The future of the Narromine Wetlands is uncertain as council decides which group will take on the maintenance of the attraction.
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The Wetlands is a 28-hectare space on the outskirts of Narromine that serves as a habitat for native and exotic flora and fauna and has walking tracks, car parks and picnic areas for locals and travellers alike.
Currently the Narromine Rotary Club takes care of maintenance such as mowing of open grass areas, maintenance of picnic areas, maintaining the main gates at the entry and the maintenance of plantings.
At the November monthly meeting council made a resolution to review who should be performing the maintenance.
Cr Sue McCutcheon moved a motion to: "reconvene with community participants in the view of succession planning," she said.
This motion was passed.
Director of engineering and infrastructure, Kerrie Murphy, brought up the Wetlands in her report.
"Council currently provides funds under donations to cover running costs of the machines that Rotary utilise and also previously donated a mower to this project," it read.
Rotary and council work in conjunction with the Garden Club and the Aboriginal Local Land Council.
Mrs Murphy told council if it took on the responsibility of the Wetlands it could cost council between $5418 and $24,570 per annum depending on the frequency of maintenance, although she believed that a "reduced level of service wouldn't be detrimental to the Narromine Wetlands".
"The vast grasslands could be left to their own devices to some degree to encourage further habitation of other natural species that prefer this environment,"
- Kerrie Murphy, Director of Engineering and Infrastructure.
"The vast grasslands could be left to their own devices to some degree to encourage further habitation of other natural species that prefer this environment," Mrs Murphy's report read.
Council voiced its concerns that volunteers were hard to come by and could impact the maintenance of the Wetlands in the future.
"The decision we make now is for the future and as you know, volunteers are getting very, very hard to find and the ones we do have are now older volunteers. I think we have to have a good look at this for the future," Cr Dawn Collins said.
Mayor Bill McAnally and Deputy Mayor Sue McCutcheon agreed Rotary had to be involved in the decision making.
"I think we need to take into consideration the passion Rotary has for the Wetlands and anything we do should be done in consultation with Rotary and all the groups involved," Cr McCutcheon said.
"There needs to be lots of talking to come up with a decision that's negotiated around the table."
Cr Craig Davies expressed his concern it would be an expensive cost to council.
"I accept how important the Wetlands is, my concern at this stage is it could turn into an expensive operation. I'm just wondering if there is grant funding that can cover all this," he said.
The director of engineering and infrastructure said there was grant funding.
"The Wetlands was formalised with grant funding from the Catchment Management Authority (now the Local Lands Services)," Mrs Murphy said.
"You're right it could very expensive, but any modelling that needs to be done I'm confident they (the LLS) would help us."
The motion was created by Cr McCutcheon, seconded by Cr Les Lambert and passed by council.