Byron Shire Council (BSC) is not transparent despite what the former Mayor or BSC’s senior management would like the community to believe.
You cannot claim that the Council is transparent when waged staff are threatened with dismissal if they are seen talking to certain members of the community.
I was shocked when I stopped beside a waged employee on stop-go and said hello, the staffer became very uneasy and stated ‘I cannot be seen talking to you, I will lose my job’. I was also made aware, by a retired W&R employee that W&R ‘waged staff’ were made aware that if they were seen talking to me during working hours or outside of working hours their job would be at risk.
Why are W&R so uneasy about staff talking about what they do in their working day? As a member of the Water, Waste & Sewer Advisory Committee (W&R) I had the audacity to contact the Coordinator of W&R and ask for information on recorded inflow figures for Brunswick Valley STP. I was contacted by the Director of Infrastructure who informed me I could not talk to staff.
My experience is that when you ask for any information from W&R staff they seem to immediately become defensive and secretive – why?
The information I sourced should be freely supplied, it is quite concerning that W&R is so secretive with what should be easily accessed operational information.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
