Residents have been told by council to seek independent legal advice or seek further information through their own insurer following the lime dust incident in Eden which affected a number of vehicles.
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Vehicles were affected during roadworks undertaken by Stabilco for council, on June 10 in Mitchell Street and Calle Calle Street on June 11 and 12. Vehicles were covered in lime dust which residents said was hard to remove and has had a corrosive effect on their cars.
But council has washed its hands of responsibility saying it would not be accepting liability for any negative impacts "given that council engaged an expert third party contractor to carry out the roadworks on behalf of the community".
Cr Robyn Bain has been liaising with affected residents and has asked council for a report requesting that it include considerations of how council could support the Eden residents.
Residents have said they received mixed messages from council when they first approached staff about the lime dust.
One Eden resident, who did not want to be named, said that initially she was told by a council staff member to get any cars professionally cleaned and send the bill to council. Later, after getting the three cars affected in her household professionally cleaned, she was told council would not pay.
"We noticed on June 11 and we took one of the cars to the Merimbula car wash but the dust was still stuck on. I spoke to one of the workmen. We thought it was dust but he said it was lime and suggested we get in contact with council," the resident said.
"When we spoke to council we were told King Bros would professionally clean the cars. At this stage we were completely unaware of the size of the problem; that's when we found out other vehicles were involved. It would cost around $500 and we were told to send the invoice to council," the resident said.
The resident took the three cars to be cleaned, and sent the invoice along with before and after photos to council.
That same afternoon she said she received a response from JLT Risk Solutions who told her that the roadworks had been carried out by an independent contractor on behalf of council and that the damage to her property was not due to any negligence on council's part.
"You can still see the evidence and feel a slightly rough surface on the cars. The duco's got a fine gritty feel even after professional cleaning," the resident said.
Friends told her to try a 50/50 per cent solution of water and vinegar which she used on the windscreen and said it cleared enough to allow them to drive the car.
"We've been told other people have approached the contractor but had no response," she said.
"If someone had knocked on our door, we could have moved our cars but there was no notification," she said.
Council said that staff were contacted by members of the public while the works were in progress but were unaware of the extent of the issue. Council said it offered a limited cleaning service provided by a contractor to residents who raised concerns early about lime dust that had settled on their property.
"Over the following weeks council received a number of claims from the public which were passed on to our insurer for management, a standard process," council said.
"Given that council engaged an expert third party contractor to carry out the roadworks on behalf of the community, we will not be accepting liability for any negative impacts.
"Although we empathise with the community and the impacts on them our advice to residents has been to seek further information through their own insurance company or seek independent legal advice. We have also provided the contact details of the contractor to interested residents so that their own insurance company can act on their behalf.
"The extent of the damage is unknown by council and on July 30, 2020, council advised the road works contractor that they should work with their insurer in the best interests of the Eden community," council said.
"Residents who accepted the offer of help council extended through the professional cleaning service are not restricted in any future action to seek compensation through their insurance company. The Deed of Release signed as part of the cleaning work is limited to the cleaning work and not the impacts of the lime dust cloud," council said.
A further report will be presented to council dependent on advice from council's insurers.