The Lismore City Council monthly meeting was held for the second time at 10am at Lismore City Council chambers in Goonellabah yesterday.

Despite the previous claims of some councillors that changing the meeting times would lead to less community access, there were approximately ten people in the gallery. Even Councillor (Cr) Rob, who mentioned he would have to appear via video link, has been present in person at both meetings (extraordinary and monthly).

It should be noted the meeting went on until after 4pm, once two confidential items were dealt with, so close to six hours. If the meeting were held at 6pm, the meeting would stop at 10:30pm or be extended if it were possible to complete the meeting, which would not have been the case. This would have meant councillors would need to come back for a second night to complete the business paper.

Historically, the Nimbin community and Lismore City Council and its Councillors haven't always agreed on a unified way forward. However, the Nimbin Place Plan was not only well received by three public gallery speakers, Diana Roberts, Jane Mari and James Wickham; each praised council staff for the process of engaging the Nimbin community.

Diana Roberts said, "This has been an excellent process, in my opinion. It does reflect community opinion."

The identified improvements to Nimbin through the plan include toilet upgrades, more shade and spaces for passive recreation, activities for young people (15-24 years old), activities for kids (under 15), more public gardens, green space and better pedestrian and active transport connections and a public library/museum.

One aspect that was raised but not included in the Nimbin Place Plan was a Traffic Management Plan. This would include parking, travel through the village and how it affects public safety. This has been noted as part of the Nimbin Place Plan going forward as was water hoses for street planters to keep the beautification greenery alive.

There was some debate around 9 Sibley Street, commonly known as Peace Park, not having a Plan of Management, which is a requirement for community land.

This was included in the motion to accept the Nimbin Place Plan, along with allocating annual funding for capital works so the 37 actions in the plan can be executed one by one over the next four years as the budget allows.

While on Nimbin, the council accepted the Nimbin Chamber of Commerce's acquittal report for the expenditure of its annual $17,900 Business Rate and released this year's funds. Councillors also allowed the Nimbin Chamber of Commerce to roll over funds if they were not spent during the year.

During the Audit Report for the 2023/24 financial year, Kevin Franey, a partner at HLB Mann Judd, said that Lismore City Council was tracking in the right direction for long-term financial sustainability.

During the Quarterly Budget Review Statement, it was noted that inflationary pressure could force council to revise its spending to ensure it meets its budget targets. If inflation continues to stabilise, then council can deliver its services at forecast costs or close to forecast so they can be absorbed by council.

Cr Adam Guise asked a question about council's fleet of vehicles after noting they were included in the QBRS.

Chief Operating Officer Brendan Logan said council has started a fleet renewal process. "We've made general fund allocations through the budget process somewhere between three and five million for the last two years. You just draw a simple table, purchase, lease or hire these fleets. It's a no-brainer over a seven-year period to purchase. So we're just on this progressive renewal thing at the moment."

This financial year, Lismore City Council was always going to have an increase in flood restoration works. Council’s original budget for 2024-2025 included a significant level of natural disaster restoration works of $107.29 million. This includes:

• $21.31 million to complete the restoration of Council’s building assets
• $62.678 million for the ongoing restoration of the road network
• $10.55 million for the waste facility
• $11.252 million for water and sewer restoration (managed by Public Works) and
• $1.5 million for flood resilience.

Creating a vision for the Northern Rivers and for Lismore has been a topic of discussion for the last two and a half years. Yesterday, Mayor Steve Krieg was asked about the NRJO (Northern Rivers Joint Organisation) Regional Vision and Master Plan now that the mayors have had their first meeting since the September elections.

"As we've seen in the past when councils go into caretaker mode," Mayor Krieg replied, "The state government keeps chipping away at things, and sometimes decisions are made that aren't necessarily in the best interests of affected councils. So, as a joint organisation, with all seven councils affected, it was decided to ask the Reconstruction Authority just to put a pause on where the vision and master plan work is going until after the election.

"Then, as we all know, I think we've got three new mayors on NRJO now, and so it was briefly mentioned on Friday's NRJO meeting in Murwillumbah we will be going into a workshop about where that is headed into the future, but basically it was just so that the state government didn't think that they and the Reconstruction Authority could continue on and do work without consulting with the seven-member councils."

The focus then shifted to Lismore City Council's Community Strategic Plan (CSP), a key document that has not been updated since 2014. This is in place of the Reimagine Lismore Long-term Vision and Plan that has stalled in the last six months.

Council resolved in February this year to establish a Reimagine Lismore Advisory Panel and endorsed terms of reference for the panel at the April meeting. There was much debate about the name of the advisory panel, the Citizens Jury and Citizens Assembly were other names discussed. The updated CSP needs to be completed by 30 June 2025, and with the Advisory Panel yet to be endorsed and then engaged in the manner set out in the terms of reference, a choice had to be made. The CSP won.

Not every councillor was happy. Cr Guise called the decision a disservice to our community. "That doesn't give our community any certainty or structure going forward about how we live life post-flood and with other disasters going forward. So, I don't support abandoning such a process."

Cr Knight-Smith said, "I was really disappointed initially with the make-up of the Reimagine Lismore Advisory Panel. It should have been a proper community consultation, but to abandon what we've already created and to waste over $100,000 that's already been spent just seems absurd."

Mayor Krieg offered a different point of view, saying that we've gone around in circles and got absolutely nowhere. "Now, we have a brand new council, a brand new opportunity to actually refocus, revision, not only update our CSP, which is well over a decade old and is in desperate need of a total overhaul, which I'm excited about doing, but also working in with the NRJO, the CSIRO to develop, not only a region best practice for Lismore, but for the region and for the broader community."

This was supported by Cr Dalton-Earls, who agreed with the mayor that we shouldn't revisit the past, while Cr Gordon said, "I think this is a great opportunity, with a room full of brand new people to come and sit down in consultation, as written, with the community to come up with a brand new CSP."

The intent of the motion is to allow staff to develop a revised engagement program plan and to deliver engagement activities to inform the new CSP within the available timeframe.

The motion was passed 8/2 with Crs Bing, Jensen, Gordon, Rob, Waters, Dalton-Earls and Krieg, with Crs Guise and Knight-Smith voting against. Cr Hall had left the chamber.

The final Lismore City Council meeting for 2024 will be held on December 10 at 10am.