Level five water restrictions will remain in the region following Armidale Regional Council's meeting on Wednesday.
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Level five restrictions have been in place in Armidale since October last year, and at Wednesday's meeting interim administrator Viv May moved that Council notes Level five Water restrictions are in force across the LGA and these restrictions will be reviewed by Council's Utilities personnel for report to Council when the Bureua of Meteorology (BOM) summer rainfall outlook is available or dam storage increases significantly.
Former mayor of Armidale Dumaresq Council Herman Beyersdorf spoke in the public forum, pushing for elected council to make the decisions rather than the non-elected staff.
"To my knowledge....this council, the previous council the last 12 months or 18 months...had not ever formally discussed the matter of water restrictions," Mr Beyersdorf said.
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"I think it's high time that Council, or in this case yourself Mr Administrator, should look at it rather than leaving it to the non-elected staff, different to their expertise.
"I would like perhaps the administrator to work together with the staff and with public consultation, looking at it and fairly recent rains and 55 percent in Malpas Dam...I would hope that Council or yourself Mr Administrator could see fit to actually ameliorate some of these restrictions, not throw them out totally...but to ameliorate it."
Former councillor Robert Richardson reiterated Mr Beyersdorf's comments, calling for better communication with the community while expressing concerns with the confusion surrounding the drought management plans for both Armidale and Guyra.
"Up until December 3 2019, there were no public meetings on the water crisis, and even when Council finally had one, it was a meeting in which you had to apply to attend....so they weren't exactly opening it up to the wider public," Mr Richardson said.
"At that meeting I asked about the existence of a drought management plan and was told by the CEO that the two old plans [for Armidale and Guyra] were being harmonised, however I'm really not sure what that means and as far as I know there is still no plan.
"The constituents of Armidale Regional Council are happy to work with Council on the water issue, however on the basis that we know what's going on and can participate in the process, and that Council considers reducing level five to level four water restrictions."
Mr May agreed with some of the issues raised in the public forum but moved and carried the recommendation to remain on level five restrictions.
"I agree with their view that this is a matter that should be determined at the Council level, not an operational issue, but having said that I think you'd be a brave councillor or administrator to go against professional advice in relation to such an important issue to the community," Mr May said.
