Members of the public caused the Ordinary Meeting of Council to adjourn for about 15 minutes.

Commotion started as members of the public disagreed with council's decision to discuss a notice of motion about Lot 12, Range Road, Mittagong, in closed council.

Lot 12 has been the subject of controversy since prior to this council's term, when on July 24, 2012, councillors successfully moved a motion to delegate the general manager authority to pursue prosecution of the landowners and/or any other person found to be involved in relation to the unauthorised removal of trees on Lots 11, 12 and 4 Range Road, Mittagong.

Councillor John Uliana was the owner of Lot 12 at the time the motion was enforced.

In Wednesday night's council meeting, Councillor Garry Turland put forward a notice of motion for council to reinforce the resolution made by council in 2012.

While Councillors Ian Scandrett, Holly Campbell and Turland voted for the issue to be discussed in open council, it was the members of the public which caused uproar and objected to the ultimate decision adopted by council to take it into a closed meeting.

Council's legal staff advised councillors and the gallery that the matter should be discussed in closed council but Councillor Holly Campbell said it was "ridiculous" and was "stifling transparent council business".

"We are supposed to be about transparency, we are supposed to be about honesty, we are supposed to be about seeing the right things done," Cr Campbell said.

"We have had motions on books that were never acted upon and the fact is that nothing has been done, the fact is that part of this involves an elected councillor.

"It is a misfortune perhaps, it is an embarrassment perhaps, however, the fact remains that it is the business of this council to act honestly and transparently and that is what we are trying to do."

However, Mayor Duncan Gair said he had taken the legal advice and would not take any more comments from the floor.

In what turned into a yelling match, Southern Highlands Ratepayers Association secretary Charlie Johns stood up in the gallery and said the legal advice was "wrong."

"This is the greatest cover up you've ever seen," Mr Johns said.

Since then, the Southern Highland News has spoken to Cr Gair who said that whole section of the meeting was "very disturbing."

"The lack of respect and the fact that we had the presence of very experienced senior staff and members of the legal fraternity but members of the public felt they were wrong. It was very disappointing they challenged the chair and council."

No resolution about Lot 12 Range Road was made in closed council and Cr Gair did not comment on the status of the order imposed on Lot 12 for remediation works, which was passed by councillors in July 2014.

The 2014 resolution asked the general manager to issue an order to the owner of Lot 12 (at the time Cr Uliana) seeking appropriate remediation of the land.

Cr Uliana has told the Southern Highland News, "my wife and I have always co-operated with the requests of the council officers and complied with their requests in this matter".

"Today (August 27) I have had calls about getting the roads fixed," he said. "I will continue focusing my efforts to bringing real outcomes for our community."