ENGINEERING services director Peter See was forced to defend his council workers during a heated discussion about the value of the men and women in orange vests.

The talk was triggered at this week's engineering services meeting when Cr Ross Bartley questioned whether council had considered contracting out gravel re-sheeting projects.

He later added contractors "don't have as many overheads as council" and would "probably be a bit quicker".

"Given the current climate with flood damage in the community, I just wonder whether we could contract it out," he said.

"I'm interested in exploring that in the future. I'm just interested in achieving the best bang for our buck."

Mr See immediately assumed a defensive stance, saying council didn't usually contract work out, "to keep (their) staff in jobs".

Mayor Ron Bellingham added his view, saying he valued all council staff and the jobs they did.

"They do high-quality jobs and as this year has rolled by we've seen that expertise develop," he said. "There is certainly an opportunity for contractors and as money starts to flow in for flood recovery funds that will go beyond council resources.

"At this stage I think our workforce is doing an excellent job and people have said to me they're impressed with their speed."

Cr Bartley retorted he witnessed a lot of works done that had a "lack of supervision", which struck a raw nerve with Mr See.

"By law all engineering work has to be monitored (by engineers)," he said.

"There are no contractors that are going to come out on Christmas or Boxing Day like we saw in the floods and close the roads and clean up.

"It's not right to criticise council staff and my staff in general. It's really difficult to compare private contractors with council staff.

"I'm not saying (council workers) are perfect; they make mistakes but they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

It wasn't fair, he added, that council workers were continuously targeted by people and the media whereas "no-one complains about Big W or any other staff".

CEO Rod Ferguson supported Mr See's comments, telling Cr Bartley he made a "broad statement".

"Part of council's role is supporting the community by employing people," he said.

"If council wants to have a look at how we do things ... it's a large part of the operational budget."

Cr Bellingham told Cr Bartley negative reviews were better kept behind closed doors.

"I'm of the philosophy that you praise in public and criticise in private," he said.

Cr Vic Pennisi said he supported looking at the budget and whether it was feasible to contract work out. He added the council had contracted its waste collection out to contractor JJ Richards.

The impact of mining was only going to make it harder to keep staff, said Cr Gow, and there may be an opportunity to form a list of jobs that could be contracted out.

"As floods impact and as mining takes away our base of workers, perhaps we should take advantage of the opportunities that arise," he said.

"If we got a list of people who can work for us (it would be a good thing)."

Cr Bartley added it was "interesting that most contractors were previously council workers".