The Santin Quarry will need to stop operating from February 12, 2021 after Councillors voted not to extend the current DA another 16 years.

Councillors Lloyd, Guise, Ekins, Casson and Bird voted for the closure while Marks, Moorhouse and Cook voting against with Mayor Isaac Smith on leave.

But is it really over?

Santin Quarry owner Mick Santin saying he is looking at his options with one of those options appealing to the NSW Land and Environment Court.

Proceedings started with one speaker for the quarry to continue, followed by seven speakers against (two of those from the same household) before it was debated by the Councillors themselves and ultimately voted on.

The main points in question were:

• The current DA had expired and council was not in a position to modify the consent to continue operations.
• The quarry was not essentially the same development anymore.
• The Environmental Impact Study was completed in 1992 and circumstances have changed.

It appears that the battle between certain councillors and council staff shows no signs of abating with Councillor Guise saying "I disagree with our own legal advice," agreeing with the legal advice from the Monaltrie Association. This was backed by Councillor Lloyd who said the document was not based on the primary documents but on a staff report and a notice of determination.

Both councillors also mentioned that the Santin Quarry was not in the publics interest while Councillor Ekins said it was time to bring it into 2020.

While Councillor Cook argued the Santin Quarry was essentially the same development and had the recommendation of council staff three times. Cnr Cook was asking for a 5 year extension with stronger monitoring of compliance.

While owner Mick Santin didn't speak, he told the Lismore App that if he lodged a new DA what would change?

"The wind requirements would stay the same, the noise requirements the same, the same trucks as we're using now and we would be staying within the same 1 million tonnage," Mr Santin said.

"In fact things have improved with better, more fuel efficient trucks that damage the roads less, blasting practices have changed immensely, they are twenty times safer," he added.

It looks as though the story of the Santin Quarry has not reached the last page.

In other matters, Councillors voted for some minor land re-zoning in Chilcotts Grass and Caniaba which involved 5-6 blocks for each re-zoning while the North Lismore Plateau development had its Staging of Development and Design of Sewerage and Water Infrastructure proposed changes rejected.

Another item on the council meeting agenda was the Code of Conduct report.

This annual report supplied the statistics for the last 12 months that was reported to the Office of Local Government. Councillor Lloyd shared the undesirable fact that the Lismore City Council had 52 complaints with the only other NSW local council to come close being the Central Coast with 32. In previous years it was 4, 12 and 9 complaints.

Councillor Marks then broke the complaints down further to Community complaints 21, Councillor complaints 19, Staff complaints 12. Of the 52, 33 of the complaints received were aimed at Councillors while 19 were aimed at Council Staff.

These numbers are another sign of disunity within councillors and towards council staff.

Both Councillors Lloyd and Marks admitted that the statistics reflects a very big problem with Cnr Marks saying that councillors need to focus on their jobs and use the Code of Conduct system as a last resort. "We need better communication and relationships," Cnr Marks said.

The bright side was that only 2 of the 52 was found to breach the Code of Conduct.

The next council meeting will be in February, 2021 following the January break.

Read earlier news: Santin Quarry heads another marathon Council meeting