Kitty's eyes narrowed. "In your absence and with you ignoring me I spend some time with Mrs Wilson. We twice went riding at the ranch. She told me many things, including your two half-brothers as young children spent months with their ears taped to their heads to train their ear lobes to stay closer to their skulls but you being your sweet mother's only offspring had such gorgeous ears and we agreed you still do."
Hayden's face darkened. "And I suppose she told you about me being potty trained?"
"Yes, actually Mrs Wilson did. She said you were much faster in the transition out of diapers, er nappies she called them, than your half-brothers and even your half-sister whom everyone thought was so clever."
"God, you women are unbelievable."
"Oh, Mrs Wilson was so informative. She told me how she inveigled her niece to teach you about sex and said given time she probably could recite the names of every girlfriend you've ever had until she was send out here by the Duke -- almost 200 of them she said."
"Mrs Bloody Wilson," Hayden growled.
"Hayden, please. She's your nanny."
* * * Two weeks later Mrs Peggy Blewitt, manager of the city art gallery, proposed project architect Randy Kincaid and the current property owner Mr Hayden Carrington appeared before a combined meeting of the council's finance, works and recreation/arts committees. They presented for the committee's consideration a proposal that the council purchase the front half of the Carrington Mansion as well as title on the land it was situated for $4 million. The proposal required the council to provide a further $2 million spread over two financial years to convert the structure and to add an ancillary storage structure alongside incorporating workrooms.
Chairman of the special committee Mayor Kennedy said everyone had received copies of the plans and a detailed summary of the proposal four days before the meeting He called for questions and there were several, answered by the mayor and, at his invitation, by the architect. The mayor thanked councilors for their questions and then said, "Mr Carrington, the city is only interested in purchasing the complete site and for that we offer $3 million."
Hayden replied that offer was 'offensively inadequate' and the mayor asked the city administrator to comment.
Kale Frohwein said, "Mr Mayor, I can advise the offer of $3 million pushes the council to the limit of available funds. We would have to borrow heavily to finance the conversion of the mansion into the gallery and to develop the parkland that comes with the deal. It is long-established policy of council not to borrow for acquisition and development of parkland and cultural amenities."
The mayor asked for further questions or comments. Councilor Kitty Carlisle asked what had changed in the four months since the mayor and city administrator and their wives had gone to England with council authority to spend up to $6.5 million to purchase the property.
"Oh, a great many things have occurred affecting council finances since that time Miss Carlisle that would be out of order to raise at this particular meeting. Mr Carrington, our offer is $3 million -- accept now or indicate how long you wish to have to contemplate it."
Hayden remained seated, leaned back with his hands behind his head, yawned and said, "Mr Mayor. You and your administrative underlying have just been engaged in an unbelievable farce that's detrimental to the good people of this city. The offer falls outside of the proposal put to the council at this meeting and is therefore contemptuously rejected. I ask that the newspaper reporter present quotes me correctly on what I have just said."
Mayor Kennedy angrily banged his gavel and said, "That concludes this meeting." He and the city administrator left quickly by the side door as the reporter from the
Mornington News
made a beeline for Hayden, talking into her cell phone.
Kitty intercepted the reporter. "Celia, come across the road to the café as soon as your photographer arrives and interview us over there in neutral territory."
The reporter smiled at Kitty and thanked her for being so cooperative.
* * *
Next morning most of the front page and all of page 2 of the newspaper was devoted to the new art gallery proposal under the banner heading, 'Mayor Slated for 'Back Door' Tactics to Stymie New Art Gallery Proposal'.
Kitty as chairman of the council's recreation and arts committee was photographed waving a fist in the air and looking very wild-eyed. She was quoted in the sidebar story as saying, 'Bumbling Mayor Kennedy has to go'." The lead story quoted the proceedings of the brief council meeting fully, including the 'laid back' response by the property owner. That was in contrast to Kitty who ripped into the mayor for his 'weaseling and insulting counter offer to a commercially generous offer by the last Carrington directly linked to the founder of this city some 175 years ago'.
To cut the mayor off at the pass in his inevitable personal counter-attack, Kitty got in first. She explained she'd become aware of the existence of Hayden Carrington well after her original proposal to the council to attempt to purchase the entire property from the estate of the late Duke of Beaulieu. That initial proposal was acted upon. 'The mayor of city administrator went at huge expense to England with their wives to attempt to negotiate the purchase, without success'.
