So perhaps it was that sense of letting their guard down that led to a couple of memorable Freudian slips from the floor.

The first came from mayor Graeme Hanger, whose job it was to present each item as councillors worked their way through the business paper.

When he came to an item outlining the general manager’s use of his power of attorney over the past month (a standard item at each monthly meeting), Cr Hanger stumbled slightly as he announced the “power of eternity”. Could he think the mayor’s job is his for as long as he wants it?

Even better, though, came from retiring councillor Greg Westman who – along with fellow retiree Michael Coote – was invited to say a few words at the close of the public section of the meeting.

Cr Westman spoke about the privilege of serving on council for nine years, including 12 months as mayor, and paid tribute to the council staff and directors for all their hard work.

“And the finance department – man, oh man, they’ve been a tough Bob to work with,” he said, before quickly correcting himself by saying “tough mob”.

Seems Bob Roach is gone but not forgotten.

ALSO on Wednesday night, Councillor Monica Morse revealed a grammar pedant streak that naturally appealed to Parade.

At issue was the correct spelling of Kings Parade to be used in content being drafted for new interpretive signage.

Cr Morse argued that it should be King’s Parade – with a possessive apostrophe included.

But signage already in place calls it Kings Parade, in keeping (Parade assumes) with the Australian protocol of dropping the possessive apostrophe in geographical place names such as Badgerys Creek and the Georges River.

We’ll have to wait and see which way the new signage goes, but Cr Morse made a public plea to bring back the apostrophe.