There was a hint of genuine regret at the mayor-making ceremony on Wednesday night.
It was not that the mayor, Ted Baker, was not a fit person for the office for Medway's First Citizen.
It was because the gentlemen's agreement to keep the office above politics no longer exists.
The system developed at Gillingham more than 30 years ago was a way to get rid of the rows that are once again developing over who should have the honour. Each group started without a single point. Come the election they would have a point for each member that was elected. The group with the biggest total then selected the mayor to represent the Towns… and promptly dropped back to a position of nil points.
Twelve months on, the number of councillors then in each group would be added to the total left after the mayor had been picked. Whichever group then had the majority would chose the next mayor - and drop back to zero points.
It meant that each group got their chance based on what the electorate had chosen.
If it restarted this year (which of course it hasn't) it would mean that the Tories would have the mayoralty this year and next - the prized Diamond Jubilee year - and Labour would follow the year after.
Instead whether or not they intended it to be that way, the mayoralty is squarely a political issue, decided by the majority party.
That in turn means it is inevitable there will be an alternative candidate promoted by the opposition. In this case their choice was Ted Baker's successor in 2003, Nick Bowler.
His chairmanship of the council, his laid-back way of treating the arguments and pouring soothing oil on the vitriol, is still remembered with great pleasure by all who sat before him.
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Not that being mayor is an easy task.
Apart from keeping the warring factions apart in council meetings, the councillor chosen to be the mayor has to attend on average 16 events a week including at least one school trip.
For the councillor's partner that means being pitched into a limelight they might have sought for years to avoid.
It also opens up the world of temptations - of too much to eat, too many nibbles, a few slurps… One mayor I knew always started out with the highest of aspirations to stay fit, avoid too many meals and so on. Each time he failed spectacularly. He was the perfect demonstration of why we larger people are said to have corporations…
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There is usually a guessing game in the local newsrooms as to who will be mayor.
For three years the Conservatives used up their stock of Davids - Royle, Carr and most recently Brake.
One argument was they would return to the beginning and select David Royle once again.
Instead Ted Baker emerged from the selection process as their choice for high office.
None of us saw there was still a direct link back to the previous mayor.
Baker is an anagram of Brake…
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The Cabinet has seen one or two changes, the most notable of which was the appointment of David Brake to take over Tom Mason's adult services portfolio. Tom moved to tackle corporate matters.
Elsewhere some of the work carried out by the former councillor, Janice Bamber, has been shared among the cabinet members.
It is still 10 members strong, but that is neither surprising nor illogical.
After all, we are talking of a board of 10 specialist directors running a business with a turnover approaching a billion pounds a year.
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Throughout all Wednesday night's fun and games there was no mention from the Conservatives of City status - nor of the fact that the council had handed in the bid papers.
There is an section of the community that doesn't agree with Medway becoming a city.
The majority of them continue to demand Rochester should be reappointed a city.
The trouble is that the government made it very clear that favourite towns like Rochester or Lichfield could not be nominated. Only councils could nominate - and it had to be the entire administrative area.
Consequently Medway's bid was the correct one, and no matter how many people bleat and complain about the rights and wrongs of Rochester's demise, the bid has been made according to the rules.
The reception in the House of Commons was officially sponsored by Rehman Chishti, councillor and MP for Gillingham and Rainham.
He treated me to a pot of coffee in the Pugin Room before the event, but he didn't fork out for the reception (equally sober and just as pleasant) in Dining Room No 1.
Nor did the council, well aware of the allegations of "high costs", "waste" and so on..
Instead, the cost was met by one of the many companies backing the bid - in this case the French-owned Veolia, Medway's rubbish collectors.
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