It remains unknown if Dubbo Regional Council will hire an independent investigator to look into complaints against the organisation.
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The options for hiring an independent investigator was one of the items on the agenda at the council meeting on Tuesday night.
But acting mayor Stephen Lawrence said because the Code of Conduct is forced to follow NSW law, council couldn't do anything inconsistent with that code.
"For example, if we appointed an independent investigator to adjudicate on complaints, that would be inconsistent with the code," he said.
"We're trying to explore the limits and what exactly we can and can't do. Our resolve to have an independent investigator is still firm but we need to have it work in a way that is compliant with the state law."
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Council will seek advice from Local Government NSW to determine the options in dealing with complaints.
There have been 23 complaints made against council in the past two months. Ten of those have been referred to O'Connor Marsden and Associates for investigation.
A member of the public who addressed the meeting said the situation at council was "ruining Dubbo's reputation" and preventing people from moving to the city.
But despite the steep increase in complaints, which Cr Lawrence admits is a concern, he said Dubbo's reputation had not been affected.
"The community continues to grow and thrive and ultimately blues and difficulties on council don't affect that," the acting mayor said.
"Of course it's important to have a functional council because that's how you set the policies that assist the community to keep developing, but no I don't think it's having that sort of affect on Dubbo. It's certainly having an adverse affect on the reputation of council, short term, but you sometimes need to go through difficult processes to get to a better place."
...you sometimes need to go through difficult processes to get to a better place.
- Stephen Lawrence
Cr Lawrence said the next step was for council to determine the terms and reference for an investigator.
The complaints will also be referred back to council once O'Connor Marsden and Associates has recommended a course of action.
"In September the people will get to cast their final judgement on anyone on the existing council who puts their hand up to be on the next council," Cr Lawrence said.
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