1. Hysteria that he won the mayoral election.  Any councillor is entitled to stand for the mayor’s job.  It is not his fault that one of the councillors did not vote.

​2. A month into the job and the council votes to dismiss the general manager.  

3. Next when he made public comments about the decision to sack the general manager being “an excessive over reaction” and that it would cost the ratepayers an enormous amount of money - it was and it will - he was then hit with a motion of no confidence by Cr Ring.

4. His attempt to have a function for community volunteers was rejected. To his credit he held it anyway. Paying for it himself.

5. Hit with a totally unnecessary by-election.  The case against Cr Ticehurst should have been finalised well before the council election or failing that the Minister for Local Government should have enacted his own legislation and allowed the votes of the previous election to be re-counted to determine the next candidate. 

6. A forum councillor resigns. This can hardly be blamed on Cr Lesslie.

7. Some sort of gamesmanship by the Minister for Local Government in refusing to grant consent for the date of the by-election. Cr Lesslie has rightly made it very clear that no appointment of a new general manager can be made until there are nine councillors.

8. At almost every meeting the council is hit with a notice from either the Minister for Local Government or his/her department demanding action on council’s financial position. These demands are costing the council hundreds of thousands of dollars and all relate to actions not taken by the previous forum controlled council.

I believe that there is quite a lot of skulduggery going on behind the scenes which is aimed at undermining our new mayor. Mayors are not council employees and I know that Cr Lesslie has had to be there practically full time since the general manager was dismissed. So as I said at the top of this letter – give him a break. 

- Ariel Elliott