A FORMER Albury councillor has accused incumbent Murray King of acting "outside his pay grade" in lobbying for a big hot rod event to be held in the city.
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Nico Mathews said Cr King should not have interfered with council staff involved in a failed bid to lock in the Australian Street Rod Federation Nationals for Easter 2023.
"It's a day-to-day issue that council staff are quite capable of handling and doing themselves," Mr Mathews said.
"When you put your nose in where it doesn't belong and then have a go at them, which he did, you have no right to do that."
He said he was speaking out after receiving 15 to 20 text messages from ratepayers concerned at the loss of the event, which Cr King portrayed as due to staff failings.
Cr King said organisers did not want to stage the car expo at the racecourse because it was distant from accommodation, shops, restaurants and hotels.
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Street Rods event organiser Graham Bevan said the lack of a parade track and issues with camping and a council development application were racecourse deterrents.
Cr King said: "Nico is entitled to his opinion, but he's probably coming at it with very scant details of what went on.
"At the end of the day we lost the event and the Albury economy is poorer by $15 million."
Cr King added he believed he had acted appropriately by being a "conduit" between event organisers and council staff.
"I think it's 100 per cent the role of councillor to be involved in assisting to get events to the city and working with organisers to make sure they're happy," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Mathews has been successful in helping secure another car celebration which will be held next Easter and at the same time in 2024 and 2026.
The Camaro and Firebird Nationals will be staged next April with a show and shine in Hovell Tree Park on Easter Saturday and drive-in movie screening at the Albury Showground that night.
There has already been 140 entries from across Australia for the gathering which has previously been held at Tumut and Narrandera.
Mr Mathews owns seven Camaros and is taking two of them to the Bathurst 1000 this weekend.
They will escort some of the drivers in the Great Race in a parade around Mount Panorama on Sunday morning before the enduro.
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