Mrs O’Brien said changes to the act could make it more difficult for residents and ratepayers to access important council information.

The legislation, which is aimed at cutting red tape, will remove the requirement for councils to advertise information in a newspaper and allow them to advertise “such other manner as is determined by council”.

The changes are expected to affect requirements to notify the community about proposals to sell land, advertising senior staff positions and legal notices, it will also mean tenders can be delegated to anyone.

Ms O’Brien was particularly concerned that if councils are no longer required to notify ratepayers through newspapers, residents will become misinformed. 

“If it’s being tendered online, it’s not right in the public eye,” Ms O’Brien said.

“If they have to seek it out, they will end up not knowing.

“The public has a right to know what their closest level of a government is doing. 

“It comes at a price.”

She said a lack of information might mean ratepayers are confused come election time. 

Local Government NSW president Keith Rhoades said he was left out of the conversation.  “Local Government NSW was not consulted on the red tape bill,” Cr Rhoades said.

“However, we are generally supportive except on three main issues – delegation of tendering, different thresholds for different councils and the advertising of senior positions.”

Councillor Rhoades suggested the delegation of tenders could “open the door to the risk of corruption” and believed the threshold limits could create two different classes of councils.

“Like most councils, we agree that their advertising requirements need to be more flexible so they can assess the best methods for their individual communities and reduce costs where appropriate,” he said.

Armidale Dumaresq Council was approached for comment, but had not returned The Armidale Express’ calls as this edition went into production.