Howdy and welcome to the blog...and a very apt title today because as much as I believe that all of Mt Gambier City Council should be sacked, genuinely independent Auditors appointed, and criminal charges laid against specific members for fraud and/or theft, inside trading, corruption, etc, and there are some I'd like to see in stocks in the Town Square...(we don't have a Town Square-Ed)...shoosh...in stocks being pelted with sloppy produce...others I'm just bitterly disappointed with.
There are those for whom I feel a degree of sympathy, in that they are effectively ineffectual if not quite irrelevant when it comes to the big decisions because the Liberal bloc that runs Council don't need them and don't listen to them...and there are those that I'd prefer to remain as Councillors after the November 2014 local government elections
because if we're gonna' have a shrekin' Council, then we need some
shrekin' Councillors who at least give half a damn about people other
than themselves.
Unfortunately, I understand that we will lose 2 senior Councillors this year whom I include in this number...my opinion (and the St Martins Child Abuse Issue) aside, I would consider these two as being critical players in a future Council that had some hope of removing itself from the cycle of nepotistic financial lunacies that the current Council has unleashed on Mt Gambier...unfortunately at this time I haven't been able to speak with them specifically about blogging this information, and don't know if there are specific personal reasons and/or if they would want them discussed, etc, so I'll just make the observation.
I would think that regular readers of the blog will have no problem working out roughly whom I'm referring to when I say that I would have certain people remain on Council as opposed to those I feel should be sacked and jailed...I'll talk to these Councillors when I can and post what I can...none of this is immediately relevant with elections still 11 months away, but I wanted to raise it as an issue for future consideration.
And you'll all appreciate the fine line I walk with this...(even sans personal opinion and the St Martins stuff-Ed)...indeed...given that these 2 are obviously part of the current Council, that at it's first meeting post the November 2010 election massively increased the cost of the Main Corner with the Commercial Kitchen, etc, then mid 2013 doubled it's borrowing capacity to do the Old Hospital Demolition and the Rail Lands fiasco...I have covered this extensively in previous posts.
But I'm not above revisiting the extraordinary issue of the new $2million 'cell' at the Caroline Rubbish Tip/Landfill site, because it is an issue so transparent and so indicative and so deserving of derision...even if you believe Council's excuse that part of the reason they had to raise their own borrowing limit was because they had suddenly realised they needed to borrow millions for an allegedly critical project, this 'justification' only indicates a total lack of planning, abysmal infrastructure management, and woeful financial planning...
Council must have known for years that the Caroline site was filling up a certain rate, and would therefore be full by such and such, and that therefore they needed to plan to save $X over period Y...and where have the 'Rubbish Collection Rates' gone that Council collects supposedly for the removal and dumping of rubbish?...the whole thing stinks, and does not bear scrutiny...
Mayor By Default: Steve Perryman is Mayor because no-one else ran against him in the November 2010 Local Government elections...no-one voted for him...he self-nominated and was unopposed...when I saw this on 'Nominations Day', I nearly changed my candidacy application from Councillor to Mayor...(orrr dude, can you imagine you as Mayor?...hilarious-Ed)...indeed...
Hilarious maybe, but Mt Gambier wouldn't be in half the mess that it is now...and it is in a whole world of trouble and I don't care what bullshit Council spews out about it's budgets and financial position, etc, because they just lie as and when it suits them, and their own 'Internal Auditors' are either completely incompetent or fundamentally complicit...and my favourite example is of course the nearly $350,000 that then Council CEO Greg Muller took without appropriate authority and that has apparently not been spotted by Council's Auditors...(although it was front page of The Border Watch-Ed)...indeed.
And given the cockamamee excuses about that money going toward 'window insurance, fire-rating', etc, and if that's what's making the front page of TBW, then what else is happening without exposure?...just how much money has been 'spent without appropriate authority', by whom, and on what?...the evidential argument for a genuinely Independent Auditor to be appointed, is absolute and irrefutable.
Ultimately, for all my bleating about their abject failures, etc, I can't help feeling that the loss of these 2 Councillors is very much a case of 'better the devil you know'...and now some other news...
Volgograd: has been targeted 2 days in a row by 'suicide bombers', killing 35 people and terribly injuring dozens of others, with grim potential for the upcoming Winter Olympics to be held in nearby Sochi. There are just so many issues here...starting with an acknowledgement of the horrors and suffering that Russian forces have been involved in in the Caucasus region of Chechnya, including carpet-bombing parts of the capital Grozny, that has led to retaliatory 'terrorist attacks' in Russia...both sides argue that they are the aggrieved party.
The Volgograd attacks on the transport system have such severe and immediate implications for the Olympics because approx 70% of visitors to Sochi will be arriving/departing via rail services, and over half of those via the Volgograd Station that has just been bombed...these 2 main rail links are obviously a prime target for anyone seeking to disrupt the games...and those threats/promises have apparently already been broadcast from Chechnya just prior to the latest bombings.
The situation is so bad that the USofA has offered security advice and personnel if required, and I understand that Russia is very much considering this offer although of course wanting to handle this situation themselves...I don't really give a damn about the Olympics, but sincerely hope that these attacks never eventuate...the unfortunate reality for Russian citizens is that they will always be vulnerable to attacks, and there may well be bombings away from the actual Games on 'softer' targets.
Rocky Mountain High: Colorado has become the first state in the USofA to formally legalise Marijuana for public sale with a predicted $70million annual windfall for the state...nearly 20 other states already approve medicinal use and have various legislation, officially registered clinics, etc, but Colorado is the first to allow public sale and possession for legal recreational use...and kudos to the ABC/BBC who have covered the length and breadth of the debate - pros, cons, and almost everywhere in between....I'll review this issue in a post soon.
Permissible Slapping: I'm normally a pacifist, but PS may be applied to anyone in South Australia's desert North who today says "hot enough for ya'?" because it's set to hit nearly 50C (that's into the 120s Fahrenheit) for the third day running...and that's in the shade...in the shade...yesterday it was 16C and raining here in Mt Gambier when I heard it reported as just passing 40C headed for 48C at Oodnadatta (I think? Williams Creek?)...that's triple what we were...triple...
Enough for today and so much more Council stuff to cover,
Tomorrow: I See Through The Transparency
Council is apparently about to enter a brave new age of transparent governing and public publication of documents, etc...except of course for those documents...and all the stuff re that other issue...oh, and those things there...and that...and these...um, I'll get back to you...no don't look at that...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...woohoo and waha...cheers and laters...
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