Councillors Tim Koschell and Paul Funnell cop criticism over low committee attendance

The attendance statistics were compiled by The Daily Advertiser from information available on the Wagga City Council website based on the current council term, which is from 2016 to the present.

The data showed that council meeting attendance was fairly even, with seven out of nine councillors with attendance rates higher than 90 per cent and Crs Koschel and Funnell sitting at 83 and 84 respectively.

However, those figures diverge significantly when it comes to committees.

Councillors can put up their hand for the committees, which include the Crime Prevention Committee, Floodplain Committee, Airport Committee, Traffic Committee, Sister City Committee, and Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee.

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Councillors can also sign themselves up for other bodies, which include the Murray Darling Association, Riverina Water, and Southern Joint Regional Planning Panel.

Attendance percentages for committees and other bodies sees most councillors in the 80s, while Crs Funnell and Koschel turned up about 47 and 53 per cent of the time respectively.

Cr Kerry Pascoe was only slightly higher at 66 per cent, while Cr Dallas Tout was at 73 per cent, with everyone else's attendance rates in the mid-to-high 80s.

Since 2016 the minutes show Cr Funnell attended only one Crime Prevention Working Group meeting and two Murray Darling Association meetings.

When asked why he had not been attending the crime prevention meetings, Cr Funnell said they were a pointless waste of time run by "bureaucrats who love meetings for the sake of meetings".

"Do people think because you're in small business or on a farm you've got all this time on your hands and you can just swan around? I don't give a rat's about not attending that crime committee. I have never, ever been to a committee meeting before like a couple of those and listened to such drivel," Cr Funnell said.

"There are no outcomes. Seriously, as far as I'm concerned you may as well just go and have a meeting and have tea and scones. That's why I do not bother going."

In May last year Cr Funnell agreed to stand down from the Murray Darling Association due his absenteeism, saying he had refused to attend the meetings because they were full of "greenie lefties" hell-bent on supporting the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

His position was filled by mayor Greg Conkey, who said Cr Funnell's boycott had cost ratepayers.

"There is a membership fee for the MDA, $7000 per year, and we weren't represented on that for three years, which I wasn't aware of at the time. That's now been fixed and I've been attending those meetings," Cr Conkey said.

"Being a councillor is a commitment, it's a huge time commitment, but if you put yourself forward to be a councillor and you are elected as a councillor, there's an expectation you will meet the commitments you've agreed to do."

Cr Koschel attended no Southern Joint Regional Planning Panels, three out of eight Crime Prevention Committee meetings, and just five out of 18 Floodplain Committee meetings before eventually stepping down.

He put forward a motion to change the time of the Floodplain Committee meetings, which were held during business hours when he was unable to attend since it clashed with his work schedule.

The committee refused his request, leading him to resign in April last year.

Cr Koschel has long been critical of Wagga City Council for holding most of its committees during business hours, saying it was prohibitive for people with normal nine to five jobs.

He said he works as a regional manager who oversees 15 banks and more than 100 employees, which is a full-time work commitment.

"If you're wanting real people to join council and you're wanting different representation, not just retired old white men, that's all you're going to attract unless you start changing times," Cr Koschel said.

"I'm happy for other councillors to be as critical of me as they want, but besides Cr Tout who works full time out at the university, none of them work full time."

Floodplain committee chair Cr Vanessa Keenan said Cr Koschel technically should have been removed years ago, since he had missed more than three meetings in a row contrary to their committee rules.

Cr Keenan said councillors should not volunteer for committees in the first place if they do not know whether it will clash with their other obligations.

"If you're not sure when a committee meets, then perhaps don't put your hand up for it, or ask that question before you put your hand up," Cr Keenan said.

"I think there's an expectation from the community that people who they elect participate to an appropriate level and are not just here in name only."

Cr Dan Hayes said work commitments were no excuse, saying he had cut down his work to three days a week in order to take his council obligations more seriously.

He said being a councillor was an huge commitment, and that those who were not willing or able to fulfill that commitment should reconsider their positions.

"Being a councillor is not for everyone. If they're not able to do it, elections are coming up and they should have a good, hard think about whether this is something they can actually do," he said. "I think if people are taking the paycheque but not doing the work, I think it's probably time they hang up the boots."

Voices4Riverina member Peter Lonsdale said ratepayers deserved to know what the councillors were doing, and how often they were turning up to meetings.

"I'm sure the general punter in the street isn't aware of what's happening down at the council, and if they were I'm sure they would start to think about where they were placing their votes," he said.

"People are looking for strong leadership and that's not going to happen if you don't turn up to a meeting."

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