City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s stance on boundary adjustment with Shire of Coolgardie to be public ‘soon’

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s stance on a proposed boundary adjustment with the Shire of Coolgardie remains under wraps at the request of Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley. The minister told the Kalgoorlie Miner on Tuesday she had asked both the city and shire to keep their positions confidential “out of respect for the early stages of the process” until she had the chance to review them. She said this was a “normal course of action” to take and said both submissions were now being considered and the city’s proposal would be made public “soon”. Ms Beazley did not respond when asked how she felt about the shire revealing its position publicly against her request. The Shire of Coolgardie on July 21 formally declared its opposition to the proposal during its ordinary council meeting, one day before a meeting with the city and Ms Beazley. The shire’s position paper requested a year to prove they could dig itself out of the financial hole it had found itself in, instead of merging with the city. It also raised concerns with what the new merged entity would be called, and how much representation would be given to Coolgardie and Kambalda representatives. No public statement has been made by the shire since the council meeting, despite multiple requests from the Kalgoorlie Miner. After the meeting with the minister, the city released a statement saying it continued to participate in discussions “in good faith” and an update would be shared with the community once the “next steps” were confirmed. Ms Beazley also issued a statement thanking both parties for providing their proposals to “ensure the best outcomes are achieved for both communities” and said she would take time to review the proposals.