I'm back! Apologies for the brief (four month!) absence - who new it would be so hard finding time to put fingers to keyboard? Being self-employed, though, it's nice to know I've been so busy!

The big news in the interim - our new council.

It was nice to see that Rodney had one of the highest voter turnouts in the country, though it's still appallingly low at just 45 percent. People tend to bitch and moan about their local council year in and year out - but when it comes time to vote, more than half can't even get off their bums and have a say. Guess they get what they deserve.

Anyway, the newly elected council seems to be quite a nice mix of experience and new blood, so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next three years. Mayor Penny Webster has already put Eastern Ward councillor Wayne Walker on notice to work in a team effort; with a tenuous one-vote hold on his seat, I'm guessing he won't be rocking the boat too much!

And my prediction for the next three years? More of the same.

I really don't anticipate anything changing. The council will still be generally well-meaning as it goes about its day-to-day running of our district, but hopelessly inefficient at many things. There will still be miles of red tape whenever someone wants to get something done. And there will never be enough money to do all the things the council - and the ratepayers - want done.

If there's one generalisation about ratepayers, it's that most of them don't like paying their rates. A significant proportion also believe their council should only be spending their rate money on the basic necessities of running the town/city/district/region - the nuts and bolts stuff. I'm always amazed at the people who begrudge rate money going to the zoo or museum, or to parks or other cultural amenities.

Personally I'm all for rate money going to those sorts of things - they are the elements that make where we live "civilised".

But I do hate to see rate money simply wasted.

A case in point - road repairs. So much money gets tossed at substandard repair work it's enough to make you weep.

About six weeks ago, a large part of the bottom end of Fordyce Road was resealed. The asphalt was badly potholed, and the workers spent several days spreading, grading and rolling metal over the existing surface, then tar sealing over it. It looked like they were doing a good job, but it was really only a quick cosmetic patch-up, and already the council has been forced to patch a number of potholes that have reappeared.

Why don't they do a proper job? Yes, it'll cost more initially, but at least it will last and ultimately save money.

Perhaps they just aren't interested in what might happen during the next 3-year term ...