Councils received only broad guidance on how to spend this money - the main condition placed upon them was speed.

They were to submit a program of works within three months and report back to the Commonwealth in 12 months' time.

After conducting some community consultation, Bellingen Shire Council has chosen to direct most of the windfall towards placing us in a better position to deal with future disasters.

At the extraordinary meeting held via Zoom on April 3, councillors endorsed that projects categorised as Community Preparedness for Emergency would receive $675,000.

Infrastructure Restoration & Development (basically safe places, evacuation centres and the alternate route options report for Dorrigo to Coffs) will get $170,000; employment of a Resilience Coordinator for one year will consume another $145,000 and Environment Recovery and Development gets $95,000.

The agenda document notes that we have "a one-off opportunity to address not only recovery but preparedness ... also an opportunity to support a range of issues relative to responding to the current pandemic".

In line with that, $365K of the Community Preparedness for Emergency money will help create a Community Resilience Hub and another $225K will go towards the Bellingen Shire Pandemic Response Group's activities and has been characterised as a "Pilot via COVID".

There is $275,000 earmarked for Economic Recovery & Development but half of that is to come from Regional Tourism grants that have been postponed.

Libby Park, on behalf of the three local Chambers of Commerce, submitted a deputation to the meeting arguing that the federal allocation of $1.225M was intended for "recovery efforts not for preparedness efforts for future possible emergencies or crises".

"That is, they were intended to provide immediate relief to enable communities to recover from the damage inflicted by the bushfires," she wrote.

"Directing these funds towards projects, however worthwhile, that build preparedness for future emergencies (for example, spending on establishing safe places, installing water tanks to secure our water supplies etc) does not contribute to recovery efforts.

"One of the main impacts in our shire was on local businesses - retail, hospitality and accommodation businesses that suffered significant financial impacts. Without support to overcome these impacts, many of these businesses will never recover, especially in light of the current COVID-19 crisis.

"Tragically, because of the three month delay in allocating this funding, it may be already too late to save many of the businesses that were hit hard by the bushfires and this will be disastrous for the community as a whole."

The motion below passed 5-2, with Cr Carter, Cr King, Cr Klipin, Cr Fenton and Cr Wright-Turner voting in favour and Cr Harrison and Cr Jenkins against.

Commonwealth Government Disaster Recovery Grant for bushfire impacted communities

That Council endorse that funding application/reports totalling $1.605M be submitted for the delivery of the following projects to support the Shire's Recovery and Resilience/Preparedness activity following the Bushfires (either immediately or when cited grant rounds reopen):

a) Community Preparedness for Emergency: $675K, funded as follows:

b) Overarching Resilience Activity (All): $205K, funded as follows:

c) Environmental Recovery & Development: $95K, funded as follows:

d) Infrastructure Restoration & Development: $170K, funded as follows:

e) Personal & Community Support: $185K, funded as follows:

f) Economic Recovery & Development: $275K, funded as follows:

The agenda, minutes and recording of the meeting can be found at https://www.bellingen.nsw.gov.au/council/agenda-and-minutes/extraordinary-meeting-council-3-april-2020