Hilltops Council voted to reject the DA proposal for a new piggery on a property near Harden, despite impassioned arguments from C Brian Ingram an Cr Jo Mackay, that Councillors should approve the application based on the recommendation from Council staff and approval from a number of state bodies.
A number of people spoke for and against the application during the public forum, however, in the end the decision came down to the Councillors, some of whom excused themselves from taking part in the meeting following non-pecuniary interests.
Cr Tony Flanery opted to excuse himself from the discussion and vote around the proposed site due to a separate business connection he shares with the proponent, while Cr Matthew Stadtmiller, who appeared at the meeting remotely from his car, chose not to take part following legal advice that he may have a conflict of interest due to his being the chairman of Goldenfields Water County Council.
"I potentially have a significant, non pecuniary, conflict of interest," Cr Stadtmiller said.
"I went back and forth with my team at Goldenfields and sought legal advice, it may have been the same legal advice that Council sought, but I believe it's going to exclude me from taking part in the same item that Cr Flanery just mentioned and it's unfortunately due to the fact that I'm the chairman of Goldenfield Water County Council."
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Cr Stadtmiller apologised to the community and to his fellow councillors for not taking part in the vote and said he would be releasing the information provided to him to the public on Thursday.
"I'll be releasing that information tomorrow I suppose," Cr Stadtmiller said.
Cr Piper originally was going to excuse himself from taking part in the motion due to him being a Councillor on the Goldenfields Water Council, however, he ultimately decided to stay and take part after not making a declaration.
Cr Mary Dodd asked what the purpose of Cr Stadtmiller and Cr Piper excusing themselves would have on not taking part in the vote.
"They're not representing Goldenfields here," she said.
Mr O'Reilly explained that it was up to the individual Councillors to declare any type of conflict of interest, pecuniary or non pecuniary interest prior to the motion.
"I will start at the outset," Cr O'Reilly said. "It is up to the Councillor to determine whether or not they fall within this category and as Cr Stadtmiller has noted, it was brought to my attention that there may be a significant, non pecuniary conflict of interest under 5.9(d) of the Code of Conduct, where it says 'membership as the Council's representative of a board or a management committee of an organisation, in this case for Cr Stadtmiller and Cr Piper, that is Goldenfields, that is affected by a decision or a matter under consideration, in circumstances where the interests of the Council and the organisation are potentially in conflict in relation to the particular matter."
Cr Flanery and Cr Stadtmiller both left the meeting when the matter was mentioned.
The motion to discuss the DA was moved by Cr Ingram and seconded by Cr Mackay.
Cr Ingram thanked all of the speakers from the public forum before he spoke for the recommendation to approve the application.
"The information helps Councillors make decisions and there's always two sides to the story," Cr Ingram said. "It's always good when people bring their thoughts forward to Councillors so we know.
"In regard to the DA I congratulate the applicant for a comprehensive report that came forward with this and also Council staff and their consultants that were engaged to investigate and follow up on concerns that everyone had."
He went on to say that he had faith in the applicant due to their recognition as industry leaders and various sustainability awards.
"They are leaders in their industry, at the top," Cr Ingram said of the applicant.
Cr Ingram thanked everyone both for and against the proposal that had reached out to him and shared their thoughts and concerns on the DA, he went on to say he had spoken with a local family to the property and listened to their concerns the night prior to the meeting.
"Last night after taking what I'd call a passionate phone call from a family who feel they will be greatly affected by the piggery for a number of reasons, I sat back down and I went through the report again," Cr Ingram said. "I always said I will make informed decisions, responsible decisions.
"I looked at the concerns that they mentioned to me and as I went through the report again, the state bodies, the NSW Environment Protection Authority, NSW Department of Environment and Heritage, NSW Department of Planning and Environment and Water, DPE, all listed general terms of approval."
Cr Ingram said he would defer to the experts from relevant state government departments and the consultants who worked with Council employees to come up with the recommendation.
"As many know, and I've said before, and I'm not even a shearing contractor anymore, I'm a retired shearing contractor, so I'll leave these matters to people who know what they're talking about," he said.
