Ratepayers will have to fork out an estimated $50,000 or more just for solicitors sitting at the public inquiry into Shellharbour City Council.
Shellharbour councillors may be on their way out of office after taking a beating at the inquiry over the past fortnight, yet they are still entitled to legal representation paid for by the council.
And instead of using the lawyer appointed to protect the corporate body of the council, some councillors have opted to have their own representation.
Department of Local Government sources say that more lawyers have appeared at this inquiry than they have seen before.
On some days there has been barely enough room at the legal representatives' table to accommodate them.
Mayor David Hamilton, Deputy Mayor Michele Greig and councillors Geoff Rose and Tom Hawker have all had their own legal support. Most are senior solicitors, some are partners in major Wollongong law firms.
Legal experts told the Mercury that fees for such representation would be between $1500 and $2000 per day. That's just for sitting at the hearings in Albion Park. The complex nature of government public inquiries requires a heavy load of preparation work, the experts said.
The commission has sat for eight days, including the initial "housekeeping" opening day in April. The hearings proper began on May 26, and are due to wrap up on Wednesday.
Each day local government expert and solicitor Gerry Holmes has appeared for "the corporate body", or the councillors. Lawyer David Clarke appeared when Mr Holmes was unavailable.
The council's inhouse corporate solicitor, Bruce McCann, joined the table most days to represent the general manager and council staff.
John McEwan, a partner at Heard McEwan, appeared each day for the mayor. The deputy mayor's solicitor often sat in the gallery observing.
Cr Rose's solicitor is a partner at Russell McLelland Brown, and was only seen the day his client took the witness stand. Cr Hawker's lawyer also only appeared when the councillor gave evidence.
Resident Sue Fleet attended some of the hearings and was shocked to hear that residents were paying for the army of lawyers.
"It comes down to whether they're in this position as a result of their duty," she said.
The council had denied councillors Helen Stewart and Geoff Rose legal representation during its court action over leaks to a website, so paying for councillors' lawyers during an inquiry that could lead to their sacking seemed hypocritical, she said.
The council refused to speak to the Mercury, but in a written statement said that an estimate of costs was not available.
"It is still too early to hazard a guess at how much the inquiry will end up costing council," a spokesman said.
"Council is yet to enter into any cost agreements with any of the legal representatives councillors chose to use throughout the inquiry."
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