Instead, Local Government New Zealand's zone five (upper South Island councils) and zone six (lower South Island councils) should become one organisation and promote the same objectives of an alliance, he said at a meeting of the finance and corporate committee this week.
He was commenting on proposed terms of reference for the alliance being considered by the committee and other councils around the South Island.
"There is a lot of work going on and a lot is focused on territorial local authority activities but it may bring benefits for regional councils."
While his proposal for just one organisation gained little support at a recent Local Government conference, he believed a changed model might get more backing.
The new proposal involved keeping separate the identities of zones five and six but holding only joint meetings. The two zones meet together twice a year and once independently.
SISA, whose name would likely change, would then become a project under the two joint zones, with its issues dealt with at the same meetings, he said.
The Crown was putting pressure on local government to provide efficiencies and it was important local government delivered.
"We don't want to continue to talk. We have to actually deliver results and I believe we have 12 months ... to get some runs on the board."
Cr Trevor Kempton said local government needed to be careful it was not creating a "plethora" of organisations to deal with its responses to central government.
Cr Michael Deaker said while it was good SISA's terms recognised councils' rights to make their own decisions, it also called for consistent planning.
"It seems to me under these provisions ... the risk built into this is the big neighbour monstering the little neighbour ...It's not a partnership of equals."
Cr Duncan Butcher said previous attempts to create a South Island voice had failed because it was impossible to get everyone to agree.
The committee endorsed and approved SISA's terms of reference.
