At the 11th hour, less than one month before the money must be allocated, the Hilltops Council is “consulting” with the community in a mad attempt to scrounge for projects that can effectively soak up the $14 million dollars. What a wasted opportunity.

Why on earth was this process not started six months ago? Why did council not come to the people of the individual amalgamated councils and ask us what long term projects we’d like to see in the mix that had the capacity to deliver lasting impact and long term commercial and economic benefit to our town. With an organisation like the Harden Regional Development Corporation (HRDC) available to complete the true grass roots work of consultation, why did they not work collaboratively with HRDC to realise best possible outcomes. Could our local representatives have played a crucial role in this process?

Councils are a service provider with a mandate to represent the people and work to achieve the goals of the community. For councils to be successful in the future they need to re-think the way they relate to their community. The consultation process is currently top down, with council presenting to the public a ‘draft’ documented Operations Plan, for public comment. A more authentic approach would have been to hold public forums six months ago and inform the public about the proposed process for the expenditure of the $14 million, asking for projects addressing the long term needs of each of the three amalgamated council areas. Further meetings to discuss merit, feasibility and budget could then have followed, providing a strong community owned plan that supports our towns into the future.

In 2015 the Harden s355 Sports Committee tried to achieve a long term strategic plan and engaged a consultant to complete a sports and facilities rationalisation study which has been never been released to the public, despite multiple requests, on the grounds that is was divisive. Unbelievable!  

How the Hilltops Council can make such a poor decision and insult the intellectual capacity of the people in Harden-Murrumburrah to debate, negotiate and plan for the betterment of the whole town is simply not comprehensible. After an hour of forcing this issue with council at the recent public forum on Operations Plan, Hilltops Council have finally agreed to allow two members of HRDC to view the document, but not retain a copy. Not good enough. Hand it over so those who commissioned it and the community who paid for it can decide its value and reap the benefits.

So, where to from here? Let’s look forward and do the best for our towns. With only weeks left before the decision on how the $14 million is to be spent, the people of the Harden-Murrumburrah Region need to rally fast and get a consolidated proposal together before the end of May to meet council’s deadline of mid June.

Members of the public can request a copy of the Operations Plan from the Council office however it provides little detail and wasn’t inclusive of all the information that was presented at the public forum last Thursday. That said, it will provide you with an overview of the current allocations across the Hilltops Region, which might allow you to spot the gaps, contribute some worthwhile detail or propose a project that is not currently being considered.

Send HRDC an email, call 6386 5536 or drop in to 39 Neill Street with ideas that can really have some impact.  We will collaborate with council. It remains to be seen how much of our input will seriously be considered and included in the final proposal.