OBERON Council has agreed to join its counterparts from around the Central West in a new combined organisation.
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But councillors have been warned that while it will be easy to join, it won’t be so easy to leave.
A recommendation was carried at Oberon Council's most recent ordinary meeting that council agree to join the Joint Organisation (JO) to be established to cover an area taking in much of the Central Tablelands and Central West.
The NSW Government – which tried unsuccessfully to force Oberon into a merger with Bathurst Regional Council before there was a change of premier and deputy premier – says the JOs are a key component of its local government reform process.
It says JOs will establish regional priorities and strategies and plans to achieve them, provide regional leadership to advocate for regional priorities and change the way in which the NSW Government and local government collaborates.
JOs will also be able to tender, employ staff and apply for grants.
Centroc – a voluntary regional collaboration of councils that includes Oberon – has been selected as one of five pilot JOs.
Oberon Council general manager Gary Wallace's report to council said Centroc’s status was as a committee of Forbes Shire Council and the Centroc board had been concerned that this structure unfairly burdened Forbes.
He said the Centroc board said the JO legislation would address this problem.
The NSW Government has passed legislation for the formal creation of JOs, allowing councils in regional NSW to voluntarily create the organisations.
Mr Wallace's report noted that while council can opt into the JO, opting out is more difficult and would require Proclamation through State Parliament.
"Having said that, council has been a voluntary member of Centroc and appreciated its value since its inception in the 1980s,” he said.
Centroc represents more than 200,000 people covering an area of more than 50,000 square kilometres.