council boundaries

In November 2019 the Cities of Holdfast Bay and Marion were mooting council boundary changes, however by April 2020 this has been very much off the radar.

Boundary Changes?  Mergers? .. or?
April 2020 update

​Due to Covid -19 this issue is very much off the radar and no further engagement with Councils will occur until we are back to whatever our new normal maybe?

We conducted a community information forum in December 2019 on this significant change. This included pre and post forum questionnaires to residents. Again, thanks to the many of you who responded. This information was shared with both Councils. No clear conclusion was reached. Subsequently we contacted the SA Local Government Boundaries Commission,  seeking clarification on a number of issues. This letter and the  Commission’s response . has been shared with both the Cities of Marion and Holdfast Bay prior to meeting with them to establish what might be their proposed next steps. We will advise residents of the outcome of these meetings and any further developments. We will not proceed to the next phase i.e. application to the Commissioner without clear empirical evidence of community support. 



Background
The City of Holdfast Bay Council has  proposed a change to its boundary that would see Marino move from the City of Marion to the City of Holdfast Bay as a better fit for this Coastal Council. The Mayor of the City of Marion immediately made a counter proposal, claiming that such a boundary change would do little to improve services to the Marino community and that to effect real change; the two councils should instead merge.

There have been numerous media statements and letter drops by Kris Hanna  and our local MP, commenting on their respective cases for change. The potential implications for residents of the 5049 Coastal Community, for either of these scenarios, are most significant.

In response, the 5049 Coastal Community Association  held a public forum, at which the two Mayors  elaborated on their proposals, and respond to issues raised by our community via our survey. This forum was held at the Kauri Community and Sports Centre, Lipson Ave, Seacliff  7.00 pm on Wednesday, 27 November, 2019.

​​Public Forum report & outcomes 27 Nov 2019 
There was a great response to our last Forum for 2019 , when we addressed the important questions “Boundaries Change , mergers ....or”.  Around 160 residents attended to hear a brief annual report from the association President David Bagshaw click here for the presentation and here for the full annual report.

Ric Bierbaum the forum facilitator, Leader of the Associations’ Boundaries Task group and  this Forum process; took us through the background to the forum and presented the results of a community pre-forum survey.
Click here for the survey results

We then heard  from Mayors Amanda Wilson and Kris Hanna who  presented their views and a flyer on the proposal for Marino to become part of Holdfast Bay Council, a merge of the two Councils ... or other alternatives.Followed by a Q&A. click here for the presentations and here for the brochures HFB & CoM

In addition we did record the proceedings:
Full version here 
Short version Mayors only here
Forum wrap-up here.

​The Association proposes to:

• Meet with the Boundaries Commission to better understand our options and obligations should we lead the change process
• Collate all the new issues raised by residents in their responses to the questionnaires
• Meet with both Councils to discuss the procedures we propose to adopt and their related time frames
• Communicate any new developments to the 5049 Coastal Community
• Consider the facilitation of  a comprehensive independent evidence based community survey to determine if more than 50% of the eligible community ( voters) are in favour of change, and what conditions might be attached to any change.

Most importantly, we will adopt the 3 guiding principles referred to in the forum in regard to all aspects of this issue.  Namely, close community engagement and consultation, transparency and evidence- based decision making.

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