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GUYRA's council has been amalgamated with with Armidale. And not everyone's happy.
Guyra Mayor Hans Hietbrink for one.
It has been reported Guyra council is considering its legal options.
On Thursday morning he slammed the state government's flow of information and once details were leaked he took aim at Guyra-based MLC Scot MacDonald.
It is understood Glenn Wilcox, general manager of Armidale Dumaresq Council, will be appointed as the interim general manager of the new joint body - to be named Armidale Regional Council.
Cr Hietbrink declared Mr MacDonald to be “persona non grata” in Guyra.
Late Thursday morning the Guyra mayor said he had not received official word on the merger between Guyra and Armidale Dumaresq, but instead learnt of developments through a photograph of a media release.
“We are extreme disappointed in Scott MacDonald for promoting the merger rather than standing up for the Guyra community its stance,” Cr Hietbrink said.
“It would be extreme disappoint for the community and even more disappointed that we didn’t get the support from our upper house MLC.
“He is persona non grata.”
“We’ve received unofficial word, if you like, through a media release which has been printed,” Cr Hietbrink said.
“The proclamation, which I haven’t seen yet, .... will spell out what the arrangements will be.
“I understand that councillors will be serving through until September 2017.
“The general manager of both Armidale and Guyra will be interim in their roles The general manager of Armidale will report to the administrator.
“That’s what I’ve been informed unofficially.”
When contacted earlier on Thursday morning Cr Hietbrink came out swinging at the state government about the lack of information surrounding the mergers.
“It’s the worst example of communication from a government that I have ever heard of,” Cr Hietbrink said. “It’s extremely terrible.
“If they want to get people to accept change, one of the first things that they need to do is communicate with people.”
He said the first he had heard that decisions may be made on Thursday was listening to the morning news on the radio.
“At this stage we haven’t heard anything official, we don’t know,” Cr Hietbrink said.