Despite his increasing scrutiny of Dubbo Regional Council's performance, high-profile former mayor Mathew Dickerson says he's got "no intention of standing at the council election next year".
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In recent weeks Mr Dickerson has voiced his concerns about a range of issues in the media and on Facebook.
He believes council's water restrictions are too tough, hurting businesses and damaging Dubbo's reputation while Australia experiences one of the worst droughts on record and no decent rainfall has been predicted.
Mr Dickerson has also caused a stir by drawing attention to council signs that were put up across Dubbo which claimed grey water was in use when in fact it was backwash.
Those signs have since been removed and the council will vote on whether or not to soften water restrictions on Monday, a few days after new ones came into effect.
Some residents and political representatives have described Mr Dickerson's questioning and critiques as petty, while others have said he is raising valid points.
"When I do ask council or councillors questions, or pose questions or try and find out what's going on - it's often driven by people in the community who come and ask my questions knowing that I might have some knowledge from my time on council," Mr Dickerson told the Daily Liberal.
"They don't feel like they can go and ask the questions, they don't feel confidence in the current council and the last community needs survey certainly demonstrates that with only 26 per cent of the community saying that they approve of the current councillors.
"I'm happy to help people when they've got those queries and ask those questions [of council]... there's not a lot of confidence in the community."
When asked to respond to Mr Dickerson's comments, mayor Ben Shields said much of what the former mayor said was "just plain wrong".
"I don't intend on engaging in a tit-for-tat public argument with Mr Dickerson," he said.
"My door is always open for him to raise issues with me.
"Mr Dickerson said earlier that he does not support the new Dubbo Regional Council and as such he did not stand for election himself.
"I wish Mr Dickerson well, however it is important the current council focuses on the things that matter in the community and not engage in meaningless petty squabbles."
Voters in the Dubbo Regional Council area go to the polls to elect a new council in 10 months time.
