Voters in the District of Grant overwhelmingly voted to reject a voluntary amalgamation with the City of Mount Gambier in South Australia. A massive majority of 93 per cent of the Grant community did not want to support a proposal from Mount Gambier to merge into a single Council.
Grant has a population of 8,000 people and surrounds Mt Gambier, which is an urban community with a population of 26,000. Grant Mayor, Councillor Don Pegler, said the people had sent a very strong message that they did not wish to amalgamate.
“I believe that one of the major reasons that the overwhelming majority was against amalgamation is the lack of representation that one Council would have,” the Mayor said.
Grant has proposed a consultative committee with Mount Gambier to discuss ways and means of working together on issues. Councillor Pegler said there were many areas where Grant could work cooperatively with the City of Mount Gambier.
In two open letters during the campaign, Mount Gambier Mayor, Steve Perryman, said they were not seeking a super council, but a merger. He argued bringing together of the two Councils would produce even greater levels of performance at the governance level, administration level and the essential operational/implementation level.
Mt Gambier CEO, Greg Muller, said there were many strong and positive outcomes that could arise from a merger, such as a strong community of interest and economies of scale.
“It is a decisive vote and it shows we need to do a lot more to deal with the issues raised in the debate,” Greg Muller said.
