At the District Conference at Griffith, there was a Special General Meeting of the District to discuss and Resolve the issue of Merging Districts.
The History of this issue is that District 9700 has fallen below the minimum number of Rotarians required to maintain District status. This has been 1100 Rotarians, and we are presently around 1050.
We have undergone a planning process over several years to merge with District 9710, based in Canberra and including the NSW south coast. This will occur in July 2020, and has taken extensive planning, consultation and development.
Now, and at this late stage, we have been notified that another district, 9670, which is in North Western NSW is to join as well.
The meeting of club delegates of district 9700 voted, and indicated that around 85% of those voting were against the "Mega District" due to lack of consultation and distances involved. The outcome of the special meeting is required to be forwarded to RI by the 5th April. District 9710 were in the process of voting on the same proposal due to our merger with District 9710 on the 1st July 2020. This outcome may not sway the result in any way, as Rotary International will have the final say but according to RI constitution they need to seek consensus of the clubs for mergers. There are reports that RI seeks much larger districts, involving up to 120 clubs, and 4000 Rotarians, with around 10 districts in Australia.