As a previous Byron Council employee I was involved in the 1993 local government restructure. I personally think Byron Shire Council has moved away from the principles of consultation and transparency that were part of the 1993 LG restructure.
The top-heavy structure that is now in place has people in positions that simply don’t have a knowledge of what is happening in the workplaces they are responsible for.
People in this community would not be aware that during Pamela Westing’s time as general manager she enforced her decision that outdoor staff could not talk to the elected Council.
As an employee in water and recycling in 2003 I was asked by the first two farmers on Main Arm Road to take reuse which emanated from Mullumbimby STP. The farmers asked if they could be given a copy of the results of the process monitoring that was carried out on the reuse being supplied to them. I met with the then director of W&R at the time and sought permission to do this. The director said no to providing that information. Not a very good example of transparency.
Also as a member of the Water, Waste & Sewer Advisory Committee, in 2018 the committee was asked to endorse a five-year plan costing $250,000 per year by water and recycling. This involved a contractor coming in to investigate the sewer gravity mains and stormwater systems. The contractor was also meant to reline the sewer gravity mains that required it.
I opposed this on the grounds that the utility manager or anyone else from W&R had been able to supply any conclusive evidence on the condition of these gravity mains despite reportedly spending eleven million dollars since 2002, and also having another contractor doing the same investigation on the gravity mains in 2003. I asked for my opposition to be minuted plus two other committee members opposed the recommendation. The oppositions were not recorded and the recommendation went to the elected Council as being unanimously endorsed by the committee. There was absolutely no transparency here as four elected councillors sat on the committee and allowed the recommendation from the committee to be presented without, in my opinion, adequate weight being given to my opposition view.
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. 
