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HORSHAM councillors have rescinded a decision to reject a city bypass option.
The council voted last month to not support bypass option D.
In the absence of three councillors, it took two councillors’ votes to win the majority on the issue.
At a meeting on Monday night, councillor Mark Radford said the decision needed to be rescinded because it didn’t give councillors a fair and reasonable time to research it.
At the meeting last month, Cr John Robinson said the council was required to advise the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning about its position on the bypass by June 30.
He said because the council did not meet again until July, councillors had to agree on a position at the last meeting.
On Monday, Cr Radford said the motion should also be rescinded because council had already requested a timeline extension from the department.
“There has been a distinct lack of respect against councillors and officers,” he said.
Cr Alethea Sedgman, who voted against the original decision to reject option D, said she did not appreciate the methodology that occurred.
“The position was decided by two votes, rather than the majority,” she said. However, Cr Robinson argued the decision was made in a lawfully constituted meeting.
He said council weren’t given any information about the letter sent to the department. “We were in the dark and presented with a significant risk – I had no option but to raise this issue,” he said.
“We all felt uncomfortable with the position, but council’s position on option D has remained unchanged from a meeting in September 2015.”
Cr David Grimble, who supported rejecting option D at the previous meeting, said there had been no formal notification of an extension beyond June 30.
“The motion was not only valid, it was responsible and necessary,” he said.
Cr Clarke said the motion was put forward without thought or preparation.
“This kind of practice causes confusion and ends in bad decisions,” she said.
The move to rescind the previous motion passed, with Crs Radford, Clarke, Sedgman, Les Power and Josh Koenig voting for it.
