Cr Sally Townley reveals cost of Council dispute with waste contractors

Councillor throws caution to the wind and reveals the “secret” cost of contract dispute with a waste management company.

Cr Sally Townley has sensationally revealed the cost of Council’s “secret” legals fees incurred in a dispute with a key waste contractor.

At Thursday’s Coffs Harbour City Council meeting Cr Townley appeared to throw caution to the wind as debate began on progressing the region’s waste management processes, making a veiled reference to council spending “almost $4.5 million” on legal fees.

Any doubt Cr Townley was referring to the figure contained in the confidential memo was erased more than two and a half hours later when she doubled down during discussion on a question posed by Cr Amos as to the true cost of their contractual dispute.

“Why is it a secret that we have spent $4.3 million dollars on legal fees?” she said.

Council and waste management company Biomass Solutions have been in arbitration for some time over the terms of their 20 year contract.

The Biomass Solutions facility at Englands Road was created to convert waste into fertiliser, however, after concerns over the safety of the product has led to Council paying $70,000 a week to truck the product to Tamworth.

Ahead of the meeting Cr Paul Amos provided a question on notice asking how much council had spent on legal fees associated with the dispute and staff responded with legal advice which made it clear a key memo outlining the legal proceedings should remain confidential. 

That same legal advice, from HWL Ebsworth Sonia Kroon, questioned the “utility and prudence” of releasing the figure without any context, however, made it clear it had not actually considered whether releasing the total cost was permissible.