With their backs against the wall Guyra Shire councillors last night sought direction from the community. Before a packed auditorium at the Guyra Bowling Club, Mayor Hans Hietbrink likened the choice currently facing council to that of being shot, being poisoned or being drowned. It follows the finding by IPART that Guyra was ‘unfit’ to continue as an independent council.
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Facing a looming deadline set by the NSW government, he made it clear that the preference remains to stand alone. However, he also made it clear that pressure to submit a fall back option is mounting.
In recent days surrounding shires have begun to cave to government pressure to submit merger preferences. Armidale has submitted a preference to merge with Guyra and Uralla. However, this has been vetoed by Uralla, who have instead opted for a merger with Walcha. Walcha has also snubbed Armidale opting instead for Uralla or Tamworth.
“It is clear that nobody here wants to merge with Armidale,” Cr Hietbrink said. “There are vast cultural differences, social differences, differences of philosophy and operational differences between the two towns.”
There was a strong fighting spirit on show, but also a sense of 'how do get the best result for our shire'. A number of speakers from the floor spoke in support of council’s stand-alone stance, most expressing the desire to fight on. However, it is was obvious that others see a need to maintain control in order to seek a better deal for the shire.
A merger with Armidale alone was generally thought to be the worst possible result, with a four-way union including Uralla and Walcha emerging as a way of retaining some control. Including two other rural based Shires as well as Armidale, would see more equitable representation and not result in the dominance of one shire.
Another option put forward was to go north or west and approach Glen Innes and Inverell with a view to merging. This received widespread support from the floor, however General Manager Peter Stewart cautioned that this had little chance of being accepted given the undeniable community of interest between Guyra and Armidale.
Mr Stewart said it was clear the mood of the mob was not to tick any boxes, but he feared that to do so would leave Guyra vulnerable.
“The odds are stacked against us,” he said. “If we do nothing, Uralla and Walcha will most likely get up and we will be left with no option but to team up with Armidale.”
A final decision will be made at an extraordinary meeting of council on Tuesday.
