AS the old year fades into history what are your memories of 2016?
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General consensus appears to be it was a year best forgotten.
But it wasn't all that bad — if you're prepared to overlook the political turmoil. Yep, it wasn't a good year for politicians and their associates.
For starters, it was a local government election year and Maree Statham, widely regarded as the most popular Mayor in recent or even distant memory, easily outpolled every other candidate in an election distorted by a record number of candidates.
Then came the mayoral election and a decision by Cr Ray Thompson to abstain forced the thankfully rare occurrence of a Mayor elected by a draw from the hat.
Stephen Lesslie won the two way draw.
Stephen up to that time was not widely known in Greater Lithgow but he had the pedigree; his father, the late Dr Tom, was the Mayor back in the 80s and prior to returning to Lithgow Stephen had been Mayor of Drummoyne for a time. But wait; there's more!
Controversial Councillor Martin Ticehurst again made headlines when disqualified from council for yet another code of conduct breach (which he continues to deny).
His track record did him no favours and he became the first councillor in NSW to experience new three strikes legislation — automatically barred for five years.
Bizarrely he stood for council at the September election while awaiting an appeal, got re-elected and then became deputy mayor when no one else wanted the job.
But turmoil in council didn't end there. No sooner was the new council in office than a study of a staff survey saw general manager Roger Bailey unceremoniously dumped, a decision far from unanimous.
With the blood letting and by election it could be a costly year for ratepayers.
At state political level it was not a good year in the provinces for the Baird Coalition.
At a by-election forced when Andrew Gee moved to federal politics the Nationals lost the seat of Orange for the first time since somewhere back in the mists of time. Worse it was a fringe dweller party that did the damage.
It was an unthinkable result (think Donald Trump) and the Coalition was quick to blame backlash after the greyhound ban fiasco. That was a little too convenient.
Regional NSW is increasingly in open revolt against a government that has become increasingly city-centric and fails to see beyond the Sydney basin.
The final insult was the awarding of a contract for new inter urban trains to Korea while local factories close. A lack of planning was evident when it was learned that the new trains are too wide for platforms on the Blue Mountains Line.
NEXT: It wasn't all bad.