Wellstead - 17. WSD Chapter 17

I didn’t mind that I was elected onto the steering committee but was a little annoyed that I had been elected the chairperson for this new committee, especially when I had never been on a committee before. I was a bit surprised at how high a number of votes I had received for the position, and so I went online to start researching how committees were supposed to be run in a proper and orderly manner.

Over the next few hours I received calls from all the other members of the committee who congratulated me for winning the position with such a large vote. The first to call was my Deputy Chair, Ms Silvia Green. She was the owner of the supermarket at Nelly Bay and the shopping centre building at Horseshoe Bay, which leased space for a supermarket, hairdressers, newsagency, a bakery, some tourism offices and a number of other small shops.I offered the conference centre as a possible temporary location for the committee to hold its regular committee meetings, and Ms Green thought it would be a perfect place, having seen the conference centre herself the previous week.

She expressed that she was impressed with the layout, and we arranged a time to meet at the new conference centre the following day to discuss logistics for the first committee meeting. I decided to get Kyle to assist me to prepare for the meeting the following day, and we spent the remainder of the day researching online what was needed to run a local government council, looking at numerous websites of local government councils throughout Queensland.

At some point, we decided to make our way down to the conference centre where we looked at the layout and how it would best be suited for the steering committee. In the centre, at the rear there was a large kitchen, scullery and huge food storage pantry. To one side of that there was a large dining room. This area would be used only for functions and was able to be kept separate by just placing a lock on the double doors from the main passageway that led to it.

In front of this was a recreation room and to one side there were two lounge rooms and a large conference room. On the other side there was a library, an office and a small meeting room. The recreation room would be an extension to the function area, but would also act as an entry lobby for the main area, as it was the first main large room to enter from the entry passageway.

The conference room would be used as the main meeting room for the steering committee, while the office would become the chairperson’s office, and the adjoining small meeting room would be the main business office. It was decided to leave the two lounge rooms as they were, as they could be used as more relaxed small meeting rooms when need be. Once Kyle and I had decided on how the conference centre would be used by the steering committee, we got to work to make the small changes that were needed to make it a workable area. The small meeting room had 4 small tables that made up the main meeting table. These were split up to make two twin working stations for administration purposes.

I had made a few phone calls earlier in the day to arrange for additional furniture and equipment to be purchased and sent over from the mainland the following day. That included three book cases, two filing cabinets, a photocopier, and 4 new computers, each with their own printers, 4 telephones, a reception counter, and two large storage cabinets, plus a number of other smaller items, all of which would arrive by 11am the next day via the barge. Kyle and I hoped to have most of it all installed before I had the meeting with Silvia Green at 2pm.

When we had finished making all the arrangements we retired to our homes for the evening to get plenty of rest as we had a very busy morning lined up the following day. I was in my new office by 7am the next day. I was busy reading all the information that I had printed out the previous day. Kyle appeared about half an hour later, bringing his own computer with him so as to assist me with any preparations that might be needed. He settled into one of the work stations in the admin area, where he seemed to have taken on the role as my executive assistant. He was doing a very fine job of it.

Shortly after 11am, the trucks arrived with all the equipment and furniture, and it was all unloaded and taken down to the Conference Centre and placed in the rooms where it would be used. Shortly after 12.30pm the trucks had gone and we went up to the resort restaurant for some lunch, before returning to the centre to finish off the last of the setting up of the computers and printers, and ensuring the photocopier was fully operational.

During that time, the telecommunications technicians arrived to set up the telephones and get them operational - two in the admin area, one in the conference room and one in the main office. All was completed just before the arrival of Ms Silvia Green, who went to the resort reception area to ask where she could find Mr Wellstead. She was informed that I was in the conference centre.

When she walked into the lobby along with a young man who looked very similar to her in many ways, she saw the door open to the meeting room, which was now the administration area where Kyle was working, and walked in. On seeing the visitors Kyle stood up. “Ms Green, good morning. I am Kyle Parkes, Mr Wellstead’s executive assistant. He is waiting for you in his office. This way please,” Kyle said as he led the way next door into my office.

On seeing them enter I couldn’t help but notice the handsome young man that was walking alongside Ms Green. For the first time that I can ever recall, I actually felt like I was attracted to him, and I was not sure how to react to this. Blinking a number of times, I cleared my throat as I stood up to meet them both.

