The 10am Lismore City Council meeting turned into a farce and gave a further indication that the next four-year term will be anything but cordial, respectful and unified.

There were a number of 'Points of Order' under 15.11 (d) (insults or makes personal reflections on or imputes improper motives to any other council official, or alleges a breach of the council’s code of conduct) and one on 15.11 (e) (says or does anything that is inconsistent with maintaining order at the meeting or is likely to bring the council or the committee into disrepute) against Councillor (Cr) Big Rob. One was refuted by the general manager defending his staff.

After losing the Rescission Motion to change the monthly meeting times from 10am, Cr Rob then asked multiple questions for item 10.1 2023/2024 Reserves (Internally Restricted), which looked to extend the meeting rather than asking questions to gain the necessary information to make an informed decision on an item that was mostly time-sensitive.

Cr Rob made comments, such as "I'll move on because, you know, in the interest of time. I could do this all day," and "I'm almost halfway through anyway, so my next question is related to.....(laughs) I'm joking. I'm almost done." and "So, obviously, I'm demonstrating a point of changing the meeting times without going through proper process in this by asking lots of questions. And, I honestly don't think I have more than two questions for the next item (10.2) to put you all at ease, right? Because I do have a meeting at 2 o'clock that I want to get to."

Mayor Krieg made the comment, "We've had four speakers against, one for, and councillor Rob is entitled to ask as many questions as he can or would like to, as we don't have any limitation on questions in our Code of Meeting Practice." Maybe that should change?

The gamesmanship got in the way of what should have been a relatively straightforward, extraordinary meeting.

The Rescission Motion put forward by Crs Guise, Rob and Waters to reverse last Tuesday's decision to change council meetings to 10am started with two public speakers, Nancy Casson and Jim Richardson, with the two main points being limiting public access and public engagement and that some other councils in the Northern Rivers start their meetings in the afternoon.

It was revealed that the cost of changing the meetings was $2,000, $200 in meals and $1,800 for staff time.

Cr Guise reiterated those points by saying it is about getting public engagement and that a certain class of people can attend meetings at 10am. Day-time workers are disenfranchised from physically attending or watching the livestream.

Cr Rob mentioned what times other councils hold their meetings and the lack of consultation. This was where Cr Rob also indicated he would ask as many questions as he liked to use the full 12-and-a-half-hour meeting time plus, as is in the current Code of Meeting Practice.

Mayor Krieg shared his thoughts on why the change to 10am occurred saying, "It comes down to productivity and Workplace Health and Safety". He said that people are more productive in the mornings and that he observes councillors yawning and eyes drooping when a meeting hits 9pm because councillors work or run businesses during the day.

Mayor Krieg also said he spoke to the Byron Mayor, who said their public access can go up to two hours with a 9 o'clock start time, indicating there is not a lack of public engagement in its shire.

This was supported by Cr Jensen, who mentioned the safety aspect of driving home late at night for councillors and staff after a 10:30pm or 11pm finish and fatigue management.

Cr Dalton-Earls, who voted for the change last week, asked for an early afternoon start, which "poses a better balance".

It was at this time that Cr Rob asked the question about who was representing councillors as council staff: "When the staff load up our agenda to make us go to 1:30 that we determined to change the meeting time to ensure to do that, so that we're basically being forced our hand by staff loading up our agendas that meetings were going so long."

The General Manager, Jon Gibbons, replied, "Imputing wrongdoing and improper motives by employees is also a breach of the Code of Meeting Practice. In this particular matter, council officers haven't been involved in putting forward a report around these times. We've responded to requests that councillors have had about how that might work or the section of the Code of Meeting Practice about why this meeting here today was at the time it is."

"We don't load up meeting agendas. We do honourable things here in an impartial way and we follow our codes and documents the best way that we can. So, I do request all councillors just to respect officers in this chamber, and we're all here for the good of the community at the end of the day and not for our own self-interest."

The Rescission Motion was put to the vote and it was lost 5/6, with Crs Rob, Waters, Dalton-Earls, Knight-Smith and Guise voting for and Crs Gordon, Hall, Jensen, Bing, Battista and Krieg voting against.

10am council meetings are here to stay.

When the agenda moved to item 10.1, that was when the gamesmanship commenced because of the result of the above vote.

While the debate and questions went on for more than an hour, Acting Chief Financial Officer John Hartley kept reiterating the same point, "I just like to elaborate with councillors. Council has so much cash in the bank; you can't dispute that. It is the bank balance. It's reconciled. This is our cash.

"The other option, if Council doesn't approve this, to fund our shortfall in cash. If council wants to fully fund these reserves, the other option is to go into restricted funds, which is a breach of the Office of Local Government and would be a breach of the legislation. So, the only way we can fund and make sure that we have got sufficient funds in restricted reserves, which are externally restricted, is to reduce our cash on hand in these reserves.

"And all I'm reporting is saying we only have $14 million in internal cash. That is all this report is trying to tell you. I've taken out all the restricted stuff. I'm just saying we have $14 million internally restricted cash, which we can apply to certain reserves. However, as I've already explained, we've got 15 and a half million dollars already come into the bank from our grants. We expect more to come in strongly. Actually, more of a would have come in by now, which is a cash flow issue. It's a timing issue. That's all it is. We have to cut our reports off at the 30th of June. We have to report at a certain date and time, and that's all we are doing."

Cr Rob put forward a motion that council defer making a decision on 2023/2024 Reserves until after councillors have been trained and a briefing is held to determine if any amendments are required to Reserve policy 1.5.10.

That was defeated 9/2, with only Crs Rob and Guise voting for it.

The original motion was then moved with an amendment for councillors to be briefed on the Reserve Policy. This was passed 9/2, with Crs Rob and Guise voting against.

The final item on the agenda was the Audited Financial Statements for the Year ended 30 June 2024.

There were a few questions to understand the document and clarify certain points, but after 10 minutes, it was put to the vote. Again, it was a 9/2 split, with Crs Rob and Guise voting against it.

We only have two weeks to wait until the next Lismore City Council meeting on Tuesday, November 12 at 10am.

Hopefully, all councillors will focus on the items on the agenda that have the community's best interest at heart. After all, that is why they were elected less than two months ago.