ALBURY councillors will be involved in a major makeover of QEII Square from the outset if Cr Murray King secures the necessary support from colleagues on Monday night.
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Master-planning of the area incorporating council-owned facilities including the entertainment centre, LibraryMuseum, Murray Art Museum Albury and youth cafe shapes as one of the most important tasks before next year's council elections.
St Matthew's Anglican Church and Belbridge Hague legal firm back onto QEII Square and will be involved in "stakeholder engagement" commencing shortly to shape the final master-plan review expected to be adopted by council early next year.
Cr King has submitted a notice of motion to Monday night's council meeting seeking two councillors be involved from the start rather than just council staff.
"What I've noticed is we seem to get reports and recommendations way into an idea," he said.
"There is a lot of council staff talking to consultants and council staff putting their ideas forward.
"We then get it when about 30 per cent of the work is done and it's a bit hard to change.
"I would like councillors in on the ground floor when things start."
Councillors were presented with an overview of the master plan review last month and council chief executive Frank Zaknich confirmed there would be two briefing sessions for councillors planned where they could have input.
Up to 20 "stakeholders" have been identified and consultation sessions will be a mix of one-on-one meetings, small group gatherings and online platforms.
Cr King said his personal view was the entertainment centre and adjoining theatre should be demolished and rebuilt with state and federal funding support and that QEII Square wasn't a suitable long-term home of the Uiver.
The council is spending $500,000 replacing the theatre roof and has a $18.5 million plan to expand the entertainment centre convention wing.
"We are going to spend $500,000 patching up the roof of the theatre," Cr King said.
"But if we can get an extra two, three, four, five million (dollars) from government allocations aren't we better off just razing the whole thing, build a car park underneath so people can actually park when they go there, create some commercial shops on the first floor and really boost that area up?"
Cr King said he didn't want the Uiver in QEII Square.
"It's a replica," he said.
"It has got some great history, but it was one event on one day."
