MidCoast Council extraordinary meeting moves to reimburse those who paid tip fees in disposing of flood waste

Of the 600 homes and buildings assessed for flood damage in the March flood event on the Mid Coast, 235 - 35 per cent - have been found to be unsound.

And that's a lot more than were lost during the disastrous bushfire season in 2019.

Councillors shared this information at an extraordinary meeting on Monday afternoon when they discussed a motion to reimburse waste disposal fees to residents who had already taken their flood waste to the tip between March 22 and 29.

"This is about community, not about money," Cr Brad Christensen said when speaking to the motion he had put forward.

Council heard that already more than 23,500 tonnes of flood waste had been collected. To put this in perspective, annually council collects 25,000 tonne of waste via its "red" bins.

Council had been criticised on social media for not waiving tip fees in light of the natural disaster. Instead, a more tactical approach has been taken as a result of the multi-agency task force set up in the wake of last week's floods.

"People have been affected in a way that is unprecedented," Cr Len Roberts said. "We have government agencies and council working in a heirarchical way. Residents are getting greater service by this arrangement, with free kerbside pick-up. It's a more efficient, safer service.

"In five days 20,000-odd tonne of flood waste has been removed from the kerb-side, compared in the last week, 300 tonne has been taken to the tip by private residents - this pales to insignificance."

Cr Roberts said he was "very proud" of council's response to this disaster.

"When disaster strikes, we want to (act) straight away. But we have been told by emergency services, and by the Resilience Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, we need to assess the damage.

"We have put safety first, take flood waste from the kerb to a former tip site to be sorted - a far better system."

Cr Smith agreed that council was "doing a great job. The task force is amazing. Free kerb-side pick-up is a wonderful alternative."

Cr Kathryn Bell asked staff about the fleet of private contractors council had engaged to remove flood waste from homes and businesses. "What is the cost and who is paying for it?"

Council's director of liveable communities, Paul De Szell said the $300,000 to hire the private contractors was being paid for by MidCoast Council's waste fund, and council would seek remuneration from Public Works Advisory.