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Skewered survey denies
residents informed choice
The Hills Shire Council has tried
to pull the wool over local resident’s
eyes regarding their attempts to
influence an amalgamation survey
by directly attacking Hawkesbury
Council’s General Manager in what
seems to be a diversionary tactic.
The Mayor of Hawkesbury,
Councillor Kim Ford said that
The Hills Shire Council had not
presented the NSW Independent
Local Government Review Panel’s
preferred Option of ‘No Change’
to the boundaries of the Hills Shire
Council as one of the options in their
recently released amalgamation
survey.
This effectively denies all those
that complete the survey the ability
to vote on what is the preferred
option of Review Panel.
“The skewed survey denies
residents informed choice,” said the
Mayor of Hawkesbury.
The Panel clearly states that the
preferred option for Hawkesbury
City Council is that there is ‘No
Change’ to its boundaries.
In addition, The Hills have come
up with an option that doesn’t
form the basis of any of the
recommendations of the Panel and
are touting this as their preferred
option.
For the Hawkesbury this involves
The Hills taking over all the area
north of Windsor Road and east
of South Creek or the Hawkesbury
River, which would effectively leave
Hawkesbury unviable as a local
government area.
Hawkesbury City Council
considered the NSW Independent
Review Panel’s report on 30
September 2014 and resolved:
‘Having regard to the
recommendations of the
Independent Local Government
Review Panel and the “scale and
capacity” aspects of the “Fit For
the Future” package released by
the NSW Government, Council not
support nor entertain any proposals
for the adjustment of the Council’s
boundaries as reportedly being
proposed by The Hills Shire Council
or the merger of the Council w any
ith
adjoining council area.’
“This resolution was
communicated to Mayor of
The Hills by me and also by the
General Manager to The Hills
General Manager in separate
correspondence,” said Councillor
Ford.
“It is not appropriate to attack
the General Manager of Hawkesbury
indicating that he is opposing
reform when in fact all he has
done is rightly inform The Hills of
Council’s decision.”
“The Mayor of The Hills should be
well aware of the processes of local
government and that the General
Manager does not make decisions in
this regard.”
Councils have been asked
by IPART to prepare their Fit
for the Future submissions on
the recommendations of the
Panel which The Hills seem to
have ignored. They also seem to
have ignored the guidelines for
community consultation issued by
the Office of Local Government,
particularly how to conduct a
balanced and valid community
survey.
The Hills have also criticised
Hawkesbury Council’s financial
position.
“T Corp has assessed
Hawkesbury Council’s financial
position as Moderate and its
External Auditor has indicated that
Council is in a ‘sound and stable
financial position.”
“Our level of outstanding debt as
at June 2014 was $6.8 million which
is well within benchmarks.”
“The debt is made up of a
subsidised loan under the Local
Government Infrastructure Renewals
Scheme for a bridge replacement
program and a NSW Treasury
interest free loan for sewerage
infrastructure.”
“ I consider this very financially
responsible,” explained the Mayor.
“It will be up to IPART, not The
Hills Shire Council to assess Council’s
financial position and whether it is a
Fit for the Future Council,” he added.
“Council will continue to put
its energies into preparing its Fit
for the Future submission and
work on furthering the recently
formed strategic alliance between
the Blue Mountains and Penrith
City Councils rather than be
diverted by the actions of empire
builders,” concluded the Mayor of
Hawkesbury.
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www.environment.gov.au/land/
green-army.
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