Councillor Jon Galletly said he would be voting against all nine motions submitted by councillor Dorothy Robinson for the Armidale Regional Council's May Ordinary meeting to be held tonight.
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"We are in dire straits, and we just don't need this," Cr Galletly said.
"We don't have any money, and we're very short staffed.
"Cr Robinson has put up all the notices of motion on the agenda, and while some of them don't cost any money, it is still staff time we don't have."
Cr Robinson put forward motions requesting council: develops a future borrowing strategy that leverages current low-interest rates; forms a Cities Power Partnership; publishes public submissions on the ARC website; recommences live streaming the public forum; waives fees and charges under exceptional circumstances; discounts council water charges; amends the general manager's performance assessment criteria; works towards meeting national air quality standards; and writes to the Minister of Local Government requesting additional help and time to meet the Performance Improvement Order.
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"We've only got a couple of months left to try to work and toe the line because we have got a heap of restrictions put on us," Cr Galletly said.
"I don't know if it is to get votes, but I've just about had a gut full, and it's making it so hard for the people that want to give a bit of stability.
"In normal times, there's some stuff there that's got a bit of guts to it, but I think the comments our general manager make covers it quite well."
Armidale Regional Council general manager James Roncon comments are stated on each of the notice of motions, and while he agreed all Cr Robinsons motions were worthwhile, he said if they were adopted, they would need to de-prioritise other projects.
Mr Roncons comment on the future borrowing strategy nomination of motion probably best sums up the tone of all his comments.
'A focus on core business or back to basics over the next few years will ensure the current dire financial position of council is salvageable and sustainable into the longer term.'
Regarding the clean air motion, Mr Roncon said while it was an admirable nomination of motion, he would need to de-prioritise something else to deliver it.
"I do not currently have the resources, human or financial, to deploy to this task," he said.
On the amendment to his performance criteria, he said ARC is not currently in a financial position that permits its general manager to achieve even the most basic and fundamental measures of success.
Cr Galletly said some of the motions, in the right times, have 'got a bit of credence'.
"But our socks are still drying on the line, so we can't put the bastards on or even pull them up," he said.
"It just flabbergasts me.
"We are in dire straits financially and employee wise. We have to get some stability, and then when we get the new lot of councillors in, we can do something.
"It's getting to a crucial stage, and a lot of these people that are wanting to get back on the council are using these things to the hilt, I believe."
Cr Robinson said it was not just her raising the motions, but she was the only one who submitted them in her name before the cut off date.
"It was the three female councillors - myself, Cr Deborah O'Brien and Cr Margaret O'Connor that all got together, and we all agreed to nominate these motions," she said.
"I haven't even decided yet whether I am going to stand for council again, and I'm sure the others haven't either.
"We haven't had much opportunity to make an input and make a difference since we have been reinstated, and that has been the problem every time we make a suggestion, even a simple suggestion."
Cr Robinson said she found the general managers negativity 'very hard' to understand.
"Even simple things like making public submissions public - doesn't seem a major difficulty," she said.
"We have got to regain the trust of our community, and if people put in submissions and nothing happens to them, we aren't going to engage with the community.
"What I've seen happen in the past - this meeting for example - we will be approving six public consultations and not one of them has received a submission, last month we approved five policy changes again without any submission from the public, and we are going to be putting another 14 on display this month at the same time as we're putting the budget on display.
"And we are not really engaging with the community, and we're not getting their responses, and my job as a councillor is to find out how to engage with the community and to get people to respond.
"We really do need to do better engaging with the community; we need to listen to what they're saying and to act on what they need.
Cr Robinson said she thought most things like live streaming and putting public submissions on display would save money and show the public that the council has been listening to them.
"I don't know how many motions we will get up," she said.
"We will just have to see how many people listen to reason."
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