Welcome to this week’s editorial,
It’s official. The next council elections will be in September 2021.
Up until today the announcement that was made back in March 2020 needed to be carried with an Order and for that order to be published in the Government Gazette.
The news will not be met with much delight across NSW.
The first who are most disappointed by the announcement are those who had hoped to step down from local politics in September this year. The old, the frail, the disillusioned, the inept, the challenged and those who have learnt that being a councillor isn’t about lunches, free phones and date and a lovely little annual stipend that goes with the title of Councillor to add to any nomination for a future civic award.
We have our own councillors who will now remain for another year endorsing the Eurobodalla staff recommendations while seemingly representing the community via phones that remain dead and emails that remain unanswered. For most of our councillors it appears as if they have simply switched off, happy to know they have delegated all their responsibilities down to council staff.
They don’t even bother meeting any longer taking a seven week break before their last meeting where they declared that they would need a further four week break until the next in two weeks time.
The other groups disappointed with the announcement of the 2021 election are the ratepayers who have realised that they may as well have cut-outs similar to those used at NRL games sitting in the council chamber chairs. Joining them are those who were keen to run for council and “out the deadwood”.
Today’s announcement means that our popularly elected Mayor remains in the position unchallenged and that her mandate to build the Mackay Park Sports and Arts Centre will continue at full speed, indifferent to the mounting doubts around its financial sustainability and its utilisation.
The project now has a foul smell about it as it has been revealed to be tainted by political rorting, head nods and less than satisfactory scrutiny.
Fifteen months will seem like forever.
Until next—lei
