Councillors at Bega Valley on Monday voted in favour of proceeding with the merger, subject to a list of conditions.

Bombala councillors were scheduled to cast their vote on Tuesday night.

However, long-term mayor of Bombala Bob Stewart is not expected to vote in favour, despite his earlier preference to merge with Bega Valley.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Cr Stewart said his recommendation would be to go with his High Country partners, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River.

He said he had reservations about the deal with Bega, especially following the well-attended public meeting at Bombala on Monday night.

“The people supporting the Monaro were very passionate. We had about 150 people there and it was standing room only,” he said.

He also highlighted weed concerns among Bombala’s landholders. Fireweed is uncontrolled in Bega Valley and he said there are fears the merger would bring the dreaded weed with it.

Cr Stewart was also critical of the $22million funding proposal on the table for Mount Darragh Rd.

“Basically this is Bega’s asset. This is good for Bega council,” he said.

Cr Stewart said the best route now is to look to the Monaro, particularly after the state government agreed to cover all costs associated with merger of the three councils.

“My gut feeling is we have to make the Monaro option work,” he said.

Chamber of Commerce president Paul Perkins said the whole process has been closed off and it’s been hard to know what is happening without proper consultation.

“The big problem is the lack of consultation about the options and the chamber doesn’t have a good grasp of who would be the best to go with, we haven’t really been told what’s going on,” he said.

Bombala Council general manager Ngaire McCrindle told Monday’s meeting the Bombala community had interests with both councils and many synergies between the communities.

“The community and council are really torn about which way to go,” she said.