"I went back through them again and I went to the Hilltops staff recommendation and the immense amount of work they have put in to it, and I congratulate the director and his staff, and they recommend to grant consent, all be it, deferred, so while I have the greatest empathy for the neighbours and greatest respect for the speakers and Aunty Enid and Norma, I find myself in a situation where I need to make a informed, responsible decision, that I believe and my integrity will be in place.
"I will look anybody in the eye at anytime - in regard to the speaker who asked that - face to face at anytime, for any decision that I ever make since I've been on Council for 12 years."
Cr Alison Foreman spoke against the proposal saying that she had issues with the location of the proposal.
"I really respect and thank also everybody that has given us both sides of their story, it is such a tough decision," Cr Foreman said.
"I commend the Beveridge's and their staff and everybody that's involved with them on being a professional unit, I have absolutely no doubt they have put all of their mitigations in place, they are very good operators, they are good for the town and I commend them on being so good.
"But, the more that I look and the more that I think about it and the information that we have had to look at, and can I tell you there has been report after report, page after page, my biggest concern from the minute - and I did attend the site visit and I did look around out there - and my big concern has always been and it still is the location."
Cr Foreman said that everything else she believes would be fine, however, she had concerns over the water table and how close Jugiong Creek, which runs into the Murrumbidgee, is to the site.
"Everything is spot on, it's just the location that bothers me and the reason that I will specify that is an issue for me is the drinking water and the significant risk there could possibly happen to the drinking water to the potable water," Cr Foreman said.
"That water starts in the bottom at Maniac Creek, it heads into I believe it's the Cunningham Creek into the Jugiong River into the Murrumbidgee River. I see and I think to myself, this is everybody's water. Now, all the mitigations are put in place, and I can see that things have been ticked and we are considering passing this, with considerations, but at the end of the day the drinking water at the bottom of that slope belongs to all of us.
"We have to consider everybody in this decision, all communities, everybody that drinks that water.
"I hope you respect how I feel about that, but that is my thought."
There was a contentious moment when during discussion Mayor Margaret Roles foreshadowed a motion that the recommendation be rejected with reasons given. At the time not all Councillors had spoken on the original motion and Cr Ingram called for a point of order.
"I believe Madam Mayor is about to foreshadow a motion that would take away the ability of this to be brought back as opposed to how Allandale Road has been brought back," Cr Ingram said.
"I have real serious concerns about this and will take this matter way further if that's about to happen in this chamber. If that's the reason, you want to rule this lost, your intentions aren't full of integrity Madam Mayor."
"What I said was if the motion is lost," Mayor Roles said. "I have the feeling, and can I call on the Director of Planning, to clarify, if this motion is lost..."
"How can you be talking about this sort of stuff, when you don't know?" Cr Ingram questioned, "This is ridiculous, Mr General Manager!"
The Mayor then asked the General Manager how she could put forward the foreshadowed motion.
"Mr General Manager, please adjudicate and set this straight," Cr Ingram called.
General Manager Anthony O'Reilly explained his understanding to the Councillors.
"My understanding is, and having conferred with the director of planning, the expectation is that if a matter is lost there should be something in place to say why it was lost," he said.
"In relation to a lost motion, the motion does not exist, so therefore a lost motion, there is no resolution on Council, the motion is lost, so therefore the matter can be brought back, as it was tonight in the notice of motion."
Cr Jo Mackay also spoke for the decision reiterating Cr Ingram's comments in regards to deferring to the experts.
Cr Patrick FitzGerald and Mayor Margaret Roles both said they couldn't vote for the recommendation for ethical reasons due to smell and concerns over water, with both stating they did not like intensive farming.
Cr John Piper and Cr Mary Dodd also spoke against the recommendation.
The motion for the DA was lost with Cr Ingram and Cr Mackay voting for the recommendation and Cr Foreman, Cr FitzGerald, Cr Roles, Cr Piper and Cr Dodd voting against the motion. Cr Hewson was absent from the meeting.
Last Thursday a notice of motion was put to Council with the matter to be brought forward at an extraordinary meeting that was held on Wednesday September 4 at 4.30pm, after The Young Witness and The Boorowa News went to print.
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