THE mayor has labelled a councillor's question about Chaffey Dam's depletion "a waste of time" and accused him of "not doing his homework".
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Tamworth councillor Mark Rodda pushed a notice of motion at Tuesday's ordinary meeting which called on the council to ask the Water Minister Melinda Pavey how Chaffey Dam depleted so quickly.
The motion was rejected with the seven other councillors present voting against the inquiry.
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The fallout from Cr Rodda's water question boiled over on Wednesday as the mayor Col Murray said it wasn't in the best interest of the community "to be demanding things of a water minster who has been part of allocating around in excess of $280 million" for the city's water security.
The mayor said the current drought had exposed shortcomings in the water sharing plan.
He said the council should use the formal review process to lodge its concern with the government's water management.
Other councillors echoed those sentiments at the meeting and said it was time to focus on the present and future, not the past.
But the mayor did issue a parting shot at his fellow councillor.
"I know when I bring something before council, I talk to my fellow councillors because it is a waste of time if you haven't got four other hands in the air with you when you present something for council's approval," he said.
"I think it demonstrates that Cr Rodda obviously didn't do his homework."
Cr Rodda said he had written directly to the minister about Chaffey Dam.
"Members of our community were asking me where all the water had gone, I thought as a good community advocate we should try to obtain the answers they seek and a council suffering serious water issues would hold more gravitas asking the questions than an individual," he said.
"Perhaps I am out of touch with my fellow ratepayers and I should simply be blissfully oblivious to the matter of water management which is so crucial to our future."