The next Lismore City Council meeting is tomorrow at 10am in Goonellabah, and it promises to be a controversial affair with the Richmond River Historical Society holding a peaceful protest outside council chambers at 9:30am.

The group claims that Lismore City Council has cancelled its lease for the Lismore Museum, which is currently housed in the historic Lismore Municipal Building, after agreeing to extend its lease for five years in May 2024.

On their Facebook page, the Richmond River Historical Society say they have no idea why their lease has been terminated. Although, they feel it is linked to Mayor Steve Krieg's motion to develop a property strategy.

Mayor Krieg's motion states that:

1. the General Manager be requested to develop a Property Strategy, and an implementation model to implement the findings of the Property Strategy

2. the Strategy to include options for Council office presence in the CBD

3. the Property Strategy and implementation model be brought back to Council

When asked about his proposal, Mayor Krieg said it was very simple, it was about solidifying what assets council owns.

"What's the best use for those assets, possibly divesting in some of those assets that we don't use or we don't need, which will help streamline our operations as a council moving forward."

"Again, it comes back to financial sustainability and the best use of our assets. But also we've got to look at what is best practice for us as a council. I've said it before we are the City of Lismore, not the City of Goonellabah. Is it best practice for Lismore City Council to move staff into the CBD?

"We've got some amazing heritage in Lismore, and that's where our main business district is, and still a lot of our population is in and around Lismore. So why not have a look at revising some of our history and our heritage and using some of those beautiful, grand old buildings for what they're actually designed to be used for, and that's as a council asset."

"We're definitely not making a decision one way or the other right now, but they're the sorts of things that we should be looking at. We've currently got on our books three Council buildings, the old Terrania Shire Building, the old Municipal Building and the current Council Chambers. Do we need three buildings to do the one job? And if not, where do they fit in our asset structure and our asset register?

"Do we need to start thinking about selling some of these assets? We've got to get a bit better commercially. We currently have 47 peppercorn leases scattered throughout our LGA, which is good for those community-minded organisations, but it also affects our ratepayer base as well. So, they're the sorts of things that we actually need to examine through this property strategy and work out what assets are working for us and what assets we might look at diversifying in."

One of those 47 peppercorn leases may well be the Lismore Museum. We will find out tomorrow from 10am when the Lismore City Council debate the Property Strategy at its February meeting.