Cr Lee Vandervis said this week he thought Mayor Dave Cull's appointments to council committees would lead to a divided council because they did not make best use of experienced or top-polling councillors.
But other councillors do not appear to share his concerns.
Sitting councillors spoken to said they believed all the elected councillors had the potential to work together constructively, including Cr Vandervis, who Crs Andrew Noone and Chris Staynes said had already proven he could work as part of a team last term.
''We probably didn't always agree all the time, but that's not necessarily a bad thing,'' Cr Noone said of Cr Vandervis, who served as his deputy on the infrastructure services committee for three years.
Cr Noone and Cr Kate Wilson said it was time now for everyone to just get on with the job at hand.
''At the end of the day everyone puts their hand up because they want to serve their community and try and make a difference, and that's the main motivation and we've got a responsibility to do that,'' Cr Noone said.
Incoming councillors in the main said they thought there would be a good set of skills around the table, which would lead to some interesting discussions, but it was too early for them to assess how well everyone would get on.
Aaron Hawkins said it was hard to say before even having one meeting, but it seemed the majority of councillors were prepared to make decisions based on the evidence and put in the work that required.
Mike Lord and Doug Hall both said while they might not always share the same views as others, they could still get on with them.
Neville Peat said he felt there was a positive feeling within the new-look council and he expected councillors would pull together.
Having six new people with a range of experience on board would provide a diversity of views, which was not unhealthy.
Personality disputes, however, were.
''If councillors just focus on the business of council, I think it will be a positive time.''
Ms Calvert was the only one to express some caution.
The council would stay working constructively as long as it recognised that people had voted for some change, she said.
Mr Cull appeared to have surrounded himself, on committees, with people he was comfortable with, which was understandable, but if that reflected a discomfort with voters' choices, and people began to feel it was simply business as usual despite them voting for some change, then that could lead to issues.
But it was early days yet.
''It'll be interesting and I think there's a lot of really useful contributions people can make to this council and it's always a difficulty early on for the mayor to please everybody. Although my preferences may not have been his choice, I appreciate he has the right to make them and he has his reasons.''
Mr Cull gave Cr Vandervis no responsibilities and has said it was because he lacked confidence the outspoken councillor could maintain effective working relationships with staff and other councillors.
Other councillors asked about that this week said it was time now for everybody just to get on and do the job they had been elected to do.
Crs Noone and Wilson said they were concerned the media continued to focus on Cr Vandervis, when the focus should be on the job at hand.
Cr Richard Thomson said he liked Cr Vandervis, but working with him was, at times, ''frustrating and infuriating''.
''I think he's immensely capable. It's just unfortunate that to achieve things you've got to take people with you.
''I think Cr Vandervis needs to look at how he is doing things and how easy it is for people to work with him.''
Crs Jinty MacTavish, John Bezett and David Benson-Pope did not return calls.
