The first Shoalhaven City Council meeting was a dress rehearsal to iron out procedural wrinkles. This Monday, the curtain should open on a brand new season of the big-budget drama. But who will star in the show? And will the rate-paying audience be watching a gripping political thriller or B-grade horror?
by Cat Holloway /
Elected councillors command the public's attention, so upheaval involving Council staff typically happens behind the scenes without community understanding.
But a recent report highlighted a shocking dysfunction in NSW councils, with more than 50 General Managers or CEOs sacked just since the December 2021 elections.
Out of 128 councils across NSW, that’s an awful lot of bosses given the boot.
In recent months, heads continued to roll in other states too. Queensland's Southern Downs Regional Council made headlines for sending CEO Dave Burges packing while he was still on long service leave (play video in browser view).
NSW is similar to Victoria in what local government consultant and council advisor Rose McGowan called increasingly common CEO Churn.
Keep in mind that we are talking about some of the highest-paid public servants in the country who are compensated generously not only for high management pressures but also, apparently, for low job security.
Public servants have a duty to act impartially and "only in the public interest at all times", according to the Government Sector Employment Act. But one local government expert quipped that "Managers serve at the pleasure of their political masters."
A General Manager (GM) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is often terminated following a shift in the council’s political balance of power after a local government election or a change of mayor.
The June 2024 report from Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue titled Strengthening Local Government, said to meet community expectations, the Government should stop making it so easy for a Mayor to sack a CEO.
Currently, a mayor can terminate their CEO's contract without reason using the dismissal-without-explanation provision in the standard contract.
In fact, the CEO is the only council employee that elected councillors can appoint or terminate.
Why have such extreme and expensive actions become so ordinary? What is the dollar cost to ratepayers, the impact on efficiency and disruption to continuity?
Council CEOs and other top-level local government directors are paid handsome six-figure salaries for their responsibilities.
In 2019-2020, the average remuneration for a metropolitan NSW General Manager/CEO ranged from $334,108 to $633,852.
Since each no-reason termination entitles a CEO to at least a 38-week payout, every termination costs the community hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) warned that chronic employment uncertainty risked leaving staff vulnerable to influence and corruption as senior staff either align themselves politically to councillors and agendas or avoid providing honest, professional advice lest it put them offside with a Mayor or a majority grouping of councillors.
So, how's the vibe between SIG Mayor Patricia White and CEO Robyn Stevens?
Will a mutual commitment to trimming the budget place them on common ground? Or will development and strategic land use priorities define this Council's leadership?
SCC's huge debt put staff cuts at the front of Council's agenda to save money and minimise rate hikes.
CEO Robyn Stevens was tasked with such cost-cutting when she started in the top management job in February this year following the departure of Stephen Dunshea, who oversaw multimillion-dollar losses, including from the failed Bioelektra recycling project.
Ms Stevens was chosen unanimously by a selection committee for 20 years of experience working in Victorian local government, including 15 years in management. She was well aware of "challenges in the immediate future" at Shoalhaven City Council.
On August 8, Stevens publicly announced a staff restructuring plan to save Council $ 1.3 million per year. The proposal included the "disestablishment" (i.e. eradication) of several top management jobs.
But Mayoral hopeful, Patricia White was not pleased. She took to local radio to rail against the CEO proposing staff changes without having consulted the Council.
Ironically, Mayor White and her previous Shoalhaven Independents Group (SIG) colleagues had complained loudly and often about Council's "bloated" employee register as an essential factor in the debate over saving ratepayers from rate rises.
But in the last moments of the final Council meeting on August 12, before council went into caretaker mode pre-election, was a motion that carried 8-5:
"That the CEO be requested to withdraw any proposed changes and potential redundancies and halt the planned restructure of all Directorates until after the new Council has been installed and consulted."
Jump forward to radio segments last week when Mayor White said the Council restructuring was happening. However, she did not specify who was in and who was out - or why.
