Frank and open meeting with Save-Tumbarumba-Shire group

Published on 04 June 2018

A meeting of frank and open dialogue was held recently between a delegation of Snowy Valleys Council and the Save-Tumbarumba-Shire group (STS).

Snowy Valleys Council Mayor James Hayes, Deputy Mayor John Larter, Councillor Bruce Wright, Councillor Julia Ham and General Manager Matthew Hyde met with members of the Save-Tumbarumba-Shire group for a candid discussion around real issues.

Mayor Hayes said the meeting was positive and the STS group acknowledged that their issues are with the NSW State Government.

“We agreed that our focuses are different and the STS group made it very clear their issue is with the loss of their democratic right to have a say about the merging of Council areas,” Cr Hayes said.

Council’s General Manager Matthew Hyde acknowledged that the group’s presence in online and other media have provided challenges to the new Council.

“We are working hard in our efforts to advance Snowy Valleys Council as one organisation and our hope is that the efforts of the STS group in the state arena don’t interfere with the local work Snowy Valleys Council are doing,” Mr Hyde said.

The STS group said they will continue their demerge campaign with the NSW Government in the hope that the Liberal government will be overturned at the election in 2019 and the option to demerge amalgamated councils is explored.

“It was encouraging to hear that their fight is not with us and that they are referring any local council related matters back to us for analysis and action,” Mr Hyde said.

Councillors and the Executive Team also made time to talk to the group in the Tumbarumba main street after the STS vigil march.

“We’d like to thank the group for taking the time to meet and have a friendly discussion around the issues and we have left the door open for future conversations”, Cr Hayes said.