A new policy to help Lismore City Council staff deal with unreasonable conduct from people they interact with was the subject of discussion at last night’s Lismore City Council meeting.

Before the new policy is put on public exhibition, Lismore councillors voted to hold a workshop to further discuss the content of the policy.

The policy’s executive summary states “whilst staff interactions with the community are generally positive, at times staff are placed in positions where these interactions can become hostile and unreasonable”. 

Some of the listed types of unreasonable conduct in the draft policy include: unreasonable persistence, demands, lack of cooperation, arguments and behaviours.

Cr Ekins asked who the people in council would be to make the decisions about whether someone’s behaviour was unreasonable or not.

She was told there were three key people: the customer advocate contact centre manager, the safety team responsible manager, and the public officer.

She was also told that once the behaviour was reviewed, the documentation would be sent to the person, who would have 30 days to ask the general manager to review it.

Cr Ekins suggested that one of words in the policy that needed to be changed was the use of “conspiracy” in relation to someone’s “unreasonable argument”.

“We need to change it to ‘theories’,” she said.

“Some people in the community have a body of evidence behind their theories and are passionate about them.”

Councillor Elly Bird said the new policy was an opportunity provide appropriate workplace health and safety protocol for staff and councillors.

“We might need some wording changes to the policy – but it comes down to respect – and for people to feel safe in their workplace,” she said.

“If someone doesn’t feel safe in their interactions with anyone in any way, whether it’s a staff member or a councillor, they should be protected in their work 

“It’s about protection and care … and putting into place a framework that adequately documents and traces the journey of engagement for those people.

“It’s not acceptable that anyone should feel unsafe, harassed, or abused in their workplace - be that staff member or a councillor.”

Lismore resident Janine Wilson had concerns that the policy could stop community members accessing information if they were deemed “unreasonable” by council staff.

“We need a policy to protect staff, but it should be balanced to protect the community and give them the right of access to the information they need,” she said.

Cr Battista expressed his concern about the policy and that many people in the community would not be happy with it if they felt they didn’t get responses from council.

"We need to be transparent, we want a community that engages with council,” he said.

“We don't want to stop them from reaching out to us."