Central Coast Council facing legal challenges over management of floods, The Entrance Channel
A series of legal claims have been made against Central Coast Council in the wake of flooding in Tuggerah Lakes a fiery Monday night meeting revealed. It led to staff remaining tight-lipped on flood-based issues.
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Legal action is pending for Central Coast Council after the recent flooding of Tuggerah Lakes.
Council staff were forced to remain silent on council’s management of Tuggerah Lakes and The Entrance Channel at last night’s meeting due to threats of legal action.
Mayor Lisa Matthews has today confirmed that legal action is pending and council has had contact with insurers.
It comes after calls for Cr Matthews’s resignation were voted down at the meeting.
Cr Matthews told the Express she was happy to receive the support from the majority of councillors and was keen to “just get on with it”.
“We are part of a team and we need to start working for the community,” she said.
She said the council needed to move forward with its dredging program and other initiatives around Tuggerah Lakes.
Cr Matthews said she was disgusted in many of the “mistruths” spread by fellow councillors in the community.
“Certain councillors tried to make it political for re-election,” she said.
What happened last night
Around 80 people packed the gallery to hear the debate, with council ramping up security for the meeting. Eleven security officers were at the meeting conducting bag searches, while community members had to register to sit in the public gallery.
The council has been under fire since the recent flooding of Tuggerah Lakes, with many people saying they should have acted earlier to dig the second channel at The Entrance North and release flood waters.
Cr Matthews has copped the brunt of the blame, with many saying she should have directed the council staff to act earlier.
Scott Lang, from North Entrance, told the council the recent floods resulted in the highest water level due to The Entrance Channel not being opened.
“Council had permission to open the Lake at its discretion,” he said.
He said the mayor should be the pillar of the strength in the community.
Chittaway Point’s Ben Weber, who took his excavator down to North Entrance during torrential rain to release flood waters, said council should have dug the channel instead of leaving it up to the panicked residents.
“Everyone is calling for the mayor to step down,” he said.
“You failed to make a call, you let the community down. The council CEO should be held accountable as well.”
Edward Jackson spoke in support of Cr Matthews, describing the issue as “a political point score race.”
“All this is going to do is slow down any help. We need to stop all the infighting and work on a solution,” he said.
Kevin Armstrong said the council had no capacity to dismiss its democratically elected mayor.
Cr Matthews reiterated the role of mayor and said she and fellow councillors could only direct the chief executive officer with a council resolution.
“It doesn’t need to get ugly and personal,” she said. “Some of social media has been offensive and hateful, I condemn that. No one should have been subjected to that.”
CEO Gary Murphy said the council would review its procedures following recent actions.
“There are always lessons to be learnt, we can always improve,” he said.
“I am determined that we will recover from this event a better and stronger community. We have more than 5700 homes impacted by this event, we have displaced families and businesses that are affected.”
Cr Best described Cr Matthews’s recent social media video as “death by Facebook”.
Cr Bruce McLachlan said the mayor should not be blamed for the floods, however the issue came down to credibility.
“We have to look at the leadership that has been shown,” he said.
Cr Jillian Hogan expressed her disgust at the “vile” behaviour from some members of the community and said councillors and staff had received death threats over the issue.
The motion, which also called for council to look at costs associated with a permanent solution for The Entrance Channel, was lost.
Crs Best, McLachlan, Jilly Pilon, Troy Marquart and Chris Burke voted in favour, while Crs Matthews, Louise Greenaway, Kyle MacGregor, Jillian Hogan, Richard Mehrtens, Jeff Sundstrom, Doug Vincent and Jane Smith voted against.