THE Courier’s Melissa Cunningham reported in the paper last Saturday (July 25) that councillors Sam McIntosh, Jim Rinaldi, Belinda Coates and Amy Johnson had advised her they will support the position of chief executive officer being advertised.
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This means the matter only requires the support of one more councillor and then the position must be advertised as the community demands.
This shouldn’t be an issue if Cr Peter Innes, Cr Vicky Coltman and Cr Glen Crompton keep the promises they made to their community at the last election.
In particular, Cr Innes ran for council again in 2012 on the platform of “put ‘local’ back into our local government”. Cr Innes stated at the time that his then four-year break away from council had allowed him to reflect on his dissatisfaction with the direction of the then council.
He also stated the Ballarat community had lost confidence in both the city councillors and, more importantly, the ability of senior officers to provide competent advice to council. He went on to state he stood because “he was disappointed about what is happening with council”.
He further said he would fight against excessive rate increases, improve the accountability of senior officers, review the number of consultants being engaged (the Hunt and Hunt organisation being a concern to us all) and that all senior officer positions should be reviewed.
To keep faith with the community that elected him, Cr Innes must vote to advertise the CEO position. Similarly, Cr Vicky Coltman and Cr Glen Crompton stood for accountability and their general dissatisfaction with council; therefore they, too, must vote to advertise the CEO’s position.
Added to this, Cr Vicky Coltman was reported in The Courier stating ‘that the appointment of a new CEO could lead to two years of turmoil’. This is simply not true.
Experience at other councils indicates a new competent CEO (or an experienced interim CEO, perhaps recommended by someone like incoming Committee for Ballarat chair and former Ballarat City Council CEO Janet Dore), in a matter of weeks in the job, would be able to identify the issues and put in place measures to resolve them, and it is also their right to employ second-line managers in whom they have confidence.
The community expects its councillors to represent them in line with their promises at the election, listen to the community’s concerns and be accountable for their decision-making.
These councillors should revisit their promises to the community and understand that if they acted on those promises, the crucial change and renewal necessary for this city would happen.
The future progress and prosperity of this city is at stake, as is the reputation, accountability and trustworthiness of these councillors. Councillors you must vote to advertise the role of CEO and undertake an independent national search.
