Cr Horton said this week that no decisions have yet been made and all options were still on the table.

He said while the Harden, Young and Boorowa shires had commissioned a consultant, Susan Law, to examine possible merger options no decision had been made and that any decision on would not be made until after March 2015 when possible merger options had to be put before the state government.

As Cr Horton says in this month’s Mayoral Message, (See Page 2 of October 9th edition), “Councillors are going through the process of exploring our options and until those options are fully examined and debated no decision will be forthcoming.

“My councillors and I want only one outcome for all, that is to achieve the best possible result for our community,” he said.

He attended a meeting with Yass mayor Rowena Abbey and her general manager David Rowe in Yass last week with the aim being to discuss a possible merger as one option for the Harden Shire.

“We received a very favourable reception and further discussions shall follow when Rowena returns from three weeks holiday. 

“I want to thank Hilton Doberer, Stephen Byrne and Darren Sargent all committee members of Chamber Of Commerce who arranged this meeting some weeks ago, prior to me becoming Mayor and for accepting my offer to accompany them. We are fortunate to have a very active and passionate Chamber Of Commerce Committee and members.”

He said the long term plan was to have mergers in place before the September 2016 local government elections “The long term plan is to have mergers in place prior to local government councillors elections September 2016. The short term objective is for shires to have their suggested merger plans presented to the NSW government by March 2015 for perusal.”