I agree with almost everything you said chainsawbike ...
except that 1st bit...
Determining the relevancy of the council ...
well ...
from the varied reasons people have given for yea and nay to it...
and all of them voicing the conviction of the validity of their stances ...
quoting or calling upon varied regulation, law, etc.
and all of them having very sound arguments for yea and nay...
and after reading everything pertaining to those backed quotes...
In small part ...I do agree with your view ..council is kept for historical reasons.
Myself...I see nothing wrong in that.
Having a visible past and seeing the progression from it and where one is in the present..means one can navigate more easily ..get ones bearings and see the direction for the future more easily..
Erasing the past ..means there is no anchor, no rudder, nothing behind you to mark where you have been and to keep your direction true ahead of you..
It may seem a poor metaphor...
But here in North America we see it everyday...
the goal [excepting some places] is to tear down the old buildings and landmarks and build the new directly on top...
This wasn't always the norm..but as the philo. took hold and gained ...to the point that ...now we have a society here in N.A. who's intent is simply to build the next thing...From my view it is a meaningless growth ...like a cancer...a tower of Babel of epic proportions...

I'm all in favour of keeping our History and building with it.
Not razing it to the ground and building on the ashes.
Hell come to think of it..
Our whole site is historical ..hehe..
and all our devices and our os's and pretty much all our software...
Android, Iphone, WP, and all the rest ...they have the latest...they have their sites, and their forums too.
But they don't have a lovely old home like ours. And I adore our home. Who burns out a closet, a room or an entire floor of their home when it isn't useful anymore?

What the council may accomplish ...I see that as a wide open vista of possibility ...
So I differ slightly on that topic...
otherwise ...
I agree with the fact people should join the MCeV.
and
I agree ...
anonymous responsibility?
Forget it...
When we have unaccountable [in every possible meaning of the term..] boards, councils, or groups of anonymous shadowy members making important decisions...
Just give me the heads up when that becomes acceptable...
so I can get a head-start on work in my studio for timely carving out the funerary monument ...the tombstone... for this place and all of us.