The Mayor of Rockhampton has confirmed her belief that something will replace the Central Queensland Local Government Association (CQLGA), but it is not clear just what that will be.

In a radio interview this week, Rockhampton Regional Council Mayor Margaret Strelow said she thought the CQLGA had more purpose and responsibility before councils were amalgamated.

“It’s quite a complex organisation; it was about $800,000 a year budget,” Mayor Strelow said.

“We’ve probably been sitting looking at it for a while going; ‘it’s probably not delivering us bang for buck’.”

“We are looking at those more effective organisations in the south-east corner, something like a council of mayors... but the exact make-up of that is yet to be resolved.”

“There’s some discussion of a range of MoU’s [Memoranda of Understanding] between the significant cities up the coast.”

Several of the nearby regional councils have banded together in smaller groups, and the Rockhampton Mayor says her city and Gladstone will maintain a strong tie.

The comments over the ineffectiveness of the CQLGA have aggravated several who are involved with the group.

One person associated with a CQLGA environmental schools program said “CQLGA and its councils have been recognised state wide and nationally as an outstanding example of how much can be achieved through regional cooperation.”

“Mayor Strelow's disregard for CQLGA's strong achievements to date, and for the future possibilities for continuing to build regional cooperation through the CQLGA, seems short-sighted and damaging.”

Other feedback decried the “ill-informed, ill-educated comments”, saying they may even be “bordering on slander.”