Lismore City Council Councillors voted unanimously at yesterday's April meeting to appoint Eber Butron as the acting General Manager for a maximum period of twelve months until the council appoints a new permanent General Manager or until a further decision of council to appoint a different acting general manager, whichever occurs first.

(New acting GM Eber Butron. Photo: Lismore City Council website)

Mr Butron held the position of Chief Corporate and Community Officer and was one of two Deputy General Managers with Brendan Logan (Chief Operations and Finance Officer). Mr Butron's salary will be the same as former GM Jon Gibbons. He officially begins in the role on Saturday, May 3.

The first item on the agenda was the Development Control Plan for the huge 1055 Bruxner Highway development, which will see it divided into five (5) precincts for residential single dwellings, medium-density housing, such as townhouses and apartments, mixed-use commercial and shop-top living, plus an industrial area.

There were technical audio issues at the time, so no comments could be heard. However, the vote was unanimous.

In another unanimous vote, Cr Jeri Hall put forward a motion that involved council writing a letter of support for the Bexhill Quarry Parklands Association, and contacting Crown Lands to request a review and a response indicating how any ongoing risks may be addressed to allow public access.

Cr Hall said the association had already received support from Kevin Hogan, Janelle Saffin, Ben Franklin, and the Northern Rivers Rail Trail to name a few.

"The purpose of this motion is just purely to help them get their ideas off the ground. Bexhill Quarry is visited by a lot of tourists annually, and there's a lot going on there that isn't quite what we'd like to see happening in our community. There's a lot of rubbish dumped, there's a lot of illegal camping, there's a lot of anti-social behaviour.

"Their plans include viewing decks and swimming holes and things like that. We heard from Des that the water is tested quite regularly by Southern Cross University, and it does not pose any risks to health, regardless of some of the rumours that we hear floating around."

Cr Dalton-Earls agreed that the Bexhill Quarry has long been an asset.

(Bexhill Quarry)

"It's just been unrealised because of the risks and different things, because it basically has been community taking it over. As Des pointed out, as soon as the fences were put up, they were taken down within a day. It's something that I visited many times as a younger person; many people go there on a hot day.

"If we can get this done up, it will help the Bexhill Parklands Association to push to get this done up. It will be a huge asset for our community, particularly along the rail trail corridor.

Cr Dalton-Earls was at the quarry on Sunday walking his dog and heard comments about having a swim and going to the Eltham Pub or going back into Lismore.

"All these tourist attractions are what's going to help us recover and to have sustainability in the future as a preferred destination spot. So I definitely support it, and I hope that Crown Lands can come on board."

Cr Gordon said that as soon as they abandoned the old Bexhill Brickworks, it filled up with water and people began swimming there.

"It's a great asset considering the Rail Trail and its proposal to go further ahead. You can imagine riding from Lismore to Bexhill having a swim, then riding down to the Eltham for a few beers, and then perhaps riding home or getting collected. I think it's a wonderful, wonderful part of this whole master plan about giving people things to do."

Cr Knight-Smith said she swam there when it was safe and unsafe.

"I remember years ago when you got in, you got out, and your skin felt like it was really tight because it was so acidic. And then later, I swam there, and it wasn't like that. I think it was in 2002, it was the first time a report came out saying that it was safe to swim. And people have been flocking there for as long as they can.

"And I know that it's Instagram ready, that blue water is so photogenic that people come from the coast and all over the place just to take their photo in front of it. And like councilor Rob said, we're not going to stop people swimming in it. And so we should support a community group that wants to do something and make it an asset for us going forward and with the rail trail."

While council was on a role of unanimous voting, Cr Waters put forward her motion for council to include 40 Cullen Street, the old Vinnes building that is for sale, in council's Property Strategy Review and write to St Vincent's de Paul to inform them the assessment is taking place.

It was no wonder that council went into confidential at 11:51am after starting the meeting at 10am. This was the most unified the 11 Lismore City Councillors has been leading to the shortest council meeting in history. Okay, that is a stretch, but it must be in the Top 10.

The next Lismore City Council meeting will be on Tuesday, May 13 at 10am, with public access at 9am.