The first Lismore City Council meeting of the new four-year term was held last night at council chambers. It was supposed to be a ceremonial and procedural meeting as councillors took their Oath or Affirmation of Office and made decisions about which councillor would be on which committee.

When the agenda moved to 11.6 Council's Ordinary Meeting Schedule, returning Councillor (Cr) Gianpiero Battista put forward an amendment that council meetings start at 10am on the second Tuesday of each month rather than the historical 6pm.

Waiving his right to speak on the matter until his right of reply, Cr Big Rob said he would resign at first.

"So, this is a surprise. 10am starts. I'll resign, and we'll see how we go over a count back because I ran for council that started at 6pm. I work during the day, I'm in court at 10 o'clock most days. Most of the people around this table actually have jobs and have to go to work, and to do this at 10am is going to make this council ineffective because people won't be here because they'll be at work.

"This is going to be a big problem for this council. We've looked at it before, it doesn't work, 10am starts. It just doesn't work. People can't come and speak because they're at work. So we lose all that. This is a this is a way to stop engagement. I think it's a disgrace that it wasn't circulated before this meeting so we could lobby and get some people here to try and stop this because this is an absolute joke."

Cr Guise was also surprised by the potential time change.

"This is a bit of a surprise. Look, I can appreciate Councillor Batista's sentiment, but you do have to acknowledge that there's a number of Councillors here that do have day jobs, and this would preclude them from participating fully as councillors and also would exclude members of our public that have daytime commitments. So it is a departure of tradition and what was put forward in the business paper, and it would require some discussion."

In his right of reply, Cr Battista did say Lismore City Council was the only council in the Northern Rivers to have a 6pm start.

"There's a lot of issue with staff having to work long hours and then having to continue at night time. Some of us work during the day, and then has to come in at six o'clock and I do remember meetings finishing at like midnight. I believe, in the previous term, you finished at two o'clock. Is that correct one time? I mean to ask people that live in the rural areas to travel back to their place of (residence), that's just like a WHS issue. You don't want to do that."

Cr Battista also addressed Cr Guise concerns about 6pm being a tradition.

"We need to change. We need to make things better for for us, for Lismore, for the staff, for everybody. And I think changing the time to 10 o'clock till 2(pm) once a month. I'm not asking to change the briefing time. The briefing time will be still at six o'clock or workshop. I'm only asking for for us to change the time of ordinary meetings once a month for four hours, maybe five. If we decide to go to three o'clock, but there will be after a resolution of council voting. So, I just think that it's a good idea. I think we need to move on and to change things and make it better."

When put to a vote, it was 7/4 in favour.

Following the vote, Cr Rob then asked to go back to point 4 on the agenda which was Apologies and Applications for Leave of Absence or Attendance by Audio Visual Link (AVL).

"Since you did that, sprung it on us without any notification, which is completely inappropriate for something like that. We go back to Apologies, Applications for Leave of Absence. I'll take the rest of the year off because I can't make that time because I go to court."

Cr Rob then asked that he be approved for the AVL link, "In case I can make it, but I can't make it to the meetings."

That vote was unanimous.

Back to the ceremonial and procedural part of the meeting.

Aunty Thelma gave a Welcome to Country before every councillor, except Big Rob, as he had taken his Oath at a private ceremony, took the Oath or Affirmation of Office. Starting with Mayor Krieg, they each read out the Office of Local Government oath according to Section 933A of the Local Government Act.

General Manager Jon Gibbons said in his opening speech, "I certainly believe there's no greater honour than being elected to serve your local community in local government, and I would like to congratulate all councillors for putting your hat into the ring. I now have the privilege of overseeing the taking of the oath and affirmation.

"I, Steve Krieg, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of councillor in the best interests of the people of Lismore and the Lismore City Council and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other act to the best of my ability and judgment."

Mayor Krieg was followed by new councillor Virginia Waters, Harper Dalton-Earls and the rest in a clockwise direction.

When the oath or affirmation was complete, Mayor Krieg welcomed the councillors to the new term and said, "The best referendum you can have is an election, and we are all sitting here as a result of the voting public. And so we are all equals as councillors, and we should perform our duties to the best of our abilities."

Cr Jeri Hall retained her position of Deputy Mayor with a 7/4 vote over new Labor Councillor Jasmine Knight-Smith through an open vote.

When it came to nominating and in some cases voting on which councillors would be on which committees, it was decided that some advisory groups, such as the Nimbin Advisory Group, the Aboriginal Advisory Group and the Sister City Advisory Group would go to a workshop to look at each group's terms of reference.

"It's a great refresh. We've got new people in the room here tonight. They may have a different set of eyes on how they run."

The list of committees and groups and which councillor will sit or chair them is:

• ARIC (Audit Risk & Improvement Committee) - Cr Bing
• General Manager Performance Review Committee - Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Cr Jensen. The general manager has the right to appoint another person to that committee.
• NRs Bushfire Management Committee - Cr Battista and Cr Knight-Smith
• NSW Rural Fire Service Zone Liaison Committee - Cr Battista, with Cr Knight-Smith as the alternate
• NRs Joint Organisation Committee - Mayor Krieg
• Local Traffic Committee - Cr Hall
• Arts Northern Rivers - Cr Jensen, with Cr Waters as the alternate
• Australian Day Awards - Mayor is Chair, Cr Hall, Rob Cr and Cr Dalton-Earls
• Flood Risk Management Committee - Cr Dalton-Earls, Cr Rob, Cr Waters, Cr Knight-Smith and Cr Jensen. The Mayor nominates the Chair which was Cr Rob
• Richmond Tweed Regional Library - Cr Knight-Smith, Cr Dalton-Earls, with Cr Waters the alternate.
• Local Government Conference - Mayor Krieg, Cr Hall and Cr Waters.

The vote to see which two Lismore City Councillors represent Lismore City Council on Rous County Council for water security and some flood mitigation was through a ballot vote.

The nominations were Mayor Krieg, Cr Gordon and Cr Waters.

Cr Gordon received six (6) votes in the first round and was the first delegate confirmed, followed by Mayor Steve Krieg in the second round of voting. Both votes were 6/3.

Cr Adam Guise was the only councillor to not nominate or be confirmed to any advisory group or committee at this stage.

It should be noted that the Casual Vacancy proposal was declared when a unanimous vote was received.

This states that if, for some reason, a councillor cannot carry out their duties or they resign within 18 months, the countback method from the September 14 local council elections will determine who will replace them. If a vacancy occurs after 18 months, council will operate with one (1) fewer councillors or more. This was the case when Lismore City Council was reduced to eight (8) councillors when elections were delayed due to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021.

There will be an extraordinary Lismore City Council Meeting on Tuesday, October 29 at 10am.