INVERELL Shire Council has been put on notice by Armidale Regional Council, which has notified its intention to break with the New England Group of Councils, and apply for membership of the Namoi Regional Joint Organisation (Namoi JO), which takes in an area including the Walcha, Tamworth, Narrabri, Moree and Gwydir councils.
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In a letter to Inverell council, Armidale interim general manager Glenn Wilcox said his council had visited a Namoi JO meeting at Walcha on July 7, and, based on that meeting, had decided to apply for membership because the new council believed the northern region would be better served by a single organisation, rather than two that revolve around one key larger council.
Inverell shire general manager Paul Henry said the matter had attracted the attention of the Office of Local Government, which would hold a meeting on August 8 to discuss the concept of two organisations in this region and achieve a ‘meeting of the minds’ on the matter.
“There will be a joint organisation in this area, whether its two, one covering the New England area and one covering Namoi is to be determined,” Mr Henry said.
Cr Barry Johnston said it was not the first time Inverell had been a leading member of a joint organisation.
“If we’re going to be involved, I think we need to make sure that the interests of Inverell are well looked after. In some discussions up to this point, I’ve been concerned about the allegiances that have been developed, apparently deliberately leaving Inverell out,” he said.
“We’ve always been on the front foot and we need to stay there.”
Mr Henry said the organisation Cr Johnston referred to was the Northern Region of Councils which was broken up because of its large geographical area.
“It did cause administrative issues, and there were issues that only related to certain segments of that organisation’s footprint,” he said.
Councillor Harmon thought the August 8 meeting would interesting.
“From the meetings that I have attended, the state government made it quite clear that joint organisations of councils will run along state planning guidelines,” he said.
“So if you look at that map and where they’ve drawn the lines, councils will be mandated to be part of a group of councils.
“Once that happens you can be dragged kicking and screaming, but councils will have to participate.”