So, Rous County Council wants to move out of Lismore, that was the big news of the week.

For those who don’t know Rous is what they call a County Council that covers several different councils and supplies services to those constituent councils. In this case, it is water, flood mitigation and weed control.

These used to be done by three different organisations which were Rous for water, North Coast Weeds for the obvious and Richmond River County Council for flood mitigation. I was once a Councillor on Richmond River County Council when it was decided that it along with weeds should amalgamate with Rous who were already supplying the corporate services for the various organisations.

This was done about 7 or so years ago and in real terms, nothing changed other than the council representatives on weeds and RRCC voted themselves out of their positions.

The Rous Council representatives had complete control.

The Council representatives get voted onto their positions by the various constituent Councils and are there for the term of the Council, this one extended by 12 months. I always put my hand up but never had the support to get on, usually payback for the support given during the election to the winning side of which I have never been, that is the game that is played.

Once on an external committee which Rous is one you are there to do what you see is right and one of the frustrating things that I find is that there is never any feedback sought on anything that might affect the Council you represent. Things are reported back after the event.

So, to the decision by Rous to move out of Lismore, that was taken in their June 16^th meeting, and nothing was mentioned to us fellow Councillors at LCC by the Representatives which are the Mayor, Councillor Ekins, and Councillor Darlene Cook, not before the 16^th or after.

As I look back at the summary of the meeting that we do get supplied said that in the confidential part of the meeting there was something called “Consolidation of workplace locations” was that Council authorised the GM of Rous to negotiate the purchase of “the” property as described in the body of the report (not seen outside of the meeting) subject to favourable reports being obtained as identified in the risk mitigation section of the report.

Means nothing unless you have all the details, and we were supplied the summary on June 24.

But obviously, this has been going on for a long time and that a property had already been found and decided upon as satisfactory.

My take on it is that the ability to tell us their fellow Councillors who put them in that position and to canvas our collective positions on this important decision had been there for a long time but not taken. Why not?

Had they even had discussions with LCC’s GM so maybe a conversation could be had about Lismore being able to supply the needs of Rous. Who knows?

I don’t.

The complete lack of communication back to us on something that I and it would seem so many others is mind-boggling and maybe a little arrogant.

Was it not obvious to our representative Councillors that this is a complete slap in the face to the rest of us and the community at large?

Did they not see that helping move one of the largest organisations out of Lismore and actually supporting the decision would be seen as complete stupidity?

Did they not think it would be better for them to take the opportunity if Rous wanted to bring many of their staff under one roof that to do so in Lismore would be a good thing?

Obviously not.

Even if you wanted to play a political game to make yourselves look good you would have voted against it and the decision would have passed 6 votes to 2. You would have lost but at least you could have held your head up high in public and said I tried to keep Rous in Lismore.

But no, it seems from the Mayor’s comments in the media that it was a unanimous vote to leave the regions biggest city for greener pastures.

Ultimately you didn’t take any opportunity to seek guidance from your fellow councillors over an extended time, you didn’t canvas those same councillors before the vote on what you were contemplating doing and even worse you didn’t fight for the people and the city you represent.

Disappointed, you bet I am.

Neil Marks is Deputy Mayor of Lismore City Councillor who, after 33 years as a radio broadcaster, now has a day job in a Lismore motorcycle shop where he gets to indulge his passion for all things two-wheeled and motorised. He's also the voice of the Lismore Speedway.