Newcastle pools decision remains with council CEO after rescission motion rejected

Greens councillors John Mackenzie and Charlotte McCabe and Liberals Jenny Barrie and Katrina Wark lodged the reversal motion after Labor councillors declared conflicts of interest on awarding a contract to lease and operate the five council pools in May. Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said at the time she was removing herself because a politician had repeatedly instructed her on how to vote on the tender.

The move meant a quorum of councillors could not be reached, and the Labor majority moved to delegate the power to the CEO.

Cr McCabe said after lodging the rescission that councillors were "allowed to have public political positions on things like privatisation and employment standards which do not preclude us from making informed decisions as councillors".

Labor councillors again declared conflicts in the matter on June 27, stating their reasons were the same as the May meeting.

They said they would remain for the discussion but would not vote on a tender. Cr McCabe and Cr Nelmes were not present at the meeting.

The rescission motion was discussed in confidential session, prompting Liberal councillor Callum Pull to raise a point of order saying councillors should be able to debate if the matter should be heard confidentially.

However deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen, who was chairing the meeting, received legal advice that the motion was procedural and there was no opportunity to debate it.

Cr Pull then moved a motion of dissent against the decision, which was voted down by Labor councillors.

Cr Pull said it was "a shame" the matter was not debated publicly.

"It's a matter of good governance," he said. "What can be discussed in open council should be discussed in open council.

"The rescission motion did not mention any commercial information, or a specific tender. It was to rescind a delegation.

"The community rightfully have many questions about the course of action that these Labor councillors have taken in abdicating their responsibility over this decision, and deserve details about why these conflicts have had to be declared."

A City of Newcastle spokesperson said the rescission motion was discussed confidentially as it "specifically referenced that it was in response to the confidential tender for the management of our swimming pools".

"This should come as no surprise as all debates regarding tenders are at least in part confidential given the need to protect the commercial information of those businesses tendering for council contracts," the spokesperson said.

"Councillors were provided almost a week's notice that the rescission motion would be debated in confidential session.

"Had Councillor Pull not waited until the meeting to raise his concern, the meeting rules around council meetings would have allowed a debate to have occurred publicly about whether the rescission motion needed to be debated in a confidential session."

The rescission motion was defeated. The Herald understands Labor councillors voted against it, and instead supported an alternate motion by Cr Clausen.

Cr Mackenzie said Labor's move had "led to the rare unity of Green, Liberal and Independent Councillors who have called for sanity to prevail, for the decision to be rescinded and in turn reviewed independently by the Local Government Minister or the Office of Local Government".

"The CEO is now responsible for a decision that could see operations of the pools privatised for the next 21 years, effectively locking out the community and binding as many as five future councils," he said.

Independent John Church said councillors were "elected to make tough decisions, not hide behind some vague and uncertain conflict of interest claims".

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