BATHURST councillors staged a dramatic walk-out from Wednesday night's first meeting of the year after a resident refused to return to his seat.
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The incident occurred during the public forum of Bathurst Regional Council's (BRC) ordinary meeting, which followed on from the policy committee meeting.
During the public forum, residents have the opportunity to address councillors and council staff on any topic for a maximum of five minutes, unless granted an extension of time.
The resident, who had identified himself as an authorised member of a strata corporation, had come to the end of his allotted five minutes.
He requested to speak for another five minutes as an individual, not as a representative of the strata corporation, and was denied.
When he refused to leave the lectern, mayor Bobby Bourke suspended standing orders and instructed councillors to leave the chamber.
They returned to the room a few minutes later after the resident returned to his seat.
Speaking to the Western Advocate, general manager David Sherley said that in his 20 years working for BRC, council's practice has always been that people only get to speak once.
Suspension of standing orders for matters of behaviour is very rare, but it was deemed necessary in this situation.
"He was creating a disruption of the meeting because he had been asked to sit down by the mayor and he continued to speak, so suspension of standing orders was moved to provide a response to his continued act of disorder," Mr Sherley said.
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While not an option council likes to resort to and aims to avoid, it served its purpose in getting the ordinary meeting back on track.
"It defused the situation and the council meeting was recommenced within four or five minutes of the suspension," Mr Sherley said.
"It is a process rarely used, except for when council may wish to bring an item forward due to public interest, but in terms of acts of disorder, it doesn't happen often."
