Ratepayers will be notified, but not asked for feedback, about a merger between Maitland City Council and Dungog Shire Council if a forthcoming business case deems it the best option.
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Maitland councillors voted on Tuesday night to enlist the help of an agency from the NSW Office of Local Government to help prepare a business case to determine the costs, benefits and risks of a possible amalgamation between the councils.
The councils are investigating the move as part of the state government’s Fit For The Future reforms.
Maitland council general manager David Evans said on Tuesday night that the business case would be the next step in a process that councils across the state were going through.
He said it did not lock Maitland into a merger with Dungog.
When Cr Steve Procter asked Mr Evans when council would likely conduct public consultation if a merger was deemed viable, the general manager said the community would be notified of the decision and not asked for feedback on the issue.
Mr Evans said community consultation about possibilities such as council mergers had taken place over the past three to four years, since the Independent Local Government Review Panel began to consider possible reforms for the sector.
“If councils decide to merge there is notification, we are not going to the community to ask whether they are in favour,” he said.
But Cr Procter said he would strongly advocate for community consultation if the business case found a merger to be the best option.
“I truly believe this may be one of the biggest decisions council will make,” he said.
Mr Evans said councillors should accept their responsibilities as leaders of the city and leave emotion out of the decision-making process.
He said community consultation was likely to get an emotional response from the public.
“Preparation of the business case is an essential step for us because we need the facts,” Mr Evans said.
“The merger business case will tell us whether or not we need to go in a different direction.
“Let’s keep a cool head.”