Some councillors were “alarmed” the council may have “stuffed up” after revelations at last night’s council meeting about a project for a weir the council may not even own.

A Department of Primary Industries (DPI) officer came to the chamber claiming she had documents that proved the council had worked on but not submitted a grant application in 2007.

Council general manager Mark Riley said he had no record of that particular grant application, but admitted that earlier advice provided to the Daily Liberal about another grant had been partially wrong.

Mr Riley said the council had applied to the federal government’s Jobs Fund in 2009 for $2.8765 grant to build the fishway but was not successful.

Council technical services director Stewart McLeod had said on Friday that the council had not gone ahead with the application.

He also said then the council could find no record of a $2 million Urban Sustainability Grant in 2007.

He was responding to claims made by inland river activist Matt Hansen, who cited first community members and then the DPI as his source.

Mr Hansen claimed the council had failed to go for the 2007 grant after the DPI had completed 95 per cent of the application form on the council’s behalf.

While Mr McLeod was not at last night’s meeting, DPI staff member Sam Davis was there to say she did have the records.

Ms Davis spoke to councillors as a “senior conservation manager, Dubbo ratepayer and a fisher”.

She urged the council to invest in the fishway at the South Dubbo weir to save threatened species in the Macquarie River.

She was backed up by a packed and at times rowdy public gallery of Mr Hansen and other keen fishers.

“Do you want generations of decision-makers to know that we failed our fish,” Ms Davis said.

“We all want to assist the council to achieve this.”

Cr Ben Shields was concerned about Ms Davis’s claims.

Mr Riley responded with his version of events. The council had no record of correspondence about the grant in 2007. It had information about grants - successful and unsuccessful - in 2006, 2008 and 2009, he said. “I haven’t trawled the emails (for 2007), but staff can’t find an application from 2007,” he said.

Ms Davis told council she would provide itl with a a copy of the 2007 grant application. Councillors then turned their attention to how the fishway - estimated to cost more than $2.5 million - could be funded other than by ratepayers.

Mr Riley said he was not aware of grants being awarded retrospectively. Cr Shields went on the attack, saying he wanted the information from the department to come forward.

“You know what will happen, a cover-up,” he said.

“The general public have a right to know whether we’re incompetent or not.”

While the gallery applauded him, Dubbo mayor Allan Smith said they did not know if there had been a stuff-up.

Cr Peter Bartley, who last week raised concerns about ratepayers footing the bill for the fishway and the accuracy of cost estimates, was told by Mr Riley the project would roll back each year if grants had not been found, not bump other vital water projects.

Cr Matthews urged councillors to put the fishway in the books but not go ahead with it until appropriate levels of grant funding were found.

Cr Shields was still “deeply alarmed” about the council’s past actions and moved an amendment that the general manager report to councillors at next month’s meeting about the 2007 grant. It was carried, as was the motion to let the fish swim up the river, depending on the grants.

Meanwhile, Mr Riley informed councillors that the “jury was out” on the ownership of the South Dubbo weir. The issue had arisen after an accident at the weir in 2008 that resulted in a drowning death.

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