Save and Grow Guyra challenged Armidale Regional Council last month to produce the figures of the Tingha polls.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tingha, it was announced in February, will become part of Inverell Shire in July.
Spokesman Gordon Youman thought council's first poll was not conducted properly, and doubted whether the second poll got a return of half the postal votes.
READ ALSO:
A council spokesman said copies of the polling form were sent to 709 households and organisations in the target area and owners of property in that area. The poll was limited to only one vote per household.
The deadline for completed forms to be returned was June 18, 2018, and 293 completed forms were received by that time. One hundred and ninety-two (192) respondents ticked the box indicating support for the boundary realignment to move to move Tingha to the Inverell local government area. One hundred (100) respondents ticked the box indicating they did not support the boundary realignment. One respondent indicated they were undecided.
The poll deadline was extended to June 20. Council took a couple more days than expected to post out forms to all households and property owners in the affected area, so they extended the deadline by two days to give people time to consider and return their proposal.
Seven completed forms were received under the June deadline. Six respondents ticked the box to indicate support for the boundary realignment, one ticked the box indicating they did not support the realignment.
The Tingha Residents' Association approached council in 2016 about realigning electoral boundaries. Tingha's closeness to Inverell prompted suggestions it would be better included in that local government area.
Council first consulted the community in June 2017; at that time, the NSW Minister for Local Government's office indicated a decision on the boundary amendment would not be made within six months either side of the Armidale Regional Council election.