It was an all too familiar repeat performance that continues to be an embarrassment to the community and a handicap to effective local government in Lithgow.

At the centre of the bizarre performance were again Councillors Martin Ticehurst and Joe McGinnes who believed there was an issue of importance relating to funding for the Lithgow Aquatic Centre.

It was familiar territory for both councillors who had sought to have the outdoor pool shut down throughout last summer for perceived public risk issues and have also been critics of the new indoor facility.

Into the mix they also threw their familiar criticism of council funding for its golf course and Visitor Information Centre.

Such was the vitriol that observers were amazed that Cr Ticehurst in particular was not ejected from the meeting after calling general manager Roger Bailey a liar.

He is already awaiting action from the Division of Local Government after being cited for calling the mayor a bitch, an allegation he denies, although admitting he used the term ‘bitchy’.

The debate arose during consideration of council’s submission to the Fit For the Future program in which the NSW Government is considering LGA amalgamations.

Cr McGinnes claimed that Greater Lithgow has suffered from ‘poor financial management for the past 10 years’.

“We have spent money like a man with no arms and won’t be able to reach benchmarks,” he said.

“We have to become leaner, meaner and more efficient.”

Cr McGinnes claimed that the $3.6 million investment in the indoor heated pool would be ‘the biggest white elephant this city has known’.

He then again disputed the allocation of the more than $3 million in government grants, claiming this was for the outdoor pool refurbishment.

It was a claim immediately rejected by general manager Bailey who said the grant was ‘untied and non specific’ and could be applied.

He said he took offence at the councillor ‘calling me a liar’.

Cr Ticehurst refused an instruction from the mayor to withdraw his comment and repeated his claim that the general manager was being ‘false and misleading’.

And on and on it went in similar vein and becoming increasingly heated and with calls for points of order becoming increasingly part of the brawl.

In the end it settled down, Cr McGinnes’s claims of what the auditor was alleged to have said were rejected as incorrect, and the Fit For The Future report was adopted with only Crs Ticehurst and McGinnes voting in opposition.

But Cr McGinnes still managed to get in another provocative claim.

“We should be pushing for amalgamation with Bathurst.

“This council can’t see its way forward,” he said.