FRUSTRATION from Coffs Harbour City councillors over a lack of information about Council’s waste management actions has led to councillors unanimously calling for Council to provide a summary of its waste management actions since 2018.

Cr Tegan Swan and Cr Sally Townley moved at Council’s meeting on Thursday 22 July for Council to provide a chronological list of discussions, negotiations, offers, tenders and current contracts between Council and Biomass, Handybin, the EPA, Bellingen Shire and Nambucca Valley Councils and any other relevant stakeholders.

They also called on Council to provide details of its total legal costs, present future waste options currently being investigated, provide a report on the performance of the current bulky goods collection process, and prepare a list of council resolutions relating to waste and a status on their implementation.

Cr Tegan Swan understood that obtaining this information was asking a lot of Council, but stressed that waste management was one of Council’s “core responsibilities”.

“This is really, really important, our future waste, how we’re going to date, where we’re going in the future, the situation we find ourselves in and really understanding that and what it looks like moving forward is incredibly important,” Cr Swan stated.

“We know there have been some difficulties, we know we are gonna face some challenges in the future, we know that we have a big responsibility to be as sustainable and as innovative with our waste solutions as we possibly can be.

“This is a way that we can know exactly where we’re at and be able to move forward in a positive and constructive way.”

Cr Paul Amos said the call for waste management information by councillors was “born out of frustration”.

“It’s really about councillors not getting any information with regards to the EPA involvement, the contractor involvement, Bellingen and Nambucca Councils, we have just been blocked continually for I don’t know how long,” Cr Amos stressed.

“All I want to do is get in a room, look people in the eye and actually get all sides of the story so I can make decisions as a councillor, like big ones like transporting our waste to another State.

“I haven’t got the information.”

Cr Sally Townley agreed that councillors hadn’t received enough information and stated she would be writing to the NSW Ombudsman to investigate this issue if the information wasn’t provided to councillors.

“I agree that there hasn’t been information forthcoming as much as what I would have liked,” Cr Townley stated.

“If a lot of this information isn’t forthcoming I will also be writing to the NSW Ombudsman asking for an investigation from them, but I’m hoping that all of this information will be presented in a reasonably short space of time.

“I would hope that all councillors see the urgency of having all of this information at hand as soon as possible.”

Councillors unanimously voted that Council, from 2018 to present, provide a chronological list of discussions, negotiations, offers, tenders and current contracts between Coffs Harbour City Council and Biomass, Handybin, EPA, Bellingen and Nambucca Councils and other relevant stakeholders.

Council will also provide details of total legal costs, present future waste management options currently being investigated, provide a report on the performance of the current bulky goods collection process, and prepare a list of council resolutions relating to waste and the status of their implementation.

 

By Emma DARBIN