Mayors of Kentish and Latrobe Councils open to merging after Local Government Board suggests amalgamations

Merging some of Tasmania’s 29 councils isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but two North West councils could be open to it. Find out why.

Latrobe Mayor Peter Freshney. Picture: Simon Sturzaker

The mayors of two neighbouring North-West councils say they are open to merging.

The Local Government Board has recommended that the Kentish and Latrobe Councils merge.

While the state government has ruled out forced amalgamations, both councils say it is in the process of merging and would be open to it.

Latrobe Mayor Peter Freshney said merging with Kentish was still the council’s preferred option, with both municipalities having had a resource-sharing arrangement for about a decade.

“The benefits of our alliance with Kentish have been many and ongoing,” Mr Freshney said.

Kentish Mayor Kate Haberle. Picture: File.

“One of the things people don’t understand is the access to staff that we wouldn’t necessarily have access to should we be a single entity.

“The two councils combined can offer full-time work to professionals within the sector, whereas individually, they will be only offering part-time work, which isn’t necessarily attractive to the types of people we are trying to attract.”

While there had not been a lot of feedback from the Latrobe community on a merger, Mr Freshney said the council’s relationship with Kentish was accepted.

“But a merger is obviously another step.

“People would need to be willingly informed and provided the opportunity to understand both the benefits and potential negative impacts of that.”

Next door at the Kentish Council, its mayor Kate Haberle said it was open to a merger.

“It will be a different method and a different process that we will be going through in having one council,” Ms Haberle said.

“We will make sure that both Kentish and Latrobe are getting fair representation.”

Ms Haberle said the Kentish community had been receptive to a merger with Latrobe.

“I think they have the confidence in our council that we will make good decisions.

“They realise that we’re already resource-sharing with Latrobe, and they would be very happy to continue doing that.”