A Shellharbour Labor councillor has suggested Mayor Chris Homer should step aside.
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The mayor hit back, saying Labor's Cr Rob Petreski was displaying a lack of integrity.
The call from Cr Petreski to step down also included Deputy Mayor Kellie Marsh and came after yet another tense and combative city council meeting on Tuesday night.
A debate that started with Cr Marsh choosing to put forward an amended motion axing two of Cr Petreski's proposals and ended with the Labor councillor calling for a vote of dissent against the mayor.
At the heart of that dissent motion was that Mayor Homer had allowed Cr Jacqui Graf to speak on a subject Cr Petreski himself was told to avoid.
Cr Petreski said it had followed on from other issues, such as the mayor not answering questions on notice and what he claimed was "block voting" by the five independent councillors.
With nine councillors having a vote on every motion, five creates a majority.
Earlier in the meeting, Mayor Homer stopped Cr Petreski from mentioning his two proposals, even though Cr Marsh and Cr John Davey had done so.
It took the intervention of CEO Mike Archer to point out that, if the first two were able to mention them, it was only fair for Cr Petreski to be afforded the same latitude.
In a media statement sent out the morning after the meeting the Labor councillor called on both Mayor Homer and Deputy Mayor Kellie Marsh to "step up" or "step aside".
"At the heart of our democratic process lies integrity, transparency, and accountability," Cr Petreski said.
"Yet, many events in this term of council have revealed a concerning pattern of behaviour within the council that appears to directly undermine these principles.
"We owe it to the good people of Shellharbour to ensure that our governing body conducts itself in a manner consistent with our organisation's core values of Collaboration, Accountability, Integrity, Respect, and Sustainability.
"If councillors cannot adhere to these core values, they should have no place in the chamber."
Mayor Homer released a short statement in response to Cr Petreski's comments.
"I reject Cr Petreski's claims as they are disingenuous fabrications for political motives," Mayor Homer said.
"I find it alarming that a councillor who has been on two council terms still has no grasp of the Code of Meeting Practice or Code of Conduct. Cr Petreski himself is not displaying integrity, transparency and accountability.
"I will not be commenting any further on this matter due to legal reasons."
Cr Marsh said there was no block voting on the part of the independents, with the vast majority of votes on council were unanimous
"I can assure you we don't caucus vote, we're not members of political parties, we do not caucus," Cr Marsh said.
"And I can assure you I had not discussed Cr Petreski's motion with all of the independents prior to the vote."
She did comment on Cr Petreski's "aggressive tone" during some council meetings.
"When he doesn't get his own way, he doesn't cope very well and he just keeps badgering," Cr Marsh said.