Professor Drew’s three subject recommendations are set to be further considered at council’s next monthly meeting, on May 28, in Urana – the area being the focus of the further consideration.
It is where Cr David Fahey OAM is expected to talk to his intending Notice of Motion for a process to ensure adequate councillor representation in the northern part of Federation Council.
The three items Tier 1 recommendations in an updated report ‘Advantages and Disadvantages of Amalgamation and Federation Council’s Financial Sustainability Journey - Independent Peer Reviewed Business Case Study of Federation Council - University of Newcastle/Professor Joseph Drew (short name - Independent Review’) are, as written by Professor Drew, with Adrian Butler, General Manager Federation Council’s recommendation to councillors in bold print, as follows:
- No. 19 As an entirely separate matter, council should write to the minister to request a minor boundary review to look at economic spillovers and other inefficiencies associated with the current boundaries. In any such process, it will be important to put measures in place to ensure that political voice is preserved. Considered an unnecessary distraction (cost/benefit) with limited staff resources, and this would be a significant task. Not adopt.
- No. 31 Steps should be taken to increase the number of councillors to twelve – either with the help of the minister or through the extant process (referendum). A matter for councillors. Council to further consider.
- No. 32 More broadly, continued profound political disenfranchisement cannot be allowed to go unchecked – apart from any other concern, it is inconsistent with the intent of s 263(3) of the Act (1993, NSW) and could therefore be seen as potentially unlawful and it might ultimately represent a risk to the sustainability of Federation Council (the establishment of a tiered system, as per the report, is also something that warrants further investigation). Accordingly, we suggest that council makes further investigations around the potential for a tiered system of local government to mitigate disenfranchisement and also improve efficiency. We are willing to assist council in this endeavour with advice and help as appropriate (pro bono at the initial investigation phase). Once council has completed its investigations, we suggest that they consider writing to both the Minister for Local Government and Premier to garner political support for what might prove quite an elegant solution to a very pressing problem. Council to further consider.
Mr Butler’s report for council’s April meeting included tabling all the 77 recommendations in the professor’s report: Tier 1 - 40 recommendations, Tier 2 – seven recommendations, Tier 3 - 20 recommendations Special Rate Variation (SV) - 10 recommendations (Note IPART now refer to SRVs as SVs). Regarding the 10 SV specific ones, council is advancing the project already and so the passage of time has meant that some of these have been effectively adopted such as the management model for the Corowa Aquatic Centre.
Mr Butler said given the scale of the recommendations and their importance, council has workshopped the report and recommendations several times, and at the last workshop, again due to the scale of the recommendations, agreed to receive a report to formally consider the Tier 1 recommendations at the latest meeting on April 30.
Council then intends to receive further reports at the coming meetings to consider the Tier 2 and Tier 3 recommendations.
“Council have been adamant from the outset that whilst this report is Independent, it did not wish to keep the recommendations from the public, and the full transparency of this process will continue with respect to the status updates,” the General Manager said.
“This is however whilst bearing in mind there is a required delineation between what is a council/councillor role, in strategic matters, and what areas are required to be staff/operational matters as per the Local Government Act. Some of the recommendations either in whole or part, mainly around staffing matters, are operational but will be actioned if endorsed by council, with appropriate updates still reported to council where relevant/where staff are able to.
“On final adoption of the recommendations, council may receive further reports on specific ones, considering some of the recommendations rely on others, and some others may not be actioned for example, recommendation 32, if others were successful (for example recommendation 31).”
Federation Council was established in 2016 with the amalgamation of the Corowa and Urana Shires, with Howlong coming into 1955-established, unsubdivided since 1983, Corowa Shire in 2004. Federation Council is an unsubdivided shire.
Of the nine-councillor Federation Council, the northern area has two councillors – the Mayor, Pat Bourke (Urana) since council’s formation, and Cr Fahey (Morundah).
Robust discussion
Robust discussion occurred last week in council. Referring to Items 31 and 32, Cr Fahey said the people of the former Urana Shire are desperate to know if they are going to have future representation.
“We’ve spent $150,000 on a fully independent report and it shows we are not. I don’t think having twelve councillors will alleviate the issue. Personally I don’t want to go ahead with that at all….and I’ll be moving a Notice of Motion for the next council meeting,” he said.
Cr Fahey slammed the idea of Item 32, describing the idea as “a Claytons with no teeth, an advisory board and another layer of bureaucracy”.
Regarding today’s situation, Cr Fahey said councillors, directors and staff “have been working our guts out to make it happen”, “to try and get through this” to correct wrongs of yesteryear; mentioning Professor Drew’s statement amalgamation of Urana and Corowa should not have gone ahead.
On the amalgamation process leading to 2016, the State Government said it was all going to be “fantastic” with money being dangled to councils willing to merge according to Cr Fahey.
“Eighty-eight per cent of residents from Morundah didn’t want and 70 per cent of Corowa residents didn’t want to merge. Professor Drew disagreed with it, (the amalgamation)” he said.
Instead of a seemingly needed $20 million by the former Corowa Shire, it’s more likely they needed $200 million Cr Fahey said.
“We’re doing all the hard work. These SRVs should had been done 20 years ago.”
Cr Fahey said Professor Drew’s report is important and does not consider recommendations 31 and 32 relevant at this stage. Perturbed at what he has heard outside of the council chamber, about “booting out” Morundah and Boree Creek from Federation shire, Cr Fahey hit back strongly.
That strong response included: “You talk about boundary change, if you don’t want Morundah and Boree Creek, you can’t just have them out – it’s all or nothing. If you want that approach, put us back as Urana Shire.”
Cr Rowena Black said she “absolutely agrees with Cr Fahey that Federation Council has been presented with something “not easily turned around and existing resources have been working hard to have the combined council area working well”.
“I do believe we need to see what’s best for Morundah and Boree Creek,” she said, adding if it’s their desire of being affiliated with other towns other than Urana and Corowa; if Morundah and Boree Creek remained part of Federation Council, Cr Black would “absolutely embrace them”.
Cr Aaron Nicholls emphasised the economies of Morundah and Boree Creek require careful consideration. He sought comment from Howlong-based Cr David Longley about any move back Albury way local government-wise. “I don’t see any benefit for Howlong moving…to jump ship,” Cr Longley said.
Cr Gail Law said it was most important all of Federation Council area is represented on council. Although she will be retiring from council in September, Cr Law said she would be supporting whoever stands for council in the northern part of the shire.
Mayor Pat Bourke said he does not believe the Morundah and Boree Creek communities cost Federation Council “a helluva lot of money”, saying maintenance is probably once a month both communities.
“They have a connection with Urana. They’re volunteers, real go-getters. I’m so proud and happy to have them part of Federation Council. I’d hate to see them ever leave.”
Deputy mayor Shaun Whitechurch said previous administrations made decisions as to what they considered the best at the time, saying the money situation today is what it is and calls for SRVs.
In respect of Professor Drew’s recommendation (No 19) for council to request a minor boundary review, Mr Butler’s opinion is, if agreed to by the State Government, it would not be a minor review.
“It would be almost another amalgamation process, involve a massive amount of work, community involvement,” he said.
“It’s the last thing council needs at this stage to go forward.”
