As they face being suspended for three months, Armidale's councillors have lamented it has come to this.
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Although when asked, there was a clear divide among some of the group of councillors who felt they had the right to exercise their majority, and others who felt the entire council needed to work together.
On Tuesday, the Minister for Local Government, Shelley Hancock sent the council a show cause notice, which said the councillors - which has split into two groups that have not been able to work together - would be suspended.
Some councillors have expressed frustration that the work this council has managed to get done has been overshadowed by conflict between the councillors.
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"Those councillors who this relates to seriously need to have a look at why they're involved in local government," Cr Brad Widders told The Armidale Express.
"Local government is about the community, it's not about personal agendas or personal political aspirations and I think those councillors ... really need to take a good look at why they're there and whether they're there for the right reasons."
But one of those councillors in the camp Cr Widders was referring to, who were the subject of an injunction last week, welcomed the suspension.
"I'll tell you straight, I think it's a great thing," Cr Jon Galletly said.
"We'll get the truth out there when the administrator comes in. We've been gagged the whole time.
"It hasn't been a whole lot of fun. Us councillors, the six that are meant to be the governing body, we haven't been able to have an opinion because of all the legal stuff," he said.
The six he referred to were the five listed in the injunction notice, plus Andrew Murat.
Three of those councillors - Debra O'Brien, Margaret O'Connor and Dorothy Robinson - put out a joint statement on Thursday morning, where they said it had been frustrating to be gagged on many issues that they want to talk about.
"We expect an OLG investigation to provide balanced information to residents, greater transparency and a better flow of accurate information to the community, who are rightly asking questions.
"It's natural in a democracy that elected people won't always agree, but the six councillors pressing for action on governance include three independents and members of three different political parties, all working smoothly together.
"Together, the six gained almost 70 per cent of the votes of all elected councillors," they said.
But other councillors were saying the entire council had to unite.
"We're going to need to come together and sort out whatever differences there are," Cr Di Gray said.
"There's at least half of us that are willing to come to the table."
She said she still had no idea why the group of councillors had tried to dismiss the CEO.
Deputy mayor Libby Martin also expressed hope that all councillors could be encouraged to work together.
Peter Bailey said blame could not be directed solely at either camp. He was previously a part of the faction with Crs O'Brien, O'Connor, Robinson, Galletly and Tiley.
He said the councillors had not yet discussed what the submission to the state government could say in response to the pending suspension.
By law the Local Government Minister has to give the council 14 days to respond, before enforcing the suspension.
"I think it's all a bit raw at the moment," Cr Bailey said.
"I'm hopeful that there must be some compromise, I think the last thing any of us want to do is to be sacked, which could be a consequence if we can't find a way forward."
