Clear divisions among councillors spilled into the public arena on Tuesday when mayor Pat Bourke shut down an attempt to re-visit the recent appointment of the former Urana Shire general manager and Federation director from December 2.

A rescission motion signed by Cr David Longley, Cr Gail Law and Cr Paul Miegel was ruled invalid by the mayor, who also blocked the item being introduced as a late item of business.

It also followed an earlier bid by Cr Longley to find out details of two payments of $54,308 for an industrial relations case and another amount of $187,603 paid to a senior staff member contained in the council’s annual report tabled on Tuesday.

Mr Butler departed Federation Council in the previous financial year, but council officers won’t confirm circumstances around the two payments.

In a further blow up surrounding the general manager position, Cr Law had a bid to join the selection panel for the permanent general manager already consisting of Cr Bourke, deputy mayor Shaun Whitechurch, Cr Longley, Cr Fred Longmire and Cr Andrew Kennedy short-circuited by the mayor at the end of the meeting.

“The selection panel must have at least one male and one female member and as we don’t have a female member I would like to volunteer my services,” she said.

Cr Bourke said the meeting had closed.

The mayor issued a statement after the meeting confirming the acting general manager appointment was the subject of the rescission motion.

"This rescission motion was not included within the business paper for the meeting and a motion was not passed allowing the consideration of the item in accordance with council’s code of meeting practice, so the item was not considered at this meeting," Cr Bourke said.

Cr Longley said he wanted the matter dealt with before Mr Butler started his appointment.

“It’s not over yet,” he said.