AT 4pm today, Bathurst man Gordon Crisp says he will call into mayor Gary Rush’s office seeking written confirmation that council – among other things – had terminated the employment contracts of both general manager David Sherley and environmental planning and building services director David Shaw.
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When Cr Rush fails to produce this confirmation, Mr Crisp says he will at 4.15pm lodge an official complaint with Bathurst MP and Minister for Local Government Paul Toole requesting that he dismiss the council for gross misconduct over its handling of a disputed development application that ended in a scathing judgment from the Land and Environment Court.
What he did not tell council is that of the 2600 or so DAs processed by Bathurst Regional Council in the past four years, just four have ended in court action. That’s hardly a picture of systematic planning incompetence.
Mr Crisp delivered his grave news to council during public question time at Wednesday night’s monthly meeting, but not before reminding all present that he was contesting the NSW Upper House elections next month.
Despite privately admitting on more than one occasion that he has no chance of winning a seat in the NSW Legislative Council, Mr Crisp was telling a different story from his soapbox on Wednesday. He actually told councillors that they were handing him the ammunition that could see him win a seat in parliament.
Of course, it’s all nonsense – but just the sort of nonsense we should get used to between now and March 28.
Mr Crisp is also pushing to be included in the Bathurst Combined Pensioners and Superannuants pre-election forum on March 5, despite the forum traditionally featuring only candidates seeking a seat in the Lower House.
If he gets his way and is allowed to take part, he will again seek to dominate proceedings with his wild accusations of incompetence and corruption.
There was a time when Mr Crisp was the most popular local politician in Bathurst, but those days are long past.
Successive council elections have proved the Bathurst public is no longer buying what he’s selling, and March 28 will prove that no-one else in NSW is interested either.