The biggest potential issue to come out of last night's Lismore City Council meeting was the transfer of the management of the collection and disposal of flood-generated waste from NSW Public Works to the Lismore City Council (LCC).

If this occurs then the potential cost to LCC is $150-300,000 per week or approximately $650,000 to $1.3 million per month. A concern for all Lismore residents.

General Manager John Walker said, "I do not favour taking over the contract and we are doing everything we can to not do so."

The resolution put to councillors was in case Public Works doesn't continue with the work so council will have a plan to remove waste in a smooth cost-conscious way.

"This is complicated because its also regional flood waste as well as Lismore only and there's a lot of issues around the tip site which are complicated and we will be coming back to you as a council shortly about that whole matter because Public Works effectively is operating on half of the site."

Mr Walker mentioned that we, unlike other councils, have not had to outlay any money so far and then recoup the outgoing expense. Public Works has paid for all flood waste removal up front.

If that changes in the future though, Mr Walker's comments were concerning.

"This issue is significant. We do not have the staff to do it. We do not have the capacity financially to do it unless there's a guarantee of payment. We're still trying to understand why this is coming to a head. So, those negotiations continue but we won't agree to it if it puts us at any risk."

Last night's council meeting had its usual point of orders, insults, apologies, refusal to apologise and a number of motions put forward by Councillor (Cr) Rob that were not seconded.

Speaking of Cr Rob, in a confidential session at the end of the council meeting, Cr Rob was formally censured for four breaches of the Code of Conduct clauses 3.1a), b), c), d), e) and g) as well as 3.6 and 3.8 of Council's Code of Conduct under section 440G of the Local Government Act 1993.

Council will now review its Social Media Guidelines and Policy to better address the circumstances that arose in this matter. This was as recommended in the confidential Code of Conduct Investigation report dated 15 July 2022.

The clauses that Cr Rob breached are:

General conduct

3.1 You must not conduct yourself in a manner that:

a) is likely to bring the council or other council officials into disrepute

b) is contrary to statutory requirements or the council’s administrative requirements or policies

c) is improper or unethical

d) is an abuse of power

e) causes, comprises or involves intimidation or verbal abuse

f) involves the misuse of your position to obtain a private benefit

g) constitutes harassment or bullying behaviour under this code, or is unlawfully discriminatory.

Harassment and discrimination

3.6 You must not harass or unlawfully discriminate against others, or support others who harass or unlawfully discriminate against others, on the grounds of age, disability, race (including colour, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status), sex, pregnancy, marital or relationship status, family responsibilities or breastfeeding, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status or political, religious or other affiliation. 

Bullying

3.8 You must not engage in bullying behaviour towards others.

Other issues to be voted on included the motion by Cr Adam Guise to adjust Council's Invest Policy that involves the divestment of fossil fuel investments and moving towards council using 100% renewable energy.

Cr Guise mentioned that 'back in the day' LCC had 70% of their money invested in non-fossil fuel companies and now that has changed to 70% in companies that profit from fossil fuel. This was due to LCC borrowing money from TCorp (NSW Treasury Corporation) that had strings attached.

Cr Gordon commented that the investments in non-fossil fuel investments made a loss of 11% while Cr Rob said, "All we are doing is protesting against the banks."

As for renewable energy, LCC has a contract in place to use 100% renewable energy by 2025 so the plan was to transition over the next two and a bit years.

Cr Guise's motion was defeated 5/4 with Crs Gordon, Rob, Jensen, Bing and Krieg voting against and Crs Guise, Bird, Cook and Colby voting for.

The loss-making LCC asset Blakebrook Quarry was another Cr Guise motion to be defeated, this time 6/3.

Cr Guise was seeking community consultation if council considered selling or leasing Blakebrook Quarry in the future as well as determining the quarry's importance to the LGA. "I fundamentally believe that we need to have a quarry," Cr Guise said as he linked the flood recovery for our roads and construction to the Blakebrook Quarry.

Cr Guise has a history of voting against budgets that include loss-making assets like Blakebrook, GSAC and the Lismore Aiport and also voted against extending the life of the Santin Quarry.

After Cr Rob said that Blakebrook Quarry loses money and we need to look at ways to make this profitable, Cr Guise said that Blakebrook has not always lost money, it has been mismanaged.

Look out for more community meetings as the Post Flood Recovery Roundtable Public Forum was voted for 7/2. The meetings are looking to build a vision for what Lismore will look like in 15 years. Initially, councillors, council staff and key stakeholders will have a workshop on October 15 to come up with a framework then there will be "meaningful community engagement processes" from Cr Bird that will result in a vision that is "community-driven" from Cr Rob.

The Goonellabah Youth& Community Centre or Magpie Centre will commence discussion, planning and funding avenues after it was given the support of councillors in principal and the land at 554 Dunoon Road at Tullera has been reclassified as Operational so that a new reservoir can be built to supply the North Lismore Plateau community if building commences.

The reservoir would only be built once the lower North Lismore Plateau development is greater than 100 new homes.

Congratulations to Cr Jeri Hall who was voted as LCC's new Deputy Mayor until September 2023.