Wodonga's controversial hills strategy has flared again with a new group to be formed to review what the original advisory group didn't consider necessary at this stage.
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Cr Brian Mitchell, who 12 months ago unsuccessfully pushed for the advisory group to be disbanded and the Local Government Minister brought in, succeeded in having a review be carried out and completed next year on Monday night.
But in an ironic twist, the committee charged to do the review will include representatives from the "skill based" advisory group appointed by council, but didn't attend meetings regularly.
The Wodonga Hills Advisory Group struggled to get a quorum to meetings with as few as four of its nine-member committee able to attend for a meeting to proceed.
"I am not talking about anything dynamically different," Cr Mitchell said.
"I am not saying we re-invent the wheel."
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Cr John Watson said he felt a lot of the issues were coming from the West Wodonga area, but Cr Mitchell disagreed.
"This is not to do with one specific area. It is a general overview of the policy," Cr Mitchell said.
"There is no malice with what I am putting here and nothing under-handed."
Mayor Anna Speedie sought a clearer idea of Cr Mitchell's motivation.
"Is it simply process, is it actually the implementation of the actions, or one or two of the first priorities?" she said.
"What is actually going to be reviewed in 2021?"
Cr Mitchell queried whether the advisory group had worked hard enough to ensure they got sufficient buy-in from committee members.
"Last year when there was an important Wodonga hills advisory group meeting I expected very few to people to turn up, so I actually got on the phone and rang people, who had not been to meetings on a number of occasions," he said.
"I got them to turn up.
"The committee has been recalcitrant in even attempting to phone their committee members and get them along.
"It is not that difficult."
The motion passed by council 5-2 means the hills strategy will be reviewed between March and November next year by a new committee operating under a revised terms of reference as defined by council.
It will consist of councillors and nominated representatives from DEWLP, the indigenous community, CFA and Wodonga Urban Landcare network.
Cr Mitchell was supported by Cr Speedie, Cr Ron Mildren, Cr Libby Hall and Cr Danny Lowe.
Even though she seconded Cr Mitchell's motion, Cr Kat Bennett voted against along with Cr Watson.
It's unclear when councillor representatives will be appointed with local government elections due later this year.
