Ballina Shire Council will begin searching for a new general manager following Paul Hickey’s decision to retire, while Cr Damian Loone has been returned as Deputy Mayor.

The two major decisions came during today’s Council meeting, which also saw Cr Michelle Bailey fail in her bid to reopen debate over Council’s 2030 net-zero target.

Mayor Sharon Cadwallader described appointing a new general manager as an “extremely important responsibility” and said Council needed to get the process right from the beginning.

“Most importantly, I want to see a process that’s transparent, independent and fully compliant with the Local Government Act 1993 and the Office of Local Government’s guidelines,” she said.

Council will invite Local Government NSW and other experienced external recruitment consultants to submit proposals.

The proposed selection panel will also come back before the full Council for approval after several councillors argued they should have a say in its membership.

Mr Hickey has served nearly two decades at Ballina Shire Council, including more than a decade as general manager.

Loone returned as deputy

Cr Damian Loone was re-elected Deputy Mayor after Greens Cr Simon Chate withdrew his nomination, leaving Cr Loone as the only candidate.

Cr Loone said he had attended 74 community engagements outside council meetings during his two years as deputy, including RFS and SES events, police and Anzac commemorations, service club awards, funerals and citizenship ceremonies.

“I’ve certainly enjoyed it,” he said.

“When I speak on behalf of council, I speak on behalf of all councillors. It’s just not myself.”

Cr Loone also revealed he had covered his own travel costs while representing Council.

“There’s a lot to learn, and I’ve travelled far and wide through the last two years, and I haven’t claimed a penny on any transport costs,” he said.

Cr Chate praised Cr Loone for doing “an amazing job” but unsuccessfully moved to reduce the Deputy Mayor’s term from two years to one.

He argued shorter terms would give other councillors an opportunity to experience the role and provide “tremendous opportunity for growth, both personal and within the council environment”.

After the one-year proposal was defeated, Cr Chate withdrew his nomination and Cr Loone was declared elected unopposed.

The two shook hands following the decision.

Net-zero push falls flat

Meanwhile, Cr Michelle Bailey’s attempt to reopen Council’s climate change targets failed after a lengthy debate in which her original proposal was progressively watered down.

Cr Bailey had initially proposed moving away from Council’s fixed target of achieving net-zero operational emissions by 2030 in favour of a more flexible approach.

But the debate shifted following a deputation from Ballina Environment Society representative Graham Shaw, who argued Council’s existing policy already provided flexibility and urged councillors to retain the target.

“The choice today is not between a rigid plan and a flexible one,” Mr Shaw said.

“It is between a flexible plan that has an end point, and a flexible plan that does not.”

Several councillors said that whatever Cr Bailey’s intention, changing the target risked being interpreted by the community as a retreat from Council’s climate commitments.

Cr Bailey denied she was seeking to downgrade Council’s ambitions and substantially modified her proposal during the debate.

Cr Michelle Bailey.

Main image: Ballina Shire Council General Manager Paul Hickey and Deputy Mayor Damian Loone

By the time councillors voted, it had been reduced largely to seeking another staff report.

Cr Bailey acknowledged the debate and staff responses had clarified how Council’s existing policy worked.

“Having all those staff comments really made it a lot clearer to me, and quite frankly, to a lot of people out there that weren’t aware of what we were doing,” she said.

“It’s raised lots of really good questions… At least it has started this conversation.”

But even the reduced proposal failed, with only Cr Bailey, Cr Simon Kinny and Cr Loone voting in favour.

The defeat leaves Council’s existing policy unchanged, including its targets of net-zero operational emissions and 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.