The Lydiard Street level crossing gates are likely to be the main talking point for the first ordinary Ballarat council meeting under the stewardship of new interim CEO Janet Dore.
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The interlocking heritage gates, which were smashed by a train in the small hours of May 30, are a late entrant onto the agenda.
A notice of motion introduced by Cr Samantha McIntosh advocates for council to adopt the same position as it did in February 1997 when it considered an application to replace the interlocking gates with boom gates.
"[Proposal to install boom gates] would significantly detract from the unique historical character of Ballarat."
- Council resolution, February 1997
The council of that day - which would have been overseen by Janet Dore during her five-year stint as City of Ballarat CEO during the 1990s - blocked an attempt to install boom gates.
Among the grounds given for the refusal to allow the application was that the proposal would "significantly detract from the unique historical character of Ballarat".
Another councillor - former V/Line communications officer Daniel Moloney - has strongly argued that the heritage gates be replaced.
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He told The Courier previously that bringing them back would be "possibly [be] sacrificing safety for nostalgia."
A leaked V/Line incident report revealed the train was travelling at 97km/hour through Ballarat station before colliding with the gate on its way to Wendouree.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the circumstances that led to the smash and will release a report once its investigation is complete.
Apart from that item, the agenda is light with only a handful of officer reports to be considered, including the city's tree-planting strategy and proposed changes to the grants policy.
Councillors will also hear about an application for the state government's Recycling Infrastructure Fund.
It will be the first ordinary council meeting to take place since Ms Dore began in her new post on June 12.
A brief special budget meeting took place last Wednesday in which councillors agreed to postpone the final adoption of the budget for the next financial year until July 8 to allow Ms Dore more time to consider it in detail.
The ordinary council meeting begin at 7pm, taking place in the council chamber in town hall.
The public will be barred from attending due to COVID-19 restrictions but the meeting will be broadcast on the council website at webcast.ballarat.vic.gov.au.
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