Councillor Alroe urges Toowoomba citizens to rise up ...

... 62% say "No, we'll show you what we think in March 2008".

Extraordinary scenes in Council chambers yesterday as a number of Councillors showed just how bitter they are about following the path set by the outgoing Mayor and the impending loss of their comfortable jobs at the next Council election.

For some bizarre reason they think that if they could somehow get a recycled water plant built in Toowoomba by next March for $68 million, the Toowoomba community will take pity on them and vote them back in so they can continue to enjoy the prestige of their gourmet sandwiches and seafood buffets.

As Council meetings go, it rates high on the 'dummy spit factor'.

It just shows you the alternative universe in which they live.

Anna Bligh sends a letter to the Council reaffirming the State government's position that Toowoomba should not have a stand alone recycled water plant.

(Read the letter here - Anna's response.)

A number of the Councillors bemoan the fact and the 'loss' of State and Federal funding.

They conveniently forget to mention all the other conditions of the Federal funding, none of which were met.

They also conveniently forget to mention that the $68 million project cost was a figure plucked out of the air by Toowoomba City Council.

They won't mention that Premier Beattie's three recycled water plants and associated pipelines will cost around $2 billion. No, they still believe that $2 billion divided by 3 equals $68 million.

They refuse to discuss where the RO waste stream will go for their magical $68 million plant. Perhaps they'll stuff the waste stream into their ratepayer-funded cars after each Council meeting and truck it home. (If they flush it down the toilet, it will just end up at their next Council meeting.)

The outgoing Mayor's recycled water project was doomed from the start. The game plan was simple - we have no idea what it will cost but let's say $68 million and then we can just call the cost overruns inevitable and jam them into rates increase in later years. Once we start building it, the people can't stop us and they'll just have to pay for it. We're dooming future generations in the city to a terrible debt burden but what do we care? Consulting jobs for everyone!

But the people weren't that dumb, as the referendum vote showed.

And yet still Councillors Alroe, Englart, Alroe and Albion persist.

Today's print version of the Chronicle labelled them a 'hostile pack of female Councillors'.

For some truly bizarre reason they think that continually trying to resurrect the deader than dead Water Futures recycled water plant will somehow get them votes next March. If only they could built it by then for $68 million.

Councillor Englart wants to declare 29 July 'Sorry Day' in Toowoomba.

Perhaps it should:

- sorry for wasting $1 million of ratepayers' funds
- sorry for saying there were no other options
- sorry for saying that it's done all over the world
- sorry for using non-existent documents as the basis for their decision
- sorry for saying the gas water would kill you
- sorry for trying to buy your votes with pizza and movie tickets
- sorry for sitting on our hands since the referendum vote.

It's quite clear that 15 March 2008 will be Goodbye Day ....

You can read the Chronicle's version of yesterday's events here - Attack by pack of female Councillors ...