Years of dysfunction - culminating in the departure of yet another general manager in Alan Eldridge - meant the community had lost all confidence in its council.

It is not too harsh to say it had become a laughing stock.

While the council still has its critics - every council in the country does, mind you - since the mid-way point of 2017 it has worked assiduously to earn back the trust of its ratepayers.

As mayor, Greg Conkey has played a considerable part in this, as has general manager Peter Thompson, who started in November 2017.

In fact, all councillors and council staff deserve credit for the focus and discipline they have demonstrated to start rebuilding confidence in a broken council.

But there are some worrying signs that the ugly heads of self-interest and politicking are again starting to rise among the councillors.

Earlier in the week, Councillor Conkey narrowly survived a no-confidence motion brought about by Cr Paul Funnell, using his own vote to break a four-all deadline.

Crs Yvonne Braid, Tim Koschel and Kerry Pascoe backed Cr Funnell's motion, while Crs Dan Hayes, Vanessa Keenan, Rod Kendall and Dallas Tout backed the mayor.

The ruckus came about when Cr Conkey, in speaking on the climate emergency rescission motion at an earlier meeting, said "we can and must plan to build a sustainable, resilient community and if you don't believe that's our obligation as councillors, I don't believe you should be in this chamber".

Some councillors chose to take offence to those words. The public can decide for themselves whether Cr Conkey should have chosen his words more carefully.

But frankly, it would have been a travesty if that no-confidence motion had passed.

With a number of huge community-building projects in the works and the city positioning itself to grow to 100,000 people by 2038, Wagga needs a functional council more than ever.

The gains made over the last two years cannot be allowed to be frittered away by petty factionalism in the lead up to next year's council election.

There is simply too much at stake.

All the best for the week ahead, Ross.