COUNCILLOR Alex Christian has been accused of turning "local council into a joke" after taking to social media to criticise some of his fellow councillors.
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In three separate posts on his public Facebook page, Cr Christian aired his grievances with councillors John Fry and Jess Jennings, referring to the latter as "a shot duck" and "unelectable" on the day of the mayoral election.
In that post, Cr Christian said that Cr Jennings did not have the numbers to get elected and, if he lost, should give up his political aspirations.
He also alluded to Cr Jennings not returning calls during the campaign for mayor.
The day after the election, Cr Christian posted a meme featuring Cr Fry and less than a week later posted a screenshot of his comments regarding the Bathurst Aqua Park, which he called "a stranded asset".
When asked if he thought it was appropriate to use social media to slam his colleagues, Cr Christian said that residents deserved to know what was going on and "everything I put on there has been considered".
"It's a new medium it's a new way of reaching the public," he said.
"It's a really strong tool and everything I say on there I certainly stand by. I think the community likes seeing certain comments and councillors being held accountable.
"We work for the ratepayers and I think they deserve to know what is going on."
Cr Fry said that he and Cr Christian are "on different sides of the debate a lot of the time", but that they had no issue talking to each other.
When it comes to Cr Christian's Facebook page, Cr Fry felt he was free to post what he liked as the page wasn't endorsed by council.
He also clarified his comments about the aqua park, saying they were made based on information about Bathurst's water situation.
"I've been criticised for saying that the aqua park could become a stranded asset due to climate change and I am only going on the information provided by the director of Engineering Services, and he gets his information from the Bureau of Meteorology," Cr Fry said.
It is understood that Christian and Fry have since spoken privately about the issue.
But while Cr Fry is happy to move on, Cr Jennings hasn't taken the Facebook comments as lightly, calling the behaviour "poor form".
He also accused Cr Christian of playing games, particularly when it came to the mayoral election.
"The constant game playing makes local council into a joke in the face of serious issues like water security and I don't want any part of it, so while Cr Christian has spent his time spouting off on social media with his keyboard, I spent most of last week working directly with our local irrigators and lobbying state and federal organisations to get a better water security deal for Bathurst this summer," Cr Jennings said.
He feels councillors should communicate with each other using traditional methods, rather than singling people out on social media.
"Like they always have, around the chamber, in policy debate, after and before meetings, and, if they've got anything else important going on that needs attention, person-to-person is always best," he said.