W yndham Council is beginning to make Carlton Football Club look like premiers. Pick up the paper or listen to the radio news and you’ll hear about their latest misadventure. There seems to be no end to this sorry tale of late.
Councillors are being investigated for all sorts of things, involving visas, personal attacks, inappropriate use of the city logo and falsely claiming a professional qualification.
Please tell me this is a script for the return of
Fawlty Towers. All this on top of the debacle over the naming of the two new city landmarks – Eagle Stadium and the Aquapulse and Encore Events Centre. The reaction from the public has been overwhelming and the response from the council underwhelming, to say the least.
I’m sure some ratepayers will give our councillors the benefit of their thoughts at the upcoming open days for both facilities. The choice of Peter Lazer to MC the Eagle opening and Giaan Rooney for the Aquapulse facility is interesting, but probably as locally relevant as the naming of the facilities.
The Get Wyndham Moving campaign has not really fixed anything. But we do have a nice petition with 5000 names on it.
It appears many of our representatives are wearing painted-on ears, as they do not listen to the ratepayers, the public or even to each other.
I’ve heard some appear to fall asleep during meetings, others don’t even attend and still more have a Marcel Marceau-style attitude towards meetings when they do turn up.
Some also appear to have superhero power … and the super power I would most dearly love to have. They are invisible and most ratepayers never see them.
There are also some who people ask event organisers not to be seated with, such is their popularity.
The major problem is that as ratepayers, we do not find their actions funny, not remotely. Their audience is growing tired of their lacklustre performance.
Unfortunately, the reality is we have to put up with them for another 12 months. ■
