At its May Ordinary Meeting, Council endorsed a trial merger of the Leeton and Narrandera Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMC) for a period of 12 months, commencing 11 June 2024. This followed a motion put forward by Local Emergency Operations Controller Mr Chris Quiring at an LEMC meeting earlier this year.
Both Leeton and Narrandera hold LEMC meetings within their respective areas. The meetings include emergency services from the region. The attendance and agenda are nearly identical at each meeting.
Director Operations, Silas Darby, said combining the LEMC's will ultimately benefit our time poor emergency services by reducing the number of meetings they are required to attend.
"Some of the emergency services attending both meetings routinely travel extensive distances to attend these LEMC meetings taking days out of their work schedule every cycle.
"Another benefit of the merger would be the reduction of administrative workload required by each Council by 50%," he added.
Upon completion of the trial period, a report will be tabled to Council outlining the benefits, or not, of continuing with merged LEMC's. Should Council endorse the merger permanently, this will then be taken to a regional and state level for final approval.