After two hours, I had become tired. Kyle was aware of it and he interrupted Ms Green and suggested that the meeting could be continued at a later date when Mr Wellstead had fully recovered from the ordeal. Ms Green looked at me carefully. Her face turned to a look of shock and she apologised for making me so tired and agreed that this could be continued maybe an hour or two before the first main meeting of the committee. I nodded and Ms Green and her assistant stood up and left the building.

When Kyle returned to the office I was half dozing in my chair. Kyle helped me up and led me back to the house where I was put to bed and told to take it easy for the rest of the day.When I woke the following day, I was feeling a lot better. Kyle came in with a breakfast tray, which included Townsville’s main newspaper – the Townsville Gazette. On the front page were the headlines – “Townsville City council voted McMaster Out”. I skimmed over the story quickly to get an idea of what it was about and I was happy that he was no longer involved in local government.

After finishing my breakfast, I showered and dressed and decided to take a walk around the resort, where I was greeted by the staff that passed me, all of them saying that they were pleased to see me on the mend. When I arrived at the reception desk of the resort, I picked up a copy of the late morning Townsville Express newspaper, and I was very shocked to see what the front headlines read. “Community calls for Mr Grant Wellstead to replace the sacked Mayor of Townsville”

Within a few short months, I had been elected mayor for the City of Townsville, and as a result I had to resign from the position on Magnetic Island, with Ms Silvia Green taking over my old position. I had decided to remain living on the island on weekends and travelling to live on the mainland during the week, where I would walk to the town hall, greeting the general public on the way.

What really surprised me was that Silvia Green’s assistant, Emmanuel Guildford, had resigned from his position with her so as to offer his services as my personal assistant. I offered him a position only if he accepted a lower wage than what he had been getting from Silvia Green. His wages would include 5 weeks holiday leave, sickness benefits, superannuation and an accommodation subsidy for a residence in Townsville.

I had informed him that he would be paid by me personally and not as an employee of the council, and that his duties would also include chauffeur duties. Emmanuel accepted the conditions. I decided to purchase two apartments in a new five storey apartment block, mine being a small penthouse on the top floor, with three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a large outdoor balcony overlooking Magnetic Island.

The second was a smaller standard two-bedroom apartment on the third floor, which I leased to Emmanuel. After a few weeks in the position I learnt that the previous Mayor had left a huge mess, with lots of dodgy deals, which took a lot of consultation with the council and state lawyers to try and fix up. I purchased my own car which I used for transport for meetings and other business around the city, so as not to put the cost of transport onto the rate payers, as well as having my living costs covered by my own business.

When the proposal of me becoming mayor first came up, I held a big family conference. After much discussion it was decided that Kyle should start attending university like he wanted too, even thou he enjoyed working as my assistant. Quinn would be attending college three days a week to study horticulture, as well as remaining as head groundsman for the resort. Lloyd and Elspeth remained living in the cottage next door to the resort, and with me being on the mainland most of the week, Elspeth kept herself busy being a part time assistant to Silvia Green, while Anne was enjoying the challenge of being head housekeeper at the resort.

We all settled into a routine, which kept everyone busy and happy, especially with me working on the mainland 4 ½ days a week. The rest of the time I spent on the island, unless I was away attending a conference or meeting elsewhere. I decided to purchase a further three more apartments on the third floor of the building where my penthouse was located, as an investment, plus to use as additional accommodation for family and friends when they were in town. Judge Samuels and Frank Hills were regular visitors to Townsville, and they shared one of the apartments which had been reserved for their use only. Sometimes Kathleen and Christopher would travel with him, so there was always space for them also.

Fifteen months after being elected Mayor of Townsville, I received great news that the Minister for Local Government had granted permission for Magnetic Island to have its own Local Government Authority, and since it was a Friday morning when I received the news, I decided to make it a short day at work and make my way home to the island to announce the great news.

I called Silvia before leaving the office and asked her to gather all the representatives of the steering committee, and anyone in the community who was interested, and to meet me at the jetty when the ferry arrived from the mainland. When the ferry arrived at the jetty about 45 minutes later, there was a crowd of about 300 gathered at the jetty waiting to hear what the Mayor of Townsville had to say.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I have spoken to the Minister of Local Government this morning, and it is my sad duty to announce that the Magnetic Island Steering Committee must be disbanded…” I said clearly to all gathered. I had decided to let the news sink in before giving the good news. A lot of the people gathered were looking either disappointed or angry, so I thought I had better continue with my announcement. I signalled my request for silence.

