It was a way of immediately focusing his mind on the job at hand and of reminding himself that you just don’t know what’s round the corner.

With a commitment to action rather than talk, Gary Rush has led the Bathurst region through a period of strong growth and bold development over the past three and a half years and has been rated by many good judges as one of the best mayors the city has seen.

He has been the driving force behind a capital works program that includes the new BMX track, new velodrome and upgrades at Carrington Park and has brought the second track development on Mount Panorama – a project mooted for more than a decade with no real progress – to the brink of reality.

That said, Cr Rush has certainly not been everyone’s cup of tea.

He has alienated many staff within the council chamber who have not appreciated what they saw as a dictatorial leadership style and while he has strong support within a key bloc of councillors, the full council is far from a unified team.

His business and personal lives have also brought strong criticism but they are issues to be thrashed out away from the public gaze.

What should matter to the Bathurst community is that Gary Rush was a good mayor, with flaws like the rest of us.

For all the good he has done for our region, though, Cr Rush had no choice but to resign his position after being caught drink-driving on Friday night.

It does not matter that he believed he was under the limit and nor that he had been under enormous pressure in recent months.

The decision to drive was an unforgivable lapse of judgment and it’s right that he pay for that mistake with his job.

At least one council colleague tried to talk Cr Rush out of stepping down but that would have been a terrible message to send to the broader community.

Bathurst will miss Gary Rush’s leadership and the manner of his departure is as sad as it is disappointing.

But he has set an impressive blueprint for the next mayor to follow and provided an unintended reminder to all councillors – and the rest of us – that the job of mayor is bigger than any individual.