Shellharbour council will likely be one councillor down between now and September 2020, due to the sudden resignation of Liberal councillor Nathan Cattell.
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According to business papers for Tuesday's meeting, Mr Cattell tendered his resignation on November 5.
The council's sole Liberal representative said he did not want to leave his elected position, but said he has been forced to resign due to a strong of personal issues.
"I was made redundant from Reflections [at Killalea] three weeks ago, so that means financially I can't afford to continue being a councillor because I've been applying for positions elsewhere," Mr Cattell said.
"I've got a job in Western Australia, I landed a position there.
"Environmental management is a difficult area down the coast to get a job in.
"It took me 15 years to get into the job at Killalea and I don't want to leave but I have to."]
Mr Cattell said he had also faced some significant health issues in recent months.
"Everything has snowballed, and the last thing I wanted to do is to leave council," he said.
"I will miss the council but I have to provide for my kids. I could have stayed and put in leave of absences or something like that, but that would be a misrepresentation to the community.
"So I chose to do the right thing and resign."
At this week's meeting, the remaining six councillors will consider whether to dispense with an expensive by-election to replace Mr Cattell.
Everything has snowballed, and the last thing I wanted to do is to leave council. [But] I chose to do the right thing and resign.
Council officers say a single-councillor election would be about 80 per cent of the cost a general election for all councillors, meaning ratepayers would need to fork out an extra $372,000 to replace one councillor for less than a year.
Council officers have suggested that the council "can function and carry out its duties with one less councillor and council would be required to justify the cost of conducting a by-election to the community".
If councillors support this view, they will be required to write to the NSW Local Government minister to request that the by-election not go ahead.
This is allowed under the local government act if a casual vacancy occurs within 18 months of the next ordinary election.