility would be too costly.
There was also discussion about whether there would a cost involved for anyone wishing to use the facilities.
Shire chief executive officer David Blurton said that the tender didn’t include any payment systems, such as coin-operated or swipe-card systems, and that the shire would look into whether the facilities should be provided free of charge.
Ultimately, the shire approved the tender contract with the shower facilities included, however it didn’t include the connection of the facility to a wastewater system, which will be the responsibility of the shire.
The shire’s Director of Development Services Andrew Dover said there were issues with connecting the wastewater and that no potential tender applicants were willing to do it.
The shire has previously received $75,000 for the project and will have to fund the remaining $74,131 through a loan.
