A controversy over the new Cabonne mayor which surprised even its councillors and staff, made Cr Michael Hayes opening day on the job interesting.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There have been suggestions he had accepted the job nobody wanted.
But a spokesperson for the council said any talk of an uneasy transition into the job was untrue, it really was a non story and Cr Hayes was getting on with the job.
Cr Ian Gosper said he had asked councillor Hayes if he was interested in the position because he would make a good mayor.
Cr Hayes took the mayoral position over from Cr Ian Gosper and became the third mayor in six years for Cabonne Council.
Crs Hayes and Gosper were in Wellington Wednesday for a meeting of the Wellington, Cabonne, Blayney Alliance which also includes Central Tablelands Water.
The WBC Alliance says the shared services model, said by the state government to be a leader in the future of local government, has saved the ratepayers $520,000 in 2013/14. Across 11 years it has reduced combined costs by $5.7million.
WBC outgoing chairman and Blayney mayor Scott Ferguson says it is hard to know where the alliance will go now as all three councils have been warned they could have to merge with bigger councils nearby.
"What this says is the alliance has been doing what the state government wants councils to do for more than a decade," Cr Ferguson said.
"Our council in three years has moved from a weak to moderate position and we believe in this alliance, but the big question is where does it go from here? Does it become a legal entity?" he said.
"We will do what is in the best interest of our ratepayers," the Blayney mayor said.
Consultancy firm KPMG analysed the functions of the alliance and how a legal entity could work. It is understood its findings were discussed by the alliance meeting in Wellington.
The incoming chairman Wellington's mayor Cr Rod Buhr said the WBC has produced tangible saving for the member councils and thus for ratepayers now for many years.
"There is a sense now however that the proposed changes to local government will drastically change the sector and how the WBC will fit into thatequation is very uncertain," he said.
"Wellington Council along with the other members of the WBC are keen to explore the proposed 'rural council' model as a means of remaining as a standalone entity."
