Wellington Council general manager Michael Tolhurst on Wednesday night urged councillors to investigate the business principle behind building a new wash bay for trucks next to the council depot.
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Cr David Grant moved a motion for a new wash bay to be built saying it may in the future become a business for a local operator.
His thoughts were supported by Cr Anne Jones who added it might create another business driver for Wellington.
The proposed new wash bay would be constructed near the council depot for council trucks and also local stock trucks
However, Mr Tolhurst said there needed to be more consideration given before a decision could be made.
"We do need a business analysis on this. You may need to do some number crunching on this," he said.
Cr Rod Buhr shared his concern.
"In the longer term this could be an albatross round the council's neck," he said.
Under the proposal the bay at the Wellington Sale Yards area will close, with a report to council said it was no longer obliged to provide a wash down service.
"The National Farm Biosecurity Guidelines for Grazing Stock Production indicate that in order to prevent transmission of disease vehicles should be cleaned when moving from one area to another," the report stated.
"It is therefore important that wash down facilities be provided by others elsewhere other than the sale yards to address these concerns.
"Preliminary advice from the Environment Protection Authority indicates that the wash bay does not meet appropriate standards in relation to grease/oil traps and bunding and therefore should not be operational.
"It is not recommended that council continue to provide such services as this could be seen as being encouraging users to disregard the biodiversity guidelines."
