WAKOOL Shire councillors have condemned a state government attempt to merge the council with Murray Shire at an extraordinary meeting this week.
The council convened the special meeting at the shire’s Moulamein offices last Tuesday after discovering the state government intended it to merge with neighboring Murray Shire in its Fit for the Future (FFTF) proposal the week before.
In an email sent by the Office of Local Government, the council found out it was likely to go into administration in May so the government could prepare it for the merger, despite it still needing to receive approval from the Boundaries Commission.
The email suggested councils should not conduct any by-elections before then, as it would be a fruitless exercise once councils were under administration and then re-organised by May 2017.
Wakool Shire Council had previously sought to conduct by-elections in February to fill the positions of outgoing councillors Anthony Jackson and Colin Membrey, who resigned earlier this month.
At the extraordinary meeting, councillors opted to pursue legal advice to determine their options, as well as continue on with the February by-elections.
Deputy Mayor Ann Crowe said she was angry with the proposal, saying it flew in the face of the whole point of the FFTF process.
Under the FFTF consultation period, Wakool Shire was declared fit to stand alone as a rural council by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), while the council categorically voted against a merger with Murray Shire in its October business meeting.
“This whole process has seemed to be a waste of money, staff and resources,” she said.
“I would’ve given a lot more consideration to other options if I’d known we would’ve been told we had to merge anyway.”
Councillor Katarni Lipp, Moulamein’s representative, said it looked as if the state government went through the FFTF process to keep up appearances, but had its mind made up already on council mergers.
“Towns such as Wakool and Moulamein would just disappear [under this proposal],” she said.
“It’s hard as it is to get things done for small communities with the size of the shire now.”
The council also resolved at the meeting to conduct information meetings in communities across the shire in the new year.
