The Invercargill City Council (ICC) has voted against Wastenet's recommendations to adopt a new tenderer for recycling services in Southland after a lengthy extraordinary council meeting in Invercargill tonight.

Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt had the deciding vote after the motion to adopt the recommendation of the WasteNet Advisory Group was deadlocked at 5-5.

As Mayor, Sir Tim was awarded an extra deciding vote, having already voted alongside Councillors Toni Biddle, Graham Lewis, Lindsay Abbott and Allan Arnold against the motion.

Councillors Rebecca Amundsen, Alex Crackett, Lloyd Esler, Darren Ludlow and Lindsay Thomas voted for the motion.

The vote came after long a rigorous debate, with the decision to reveal the vote to the public decided after more than an hour of debate.

Cr Biddle put forward a motion to have the discussion over the contract brought out of the public excluded session and into the public forum.

During the often heated debate by councillors, which was constantly interjected by members of the public gallery, the motion was initially carried after a deadlock was broken by Mayor Shadbolt.

Cr Biddle however amended her motion following discussion from lawyers which mentioned possible ramifications if the discussion was brought in the public forum.

Her amendment allowed for the the debate in the public excluded session to continue as normal, but allow the vote from councillors showing their decision on Wastenet's recommendation to take part after the discussion was finished.

The amended motion was carried, and after a two hour debate during the public excluded session, councillors returned to the chamber to reveal their decision.

Councillor Toni Biddle put forward a motion to allow the debate to remain out of the public excluded session of the meeting. PHOTO: Ben Waterworth

In total the meeting went for more than four hours, with most attendees who watched on in the public gallery waiting patiently outside the chambers during the public excluded session.

While the decision is a boost for the Southland disAbility Enterprises (SdE), it does not confirm it as the preferred Wastenet tenderer, with the final decision expected to be made tomorrow.

Both Gore District Council and Southland District Council held meetings in the last 24 hours to decide which way they will vote. However none of their results have been released to the public yet.

Lynda Mooij, whose daughter works at SdE, was apprehensive over the decision.

"I'm happy but it was so close to the wind," she said after the meeting. "I'm still terrified for the other two councils decisions."

Earlier in the meeting Mrs Mooij, alongside fellow SdE workers family members Phil Burt and Tony Stewart, all spoke in the public forum section of the meeting detailing why the contract was so important to the SdE.

Mrs Mooij described her daughter's job as her "life".

She said that it it gives her daughter a meaningful job and provides her with the added benefits of friendships and a productive day.

"SdE is more than just an employer. They are also social engineers for their workers offering additional opportunities outside of work like discos and ten pin bowling. They are employers who respect their workers differences, having built relationships with them for over four years. They are able to make allowances when there is a health or a well-being crisis."

The meeting drew a large crowd in the public gallery supporting SdE. PHOTO: Ben Waterworth

Mr Mooij said losing the contract would have far bigger ramifications than employees simply losing their job.

"We can't go backwards and allow this to be ripped away from them. Because there is a consequence to this decision. Eighty-two individuals will need support. Eight-two times eight hours of funding per day. 

Remove the social conscience and look at the financials, this represents a huge additional cost to us as a community. You as a council are our elected representatives. Don't leave this to 82 families and other agencies to carry."

Last month SdE broke confidentiality while contract negotiations for WasteNet's recycling programme were still underway, saying it was told it was no longer the preferred tenderer.

The group, which employs close to 100 people, most of whom have a disability, has held the contract to manage Southland's recycling for the last eight years.

A joint statement from all three councils announcing the final decision of the preferred tenderer is expected tomorrow.