I have indeed been rather busy of late. On Tuesday we had the AGM  of our local Progress Association (actually the committee that runs the recreation ground and does very little else). Attending the meeting was our Local Government representative - a Councillor of many years standing. On 27 Feb we have a public meeting scheduled to discuss the latest iteration of the on-going and much contested new Swimming Pool. Basically Council wants to relocate it to a position on the High Street where it will have maximum impact on future consolidation of housing development, cause significant traffic problems (since it is intended to serve 3 local government areas) and the extended operating hours of which will impact severely on existing activities. Add to that it is the site of the Council's Works Depot which has serious contamination issues and bedrock very close to the surface. A few people have been attending meetings at Council to express their concern over the process involved in identifying their preferred site, which will, because of its environmental constraints, significantly increase the cost of the development and thus delay its delivery. So there's your background.

During our AGM, at the General Business section, the Councillor spoke up and said Council needed our help. He went on to describe 'troublemakers and outsiders' who wanted to stop the pool development and named the individual who has been most vocal (she has lived here 20 years). I raised concerns as to whether it was relevant to the business of the meeting and also whether the individual should be so named. He persisted. He asked if someone could move a motion in support of Council's position. I pointed out that unless both sides of the argument were presented it would be inappropriate to express a view. He stated that it would not be appropriate for him, as a member of Council to move a motion and asked if someone else could do it. My concerns had been duly noted so the person who presented the motion made it 'that we support the provision of a pool'. The Councillor then weighed in again with a suggested amendment (that we support the provision of a pool at Council's preferred site). The motion was thus amended. I and one other abstained from voting and noted our reasons for doing so. Whether the minutes recorded that is moot as the person taking minutes is the wife of a Council employee (also our president).

So. I have spent some time wrestling with my conscience, and with the ins and outs of lodging a Code of Conduct complaint against the Councillor who I believe to be a decent man, sadly influenced by those around him. He seemed deeply uncomfortable with what he was doing. But I now know he did much the same at several other community meetings - at least one of which he had no business attending. So I will be spending some time drafting my complaint against the Model Code of Conduct (as opposed to Council's much watered down model). The process is seriously flawed in that the complaint must be lodged with the General Manager (who is part of the problem), and attempts made to resolve the problem internally before referral to the external mediator/assessor. So life will be rather uncomfortable for a time I suspect.

Meanwhile I have been putting up shelves, arranging the interior of the Garden shed and generally emptying out the house (a process hindered by the fact I am so used to seeing things in a particular place that I no longer notice things like battery chargers for the cordless drill on the kitchen bench).

I also took delivery of my first load of firewood so am set for a little while. I dismantled the dog kennel that has been housing the 5 litre fuel bottles for the lawn mower etc and placed the bottles in the garden shed. The kennel site is now being populated with firewood, though as I was stacking it I noticed it is rather close to the clothes line so have had to move sideways behind the bundle of cardboard that will also be rehoused once I build the remaining part of the shed apron. At least the whipper snipper is no longer a trip hazard in the hall.....