Who sits where in Council turns out to be a race

For anyone visiting the Eurobodalla Council Chamber for meeting or forum will see the councillors sitting in a semi circle facing "The Bench". Those watching closely will see that the position of the councillors bears some degree of opportunity. Lindsay Brown enjoyed being directly next to the General Manager so that he could wave his hands around and draw her attention to councillors who might be taking too long, deviating away from the subject, or most often were, in his opinion, boring. If lucky she might then "have a word" with the Mayor to intervene. Lindsay also enjoyed this position next to the bench so he could cast his gems of wisdom towards the Mayor who, for the first four out of the five years, he often reminded of any deficiencies she might have in knowing how to chair a meeting and meeting protocols. The Beagle observed and called it the "Snards Seat". Pollock took up his position opposite. Again this enabled him to be close to the Font of Power whilst also being out of sight of the public who might notice what he was doing on his iPad. While Nathan and Tait were clearly able to be seen scrolling their agendas it has long been suggested that Councillor Pollock may well have also been distracted to scroll other sites. A question was asked by a Beagle reader as to how the Councillor's seats are allocated. Councillor McGinlay offers this gem of an insight: "I can only described what happened last time. At an early briefing, in the room next to the chambers, perhaps the first, councillors were presented with their communication devices, massive folders full of legislation etc, and official nameplates and invited at some time to select a spot in the chamber. The two old hands (knowing the drill) almost leapt to their feet and made a scurried knee wearied bee-line into the chamber and choose the two seats closest at each end of the arc, putting them next to the front bench of power. "Having spotted this I followed quickly and placed my name tag next to Clr Pollock’s. Clr Mayne got the idea and long-legged it into the chamber and plonked his down beside Clr Brown. Like a bloody kindergarten game it was...Not at all under any logical or rational system other than prior experience and opportunism. And so the tone was set. Cheers, Pat" Now that we know maybe the seating should be based on different rules rather than a running race. Suggested would be in order of how many votes were received. If that was the case then Tait (only 14 votes) and Nathan (only 4 votes) were on track already having achieved such record low votes to still be appointed as community representatives. Maybe the allocation could be based on height from tallest to shortest like they do in schools. Or alphabetical. Whatever the outcome what we will have, most likely, is just one, maybe two, returning councillors and a room full of newbies, at the ready with their official nameplates held firmly as if batons, ready to leap when the General Manager yells "Go".