General News
25 September, 2024
Rodeo leaders must go, says Mount Isa deputy mayor
Kim Coghlan says the city can't afford to wait until Christmas for a decision to be made about the 2025 rodeo.
Heads must roll, says Mount Isa deputy mayor Kim Coghlan, who believes that Isa Rodeo Ltd CEO Natalie Flecker and chair Rowena McNally must resign from their posts – or get sacked – after what she says has been a steady decline of the city’s major event.
“It needs a clean sweep,” Cr Coghlan told North West Weekly.
“They need to go; they need to stand down.
“I think you will get people to come in and take over because a lot of people care about the rodeo.”
The deputy mayor, who was born and raised in Mount Isa and has barely missed the annual rodeo – although has volunteered at more than she’d like to count – said she was furious that Isa Rodeo Ltd was making the city wait for a decision on next year’s event.
“We can’t give them until Christmas (to make the call),” Cr Coghlan said, referring to the comments made by Ms McNally on ABC North West, where she said the board would make a decision by the end of the year regarding the 2025 rodeo.
“We need to know by October, mid-October at the latest, because if they decide not to go around next year it will take a lot of work to get things going.”
Cr Coghlan said many of the rodeo’s issues could be pinpointed back to a period between 2016 and 2018 when there was an eventual split from Rotary after tensions emerged between some members of the board, long-time Rotarians, and Ms Flecker.
“It hasn’t just been one bad event or one bad year,” Cr Coghlan said of Isa Rodeo Ltd’s financial demise.
“It has been a slow and steady decline.”
Not long after the 2018 event, which was the first rodeo without Rotary branding, it was announced that Ms Flecker was relocating to Brisbane, where she would stay on as the CEO.
Cr Coghlan, who was not on the council at the time, was one of the most outspoken at the decision.
“What an absolute disgrace,” she said at the time.
“Our community fights fly-in, fly-out on a daily basis and now we have the running of our most iconic event supporting FIFO.”
Six years later and Cr Coghlan said it was a move that had failed.
“Just about every bloody person on that board lives outside of Mount Isa,” she said.
“How can you hold a major event, which relies on so many volunteers to run, with the CEO and all of the staff living in Brisbane?
“Mount Isa still loves the rodeo but the people are not happy with how it’s been run.”
The deputy mayor said while the city needed tourists to make the trip for the annual rodeo, she said the reason it was such a popular event was because the locals created an electric atmosphere.
“This year, the locals couldn’t afford to go, even if they wanted to,” she said, noting that ticket prices were $99 for an adult on Friday and Saturday night.
“It’s become a corporate event.
“That’s not what the Mount Isa Rodeo is about. The rodeo is about locals and families going out and enjoying themselves.
“I know this year that families couldn’t afford to go. It was just too expensive for them.”
While Sunday ticket prices were lower at $79 for an adult and kids were allowed in for free after a last-minute sponsorship deal with Glencore Mount Isa Mines, Cr Coghlan said all of the major rodeo events were now held on Saturday night.
“They have just lost sight of what made the Mount Isa Rodeo a great event with so many changes,” she said.
“If they lived locally and listened to locals they wouldn’t have made those changes.”
Cr Coghlan said the death of several key events, including the Rodeo Queen Quest, Mardi Gras and Rodeo Ball, had all occurred under Ms Flecker’s reign.
Isa Rodeo Ltd rebranded the Queen Quest to Community Quest and for the last two years has been unable to attract people willing to put their hand up to nominate.
“I think it’s a real shame; my daughter (Phoebe Ryder) was the last one to be crowned as the Rodeo Queen, although they started calling it the Community Quest that year,” Cr Coghlan said.
“I think the people who are running the rodeo are forgetting what made it a great community event.
“All we have to do is get new leaders in and we’ll see people return to the rodeo.
“If the ticket prices are affordable and the board and CEO are living locally, the community will get behind the rodeo again.”
Isa Rodeo Ltd has not provided an update to North West Weekly on its position since last week’s edition, where it was revealed that creditors were owed significant amounts of money.
In an interview with ABC North West, Ms McNally said it would know its exact financial position by the end of this month.