The group have stated they will bide their time and hope for a councillor overhaul.

The committee and business representatives accused some councillors of voting as a caucus, blocking a number of council motions – the visitor’s centre’s funding future among them.

In a motion that will be presented to Tenterfield Shire Council the TDVA said they will “continue to operate the VIC (Visitors Information Centre) until October 2016”.

As part of the motion they also agreed to “negotiate with Tenterfield Shire Council for ongoing costs” and “negotiate for an equitable outcome for the Tenterfield Shire Council”.

Fifty business representatives and TDVA members that attended a special meeting held last Thursday night voted in favour of the motion.

Four were against – one being current Visitors Information Centre co-ordinator Lara Flanagan who opposed the motion believing council were unlikely to change their position.

TDVA president Peter Brier-Mills chaired the meeting and started proceedings by issuing a call for calm heads.

“We’re all in the same sandpit here – we’re not here to regurgitate things of the past and we’re not here for personal character assassination or vitriol,” he said.

Ms Flanagan recycled a speech she made directly to councillors at a recent general meeting where she sought to find out what model council would or could propose should the running of the centre fall into their hands.

Future scenarios were put to attendees with the committee even touting the potential end of the association as a solution.

“We can operate until October 2016 and re-evaluate with a new council in place,” Mr Brier-Mills said.

“There is $88,000 in the bank which will be down the gurgler after three years – we can dissolve the association and distribute the funds or see how we go until it runs out,” he said.

Peter Harmond floated the idea of members paying more in fees to contribute to the kitty.

Committee treasurer Alan Donges said the money they have in the bank was set to be allocated to centre upgrades and the reprinting of the Beautiful Tenterfield book.

He admitted that they had since reached out to Member for Lismore Thomas George about the likelihood of gaining grant support.

The group were in agreement that they wished to see the shire’s tourism model revert back to how it was before a tourism officer was employed.

“It’s a disjointed broken model – what we want is for it to be all under the one umbrella,” Mr Donges said.