Ordinary and Extraordinary Meetings of Clarence Valley Council (CVC) could proceed in the future with limited public attendance after CVC Mayor Ray Smith spoke of his plans to contact the Office of Local Government this week.

When councillors met for the rescheduled monthly Ordinary Meeting of CVC at the Grafton Council Chambers on April 24, the Mayor was forced to adjourn proceedings on a number of occasions in the interests of the safety and wellbeing of councillors, council staff, members of the public seated in the gallery, and media personnel in attendance after a number of people continued to disrupt the event throughout the afternoon.

As he expressed his disappointment and reiterated previous comments made in relation to his acknowledgement of emotions and tensions running high within the local community following recent comments made by Councillor Debrah Novak during an Extraordinary Meeting of CVC on April 11 and other recent decisions made by Council, the Mayor said he cannot continue to adjourn meetings and subsequently delay council business which impacts other Clarence Valley residents.

Despite the presence of two security guards, Mayor Smith revealed he put forward a Notice of Motion to continue the rescheduled monthly Ordinary Meeting of CVC without the public being in attendance to enable Council to get through more than 20 items of business on the agenda without experiencing further interruptions.

It was carried 6-3.

The decision was made at the conclusion of another 15-minute adjournment while members of the public and Clarence Valley Independent journalist Emma Pritchard were outside the Grafton Council Chambers.

Ms Pritchard was later allowed to re-enter the building with the Mayor explaining the media was not purposefully excluded and will always be welcome to attend Ordinary and Extraordinary Meetings of CVC.

Describing the situation as unfortunate, the Mayor went on to explain security were very reluctant to open the door for Ms Pritchard due to the aggressive behaviour demonstrated by a couple of people who were standing close to the entrance.

The rescheduled monthly Ordinary Meeting of CVC continued to be live streamed for the remainder of the event.

Despite this, the meeting was not able to be accessed over the weekend and into the start of the week. The site eventually came online on Monday afternoon.

While security will remain in place for the next monthly Ordinary Meeting of CVC, which is set to be held at the Maclean Council Chambers on May 15, Mayor Smith confirmed there is a possibility it will be a ticketed event.

“There was a discussion during one of the adjournments (at the original monthly Ordinary Meeting of CVC on April 17) regarding what our options could be heading into the future, and certainly ticketing was suggested,” Mayor Smith said.

“But I dispensed with that (idea) because I thought given the current environment it was going to aggravate the situation.”

“However, given the outcome of the rescheduled meeting, I will now be talking seriously with the Office of Local Government as to (possibly introducing) a ticketing process that can limit the number of people who attend meetings.”

The Mayor told the Clarence Valley Independent in limiting the number of attendees he hopes to alleviate the disruptions which have been experienced at every monthly Ordinary and Extraordinary Meeting of CVC this year, resulting in multiple adjournments.

Mayor Smith also said while the disruptions which occurred at the rescheduled monthly Ordinary Meeting of CVC last week were again attributed to a select group of individuals, he said many others in attendance were there for genuine matters and continual adjournments and delays are not helpful or respectful to them or their business interests.

There was no suggestion of a fee being incurred should a ticketing process be implemented at future Ordinary or Extraordinary Meetings of CVC.

The Clarence Valley Independent will publish additional information as soon as it becomes available.

This article appeared in the Clarence Valley Independent, 30 April 2025.