LONG-SERVING mayor Barry Easther was lavished with well-deserved praise by those at the table and in the public gallery at his final meeting of the West Tamar Council yesterday.
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Cr Easther has served in local government for 31 years and earlier this year announced his decision to retire at the end of his term.
Deputy Mayor Christina Holmdahl labelled yesterday's meeting the ``end of an era'' and thanked her colleague for his service.
Cr Peter Kearney acknowledged Cr Easther as an admirable community advocate.
``He can be found supporting the aged, the young, the disadvantaged and the community generally,'' Cr Kearney said.
``My abiding image of Barry is quietly working on a barbecue at the Beaconsfield Primary School for a breakfast, when at the same time he was doing such an amazing job handling the rock fall crisis and becoming a national figure on nightly media.''
Cr Easther made light of the situation, noting that many at the table had ``waited for this moment''.
He remembered napping and smoking a pipe following meetings during his early years on local government but said life had become better and better since his decision to bow out of the council race.
``On October 30 or thereabouts, suddenly I won't have council stuff to do,'' Cr Easther said.
``I plan to take a close interest in what happens.
``We are the best council ... You could reel off the names of the councils that are probably not doing as good a job as they could be. It's a great team that we have at the West Tamar Council.''