“The Magnetic Island Steering Committee must be disbanded to make way for the newly announced Magnetic Island Community Council,” I said. It took a few moments for the news to sink in. Then suddenly there was a roar of applause and cheering, lots of hugs and kisses and sudden bursts of dancing, while all the committee members were on their phones spreading the great news to their respective community organisations. From that point the news spread like wild fire around the island population.

A lot of community celebrations were quickly organised at different venues around the island during the weekend, and there were quite a few sore heads by the start of the following working week. As for me though I just stayed at home and enjoyed the company of my friends and family.

As I was approaching my 23rd birthday, I was wondering if anyone in the family and friends group on the island had any plans for the event. I was sitting in my penthouse lounge room, having an afternoon meeting with my assistant, Emmanuel, about the following week’s business plans, having decided to remain on the mainland for the weekend as it was going to be a very busy week.

We had stopped for a coffee and snack break after two hours of discussions, and I was staring out the window towards the island, wondering what the family and friends were doing thatFriday evening, when Emmanuel un-expectedly leaned forward and gently kissed me on the lips.

Although I was shocked at first, I did not pull back, as I realised that I was finally getting to kiss the handsome young man that I had had a crush on from the first time I met him, nearly two years ago. When Emmanuel pulled away from the kiss he suddenly blushed then looked sad as he stood up and backed away from the lounge.

“I’m terribly sorry, Sir. I didn’t mean to… I mean I know it’s wrong and I’m sorry for what… I will tender my resignation in the morning…,” he stuttered as he kept backing away from me. By now I realised that the poor fellow had a look of fear on his face, no doubt thinking that he had just ruined a perfect friendship and working relationship with his boss. I stood up and smiled at him as I stepped forward, reducing the distance between us, until I was standing in front him, with Emmanuel having his back against the wall.

“I have been waiting and wanting to do that for a long time, but because of all the sudden changes in my work life and now being an elected local government official, I was restricted in what I could do with the media always watching my every move. Emm, I have had a crush on you from the first day I met you in my office in the bunker. I was not sure if you were straight, bi or gay, but I just couldn’t do anything about it, and now… well, now I know you have feelings for me too. Well, at least I hope you do,” I said softly to Emmanuel. Eventually his look of fear and uncertainty turned to a warm smile. He took a hesitant two small steps towards me, wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a deep and passionate kiss on the lips.

We ended up staying up and talking for most of the night, eventually going to our separate beds at 3am in the morning. When I woke up later that morning, I could smell coffee and breakfast being cooked. Looking at my bedside clock it read 11.27am. I put on a dressing gown and made my way down the passageway to the kitchen where Emmanuel was casually dressed and happily cooking some breakfast.

I smiled and, giving him a kiss on the cheek, I sat down at the table where there was orange juice and toast already served. As we sat and ate, we chatted about doing something relaxing for the day, and Emm suggested hiring a sailing yacht and going sailing for a few hours. I liked the idea very much, even though I had not sailed very much before.

Over the time that Emm had been working for me, I had got to know a lot about him. I already knew that he was two years older than me, and that he had completed high school at the age of 15, two years ahead of his peers. He had completed a diploma in business management, and he had Italian grandparents on his maternal side, and that when the grandparents visited the family, which they did often, they all just spoke Italian as his grandparents could not speak English very well.

When I learnt that he could speak Italian, I switched chatting to him in Italian which at first surprised him, but we now are able to speak privately about personal stuff or anything we want to keep private when others are around, who we know don’t understand the language.

I learnt that Emm had younger twin brothers, Lucas and Micah, who were only 13 years old, and they lived in Brisbane with their grandparents while they attended a private school there, only coming home on holidays.

In the late afternoon, I received a telephone call from Emm, who had just left a few minutes earlier to shower and change before we had dinner together at a restaurant in town. Emm said that his parents were taking his grandparents for a final trip home to Italy in just under a week’s time, and they wanted Emm to look after the twins for eighteen days down in Brisbane. He was wanting to know if it was ok to take time off work, which I happily agreed to, telling him that family was important and that it would not be a problem.

I suggested that he bring the boys up to Townsville for the coming long weekend in two weeks’ time, and that I would pay for Emm to fly down to Brisbane plus the return flights for the long weekend. Emm happily accepted my offer. When I saw Emm off early on Thursday morning from his apartment, I felt a bit sad that I would not be seeing him every day for the next two weeks. At lunch time I was working in my office when my mobile rang and I answered it without looking at who the caller was.