In an extraordinary statement to the media, Mr Eldridge excoriated the Wagga Ratepayers’ Community for “bringing the council into disrepute” by having the temerity to, among other things, call on him to stand down over the Inglewood Estate fiasco.

Hours later, he stood down.

Mr Eldridge also accused the ratepayers’ group of “causing an unjustifiable loss of confidence in key council officials”.

But you can’t lose something you don’t have and most would agree the loss of confidence in council is entirely a hell of its own making.

The ratepayers group, as is their charter, have simply echoed the sentiments of the community.

How Mr Eldridge hasn’t heard those sentiments, and continues to blame the media for council’s PR woes, is baffling.

During his time on the sidelines, he would be well-advised to have lunch at Wagga Marketplace and ask fellow diners what their perception of council is.

They will tell him it’s an organisation riven by scandal and lacking transparency, where staff morale has sunk deeper than the Titanic.

Of course, many of the issues in council pre-date Mr Eldridge.  And his decision to stand aside is not an admission of guilt.

If he is cleared by the investigation and returns to council, he must learn from the mistakes of the past.

It may be true that councillors hired him as an agent of change but you can’t effect change without building key relationships.

Mr Eldridge’s challenge will be to win back the confidence of the councillor group and the broader community.

That can start now by ensuring the investigator into his pecuniary interests is both independent and thorough.

The investigation must dive deep and it must examine Mr Eldridge’s role in the hiring of Tristan Kell.

Most critically, it must determine precisely when Mr Eldridge was aware of his son’s commercial relationship with Inglewood Estate’s developers.

Without absolute transparency on this matter, and others, public confidence in council will never return.