Joint Organisations back on the agenda

24 Jan 2018 11:10 PM -

At it’s January Ordinary Council Meeting, Leeton Shire Council endorsed the investigation of alternative Joint Organisation (JO) options by the Mayor and General Manager prior to making a recommendation back to Council.

The NSW State Government is now finally rolling out JOs with the hope of seeing them up and running by 1 July 2018.

Leeton Shire Council General Manager Jackie Kruger said that now comes the challenging task of deciding the most beneficial grouping for Councils so that they can each make best use of the JO models principle functions.

“JOs are being set up to provide a forum for local councils and State agencies to collaborate, plan, set priorities and deliver important projects in regional NSW which includes building strong businesses, creating jobs, securing water supplies, improving regional transport, and providing community infrastructure, services and facilities.”

The JOs will be statutory bodies that are voluntary for Councils to join however Councils looking to join a JO must fit within the Riverina-Murray Regional Planning boundary.

Mayor Cr Paul Maytom said that while most Councils in the Riverina-Murray region seem to prefer a larger JO, Leeton Shire Council wants to make sure that strategic planning is still useful at a local level.

“Before committing to joining a particular JO, Council wants to explore the pros and cons of various options so that we have full confidence that the final configuration reflects our communities of interest and will add value. These JOs are going to be enshrined in law so we need to get them right.” 

An Extraordinary Meeting of Leeton Shire Council will be held in February so that Council can review the options in detail prior to nominating membership of a Joint Organisation by the 5pm deadline on 28th February.