An Oliver Paipoonge Councillor feels it wasn’t the right time for a proposed merger with Conmee.
Bernie Kamphof says residents weren’t happy with the proposal that was voted down last week.
“A lot of the sticking point was around the fact that we’ve done the consultation during the pandemic, and people weren’t able to engage with the process. That was a big problem,” Kamphof admits.
He says the idea isn’t off the table for good, but it needed more support from the community.
“There’s nothing you can do with an idea like merging two municipalities that’s going to be perfect, and it wasn’t a perfect proposal. If we had had support from our residents, I would have been in support of it, but it was too overwhelming,” he says.
Meanwhile, Conmee’s Mayor and Council voted unanimously in favour of the merger.
