"A week is a long time in politics."

Sir Harold Wilson

Aweek may well be a long time in the realm of governance in England, the

home of the oft-quoted Sir Harold Wilson, but across the pond here in Dufferin County, an evening can be an absolute eternity.

It would be somewhat trite to say that the two hours I spent last Thursday night in the council chambers in Dufferin was just precious time lost from an otherwise full and happy existence, but personally I find it more rewarding to try to find the lesson or some benefit to even the most torturous and painful of life's encounters.

And as I sat there the other night, a witness to the train wreck that was 13 of this fair community's elected leaders arguing for close to two hours about an issue that they were actually all in agreement with, it came to me - it's time for an election.

I think these 14 (one member was absent on Thursday night) have all but exhausted any ability they once had to function in a rational manner. They will come together just four more times before the municipal election on November 13, and that will be enough.

That may sound harsh, but it is obviously the feeling of some of the politicians themselves. It is no secret that four of the 14 will not be seeking re-election this fall, two from the urban and two from the rural municipalities. And it is my own observation that the record of at least three of the remaining 10 will mean a tough battle for those incumbents at the polls should they decide to return for another term.

We are looking at big changes around the county table this fall with the loss, by my calculation, of as many as half of the present councillors.

Last Thursday night, there were several spectators in the generally barren gallery during the meeting, and if the titters, eyerolling and head-shaking were any indication, I wasn't the only person frustrated by our current policy makers.

I had important business with a representative from Her Majesty the Queen, so by 9:15, I had only enjoyed question period and a two-hour discussion on widening a road that everyone was really in favour of, but even more compelled to just argue about.

It was indeed exasperating, but I found question period to be more telling of the changes at foot.

The evening began an unprecedented - in recent times, anyway - two members seeking answers about the same topic.

Last month,Warden Earl Lennox made some sharp, and what I thought were inappropriate, comments about a local scientist who has put forward a plan for waste diversion at the proposed county landfill site.

During a heated discussion on the topic in May,Warden Lennox called the man's science "inaccurate" and then went on to say he didn't "want to do business" him.

The warden allowed a vote on a new motion on the topic of waste diversion, but then refused to allow a motion in support of Orthogenics, the company of the man he had just disparaged.

It was blatantly biased behaviour and very uncharacteristic of Warden Lennox, who I feel has been one of the county's best leaders in many years.

The warden was not in attendance on Thursday night to answer the public questions about his statements, and council was not in a position to comment or even acknowledge they had been made because there was no record of it.

When asked about the minutes from the meeting, CAO Linda Dean said the county did not keep a detailed record of the proceedings or the discussion around the council table, but rather just notes the motions.

I found that to be both an odd and a startling revelation.

Odd, because it was my understanding that staff records the proceedings on tape. County council is held in a courtroom used by the Superior Court of Justice in Orangeville, one which is of course wired with a very sophisticated recording system.

In addition, to the province's system, a few years ago the county went out and spent several thousand dollars for their own sound system for the room. If there was ever a place wired for sound it is the Dufferin County council chambers. The technology is there.

So, if the CAO is correct and they are not making a full and accurate record of the proceedings, that is startling to me. Why would that be? Why would a multi-million dollar corporation attempt to document their decisions in a manner akin to a community euchre club?

You are spending the taxpayers' dollars, folks, and if they have a question about what you're up to, there should be a better answer than, "Oh, I don't know. We didn't write it down."

Yep, I think it's time for a change.