People are always talking about how you rate and a lot of them think your work is primarily rubbish.

The gig can also attract a lot of gutter-talk.

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Now the parlance has made its way through the s-bends and plumbing, into the privies and powder-rooms: it’s toilet talk.

According to the bids received by Tamworth Regional Council, it takes a pretty penny to produce a public potty.

When those dunny-dollars are coming from the public-purse you could understand council being inclined to hold on for just a bit longer.

Council couldn’t reveal how much the toilet tenders “substantially exceeded” its budget of $1.5 million for the project.

But it was enough to sink the tenders and rethink the plan.

It’s no paltry sum which has been floated in connection which the region-wide upgrade.

So it might make sense to move these things along slowly and do so with due-consideration.

However, there’s almost a sense of urgency to get the upgrade done.

“Sixteen high profile public amenity facilities” around the council area have been targeted, with some in a “pretty poor” condition.

The high profile public amenity might sound like an oxymoron, but it’s lifting the profile of the local lavatories which is apparently serious business.

Council apparently gets a lot of feedback on its facilities from visitors and residents alike.

The mayor, Col Murray, has previously said the need for better toilets had been raised in the last two rounds of community consultation.

Some of the work is deemed overdue with septic tanks starting to fail and facilities deemed to be a in pretty poor state.

While it might seem like we’re being facetious, public toilets can be no laughing matter for councils.

A bad experience with filthy, or faulty, facilities can be haunting when visiting new towns.

For a town like Tamworth, which has a strong tourism-bent, it makes sense to ensure all visitors don’t have a memorable experience for all of the wrong reasons.

It will be interesting to see what shape the project takes when it returns to the council agenda. Hopefully the price is right and the punters aren’t kept waiting too much longer.