Gunnedah Shire Council has allocated almost $30,000 to deal with a breach of Environmental Protection Authority guidelines.
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Council staff deposited waste at Wandobah Reserve on Alford Road without permission between February 2016 and March 2017, and it was brought to the EPA's attention in 2016.
In August, on behalf of the council, general manager Eric Groth entered into an agreement with the EPA to clean up the area and submitted a project proposal.
The council will also have to pay the EPA's legal costs and give funds to the Gunnedah Urban Landcare Group to provide nest boxes for the reserve.
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The matter was brought before councillors at the September meeting and council's chief engineer Dan Noble said the enforceable undertaking "acknowledged council's errors".
"Voluntarily entering into the agreement and working with the EPA to make improvements is a preferable outcome for council to that of court action," he said.
Mr Noble said the agreement also "acknowledged that these practices inadvertently encouraged others to conduct illegal dumping at the site".
"Since becoming aware that the requisite permissions were not in place at the site, the council has taken action to remediate the site, has put in place changes to process waste going forward and has committed to further improvements as part of the enforceable undertaking," he said.
The EPA received a complaint on August 31, 2016 from Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) about green waste being burnt in the reserve adjacent to Alford Road.
At the scene, the FRNSW became aware that the waste had been transported to and deposited on the premises by council staff.
On September 9, 2016, an EPA officer inspected the site and noted large volumes of general waste, green waste, building and demolition waste and tyres; and four days later, the EPA interviewed relevant council staff.
In March this year, the EPA issued the council with a "Notice to Provide Information and/or Records" and on August 15, the council's general manager Eric Groth executed an enforceable undertaking with the EPA.
In the September business papers, Mr Noble wrote that the transportation and storage of waste on the site was not sanctioned by the council and had been discontinued.
Mr Noble said the council had since carried out training with staff; included waste disposal procedures in inductions; committed to develop plans of management for crown reserves; and put new procedures in place for the storage and disposal of materials.
Councillors voted to approve the agreement and associated costs.
Councillor Rob Hooke said it was "unfortunate" the breach had occurred, but "history sometimes catches up with us".
"Things that were quite normal practice in the past all of a sudden becomes pretty well un-kosher and I think it was probably unfortunate that council didn't sort of recognise where we were at," he said.
"However, I do commend everyone for taking such a positive step and coming to outcome, which is going to be beneficial to the community and also to this shire."