At last week’s council meeting, Cr Seventy and Cr McGregor said the document up for adoption gave the chief executive officer and finance staff too much weight in decisions about the investment of surplus funds.

In light of some recent poor investment choices, Cr McGregor said, it would be more appropriate if investments came to Council first.

“It’s an issue of trust,” she said.

“I’m extremely concerned about the investments and I think there are a lot of people in the community who would be the same.”

Cr McGregor said she agreed with most delegations in the document, but with the CEO leaving soon and the possibility of staff turnover in the future, the community needed to know their money was invested carefully.

Shire president Steve Harrison disagreed, saying it would mean any transfer of funds to any account for any length of time would have to come to Council.

“Taking away the delegation would create mayhem,” he said.

“It would make nonsense of the finance manager and finance department’s jobs.”

The document was passed 5-2 as per the shire officers’ recommendation.