However, councillors again stopped short of agreeing to accept control of a large parcel of lake lands unless the NSW Government agreed to cough up more than $22.5 million.

At Monday night’s meeting, the councillors considered two recommendations about the lake, which has been an ongoing battleground since the Lake Illawarra Authority (LIA) was scrapped last year.

One proposed the council join the Lake Illawarra Estuary Management Committee, suggested by the NSW Government, which Shellharbour council agreed to join almost a year ago.

The other motion urged the council to take over former LIA lands, including the surrounding jetties, parks and paths.

Monday’s lengthy debate was kicked off by councillor Vicki Curran who said the council should agree to join the committee but needed to look into employing a dedicated Lake Illawarra manager.

She said the committee alone would be unable to successfully manage the lake’s complex issues.

‘‘We’ve been recommended to set up a committee that can’t do anything - it has no authority and no allocated funds,’’ she said.

‘‘We need someone who is clearly responsible, accountable and capable of fulfilling the responsibilities and achieving the outcomes.’’

This move was applauded by the Liberal councillors, who labelled it a ‘‘sensible way forward’’ despite their concerns over how the council would fund the committee.

Councillor Bede Crasnich said the lake was Wollongong’s responsibility, but promised to lobby Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner for a firm funding commitment.

‘‘I do not agree with how things have been handled after the scrapping of the LIA,’’ he said.

‘‘I do wish this state government had given us at least some starting funds on this.’’

But the Labor councillors urged their colleagues to persist with rejecting the plans of the ‘‘environmental neanderthals of Macquarie Street’’.

‘‘We’ll have no power and no money to do anything, but you can rest assured we’ll shoulder the blame for the health of the lake in the eyes of our ratepayers and citizens of this area,’’ councillor Chris Connor said.

Cr David Brown agreed, labelling the scrapping of the LIA a ‘‘grubby cost shift’’.

‘‘We need to tell the state government that the idea that you somehow capture the best bits of the lake and flog it off is [not] acceptable to us, while we get lumped with the costs,’’ he said.

‘‘We should be out on the streets, we should chain ourselves to buildings. This idea of forming committees is a nonsense - stand up for the city.’’

Cr Curran’s motion to adopt the committee and employ a manager was narrowly supported, with all four Labor councillors, plus George Takacs and Gordon Bradbery, voting against it.

Ann Martin’s push for the council not to accept any lands, unless the government committed funding and agreed to give the council any proceeds from the sale of those lands, was supported by all but Cr Greg Petty.