Council defers merger action
THE Glamorgan Spring Bay Council has again deferred asking for a local government board to review potential amalgamation options for it, after councillors said they had no information about what a merger would mean for the municipality.
Despite Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein providing the council with a letter — only shown to councillors at a workshop before the council meeting yesterday because it was thought they would leak it to the media — that said he would not sign off on any amalgamation between Glamorgan, Sorell and Tasman if there was a good enough reason, the council voted by majority to put off a decision for a second straight meeting.
Only Mayor Michael Kent voted against the motion put forward by councillor Debbie Wisby to defer the matter to later this month.
Cr Wisby said if the council said yes to a board to review mergers, it would have no final say under the Local Government Act and would be going into the process not knowing the impacts it would have on the area. “If we proceed with the recommendation, by law as a council, we don’t get the final say here,” she said. “I would like to know about the impacts it will have to make an informed decision.”
Both Deputy Mayor Cheryl Arnol and Cr Michael Fama said with Clarence — which listed as an option in the council’s ratepayer survey of potential amalgamation options — deciding to not pursue mergers more time was needed.
“My major concern is that majority result was based around the four councils,” she said.
“With Clarence off the table, would these people still favour an amalgamation of three councils?
“And we have a state election coming up and things could change ... I have grave concerns about the whole process now.”
Cr Jenny Woods said the deferral was one the of the few things the council agreed on.
“We still need to understand the ramifications this will have on the residents and ratepayers of our municipality,” she said.
The Director of Local Government Alex Tay and Local Government Board chairman Hadley Sides were at the meeting while Sorell Mayor Kerry Vincent and general manager Robert Higgins attended the workshop before it.