Fast Buck$, Coorabell
Council has graciously agreed to permit me to attend meetings in person again. So I went along to last Thursday’s ‘planning meeting’ to address items that were on the agenda, even though they had nothing to do with planning. Making it up as they go along, as usual – and not being the slightest bit embarrassed about it either.
Indeed Mayor Simon Richardson was in quite a merry and expansive mood and he certainly wasn’t going to let any public comments about procedural irregularities, hidden agendas, or missing information get in the way of him enjoying his role of being the groovy mayor of groovy Byron; his powers of denial continue to amaze me.
Not having attended meetings for a few months gave me a new perspective on what happens in that bubble. Simon imagines himself as having a dominant effect by virtue of his gift of the gab, the profundity of his insights, the power of his personality. Not quite; I see now that his halo comes from confidence that the bureaucrats afford him. No matter what crap they put forward in their reports, they know Simon and his poodles will protect them.
Which, in truth, means that said staff give him the deference he craves and the reassurances he needs in the face of adversity and criticism.
Of course Simon will go to the grave never having realised that he became the de-facto staff representative on Council; that was the price of his ascendancy.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
