I NOTE with interest that our state member, Paul Toole, as Minister for Local Government, has issued a second Performance Improvement Notice to Oberon Council. This notice relates to the fact that council contravened the Local Government Act in relation to the reappointment of its acting general manager for a further term of office.
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The first Performance Improvement Notice related to late lodgement of council’s financial reports.
No council should contravene the Local Government Act, but such procedural indiscretions would have been handled discreetly, in the good old days, by the administrators in the Local Government Department.
I’m absolutely certain that every single council has inadvertently breached a rule of the Local Government Act at some time or other in the past. I’m also absolutely certain that in its 110 years of successful governing Oberon Council would have incurred other relatively minor breaches of the Local Government Act and these would have been resolved under consultation with the Local Government Office with no fanfare and no fuss.
I must be a cynic, but I see that there appears to be a pattern appearing here.
Is the Minister for Local Government trying to drive a wedge between council and Oberon citizens, making the council look incompetent and incapable of governing for its community, so that it should be amalgamated with a larger council that can provide a better service to us?
If one reads the local press this is certainly the impression given, but wise minds will realise that there are two sides to any story.
The 90 per cent or so of Oberon citizens who opposed any amalgamation from the beginning will very quickly see through this tawdry exercise.
One should also read the Facebook pages of our local Anti-Amalgamation Committee “Anti Amalgamation Oberon” and the broader “Save Our Councils” to gain a better picture on council amalgamations throughout NSW.
Oberon community owes a very large debt of gratitude to our Anti Amalgamation Committee headed up by Marj Armstrong and we all need to stand steadfastly behind them.