'Hayden Carrington, who inherited the property came here to view it and consider what to do with it. Hayden and I have subsequently become romantically involved but there is no financial or business relationship between us. The manager of our currently totally inadequate art gallery Mrs Peggy Blewitt and I devised a scheme for the part-purchase of the property after I'd learned that Mr Carrington wished to retain some of the property. Her brother-in-law, architect Randy Kincaid, produced the drawings that appear in this edition of the
Mornington News
and have produced what I view as a most acceptable compromise between the city's need for a new art gallery and the desire of the landowner to remain in residence on the land. Mr Carrington, of course, will need to use some of the proceeds to rebuild his home by extending it forward'.
'The mayor and city manager have combined to stupidly engineer an ill-conceived impasse over this potentially tremendous acquisition for Mornington and district to acquire an upgraded art gallery appropriate for the cultural facilities of this city. That would be delivered under this plan for approximately the same cost of the city's year-old aquatic center and a mere one-tenth of the council's investment in our Regional Events & Exhibitions Complex'.
'I appeal to all citizens interested in supporting even-handed development of amenities in this city to protest at this blatant anti-progressive act of rejection by the mayor and city administrator in alleging the council was unable to finance the proposal presented'.
Within hours of that attack on the mayor being published, Kitty spent two hours on talkback radio advancing the cause and attempting to kneecap anti-culture bigots out to have their day on the airwaves.
Mornington's largest TV station attempted to set up a debate between the mayor and Kitty that evening but the mayor refused, saying no way would he appear on the same show as Miss Carlisle.
The TV station used its top presenter to run a face-to-face interview with just Kitty and invited viewers to phone in questions. The studio extended the program by thirty minutes when calls began flooding in, with most callers opposing the spending by the council of between $5 and $7 million on an art gallery. Kitty remain calm but was in devastating form and she swung some of the opposition around when she pointed out the replacement main library cost $5.3 million when built and restocked six years ago and the council's annual spending on parks and reserves maintenance was just over $3 million and the last acquisition, Slater Lake Park, had cost the council $4.3 million to purchase.
The lead story in next morning's newspaper was the mayor attacking Kitty. 'She's an ignoramus loud-mouth who fails to understand the intricacies in council project funding',Mayor Kennedy accused. He claimed the council had made a fair offer for the property but it had been 'contemptuously turned down.
Reporter Celia West wrote in a sideline story: "I approached the property owner Mr Hayden Carrington who showed me documents in which two independent assessors valued the five acres with two-thirds under current 'open space' zoning at $6.78 million and $6.87 million respectively. But if the whole property were rezoned as class-A commercial, as was the land on its boundaries and opposite were zoned, making it available for retail, office and hotel development, one assessor estimated the value at $25 million and the other at in excess of $20 million.
That evening on TV news Kitty rebutted the mayor's fantasy attack on her that she'd failed to understand the intricacies of council funding. She said she'd have a better grasp of council finances than did the mayor and perhaps only marginally less than the city administrator Mr Frohwein. 'Yet those two have teamed up in an attempted rort against a well-meaning and civic-minded property owner and attempted to pull the wool over the eyes of councilors and citizens. The mayor must go. Before Mr Kennedy rants and says he will sue me for defamation I suggest he reads my accusations backed by evidence in tomorrow morning's newspaper'.
The TV interviewer failed to draw Kitty into commenting further.
A council employee in treasury had secretly handed Kitty documents that the council's Emily Bishop Memorial Trust fund was actually a bequest from the late Emily Bishop totaling $4 million and legally tagged that the money be used totally and solely towards the provision of a new city art gallery. The informant also provided a complete paper trail linking a joint publicly undisclosed decision by the mayor, city administrator and current chairman on the finance committee instructing the financial controller to divert all interest earned by the Emily Bishop Memorial Trust fund to the mayor's civic entertainment fund.
Besides publishing that story along with Kitty's claims of 'corruption within the council' the newspaper published a 'tear sheet' of a small article dated March 13, 1978 announcing that well-known patron of the arts the late Mrs Emily Bishop had bequeathed a large grant in trust to the council to be used for undisclosed purposes.
The mayor burst into print next morning announcing Councilor Carlisle had been removed as chairman of the recreation and arts committee and from serving on other committees.
'She will be removed as a councilor when the extent of public backlash against her is revealed at next year's elections',the mayor said.
