Councillors desperate to finally end the two-month controversy over the new logo voted on Wednesday night to adopt a hybrid of two of the three submitted options.

They went with the rainbow B that was part of the original logo put to council and paired it with the Step Beyond tagline that was offered up as one of two later designs.

But the decision was far from unanimous with the vote – and debate – revealing a major split within the council chamber.

Councillors Ian North, Monica Morse and Alex Christian all spoke out strongly against the hybrid option that had been put forward by Cr Jess Jennings, and the debate tended towards personal at times.

Cr North used the debate to bait mayor Graeme Hanger who, Cr North said, had tried to rush through a decision on the logo before all three options were released to the media and the public.

“We have a mayor who wants us to get on with it but we have to get it right,” Cr North said.

“The mayor wanted us to make a decision [when we first saw the logos] so we could come out and say we were united on this.

“Well, I’m not not united with you guys, but I’m a voice and I need to say what I’m thinking.”

Cr North said he supported the overall branding strategy but believed the consultants had missed the mark with the logos.

Read more

- Cr Ian North says the community could come up with better logo designs

- Our say | Logo vote will be a loser either way for councillors

- Bathurst public to have a say on three new logo designs | Poll

Cr Christian said the “level of disgust” directed towards the original logo design meant he could not support any option that included the rainbow B, while Cr Morse said the hybrid option was the “worst possible design”.

“Having asked residents to vote A, B or C we’re now not going to go with any of them,” she said.

“Instead we’re going for that awful B with the rainbow design that everybody has, and pairing it with Step Beyond.

“Anybody who knows anything about design knows that that means stop at Bathurst and step beyond to Cowra or elsewhere.”

But Cr Jennings said it was time to end the debate.

“At our internal meeting we made a commitment to resolve this by Christmas,” he said.

“I don’t think one of us around this table is qualified to make a marketing decision but I know some of the graphic designers around town who say they are not upset with this decision.

“If we hold this over Christmas we still have no idea where that might land.”

Councillors Jennings, Hanger, Bobby Bourke, Jacqui Rudge, John Fry and Warren Aubin voted to adopt the hybrid logo.

Before making a decision, councillors were handed the results of council’s YourSay survey on the logo designs.

The survey received 322 responses with 173 (54 per cent) favouring the Forever Young design while 80 (25 per cent) voted for Step Beyond and 69 (21 per cent) voted for Perfectly Timeless.

The results closely mirrored an online poll by the Western Advocate that attracted 686 votes. Forever Young (59 per cent) received the most votes, with votes even split for the other two designs.