Sean Portelli has been put in charge of the council's finances just days after the departure of the senior director with long-term responsibility for the city's accounts.

Mr Portelli has been appointed on an interim basis as the director of business services, the position occupied by Glenn Kallio until his sudden resignation last Friday. Mr Portelli has been brought in from outside the City of Ballarat.

The interim CEO Janet Dore confirmed the new appointment in a statement to The Courier on Tuesday afternoon.

She also said there would no further delays to the council's budget, which is due to be adopted at a council meeting next Wednesday (July 8). Ms Dore said Mr Portelli would be in the post on a short-term basis "until an ongoing appointment is made."

"Mr Portelli has taken up the appointment and will have responsibility for the next stages of the City of Ballarat budget process," she said. "In terms of the budget it is business as usual at the City of Ballarat. The budget has gone through an extensive series of workshops and briefings with councillors."

The budget was originally put out for public comment on May 11 and was due to be adopted by the end of June. It outlined the approach to tackling the financial challenges for the city created by the COVID-19 restrictions.

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As well as proposing an overall rates freeze, the budget included measures that would allow the council to borrow up to $17 million, depending on how badly its income was affected.

At a meeting held a fortnight ago to hear public submissions to the budget, the two contributors there in person both urged councillors to push back the date, which was .

Council agreed to the suggestion to give Ms Dore, who only started her role on Friday June 12, more time to go through the budget. The extension would also allows Council time to look at the 13 submissions received in the run-up to the previous deadline.

Members of the public who still wish to comment on the budget are still able to do so, Ms Dore said, with written submissions open until 9am on Wednesday, July 8, the date the budget will be voted on.

At the time of going to press, Mr Kallio's email was still included as the main contact on the council's main budget page.

A council spokesperson confirmed to The Courier that Mr Portelli's appointment would not affect plans to re-advertise directors' roles imminently.

That announcement came following a highly critical Ombudsman's report, which led to the departure of the previous CEO Justine Linley and the resignation of Terry Demeo from his post as director of infrastructure and environment.

Further budget coverage:

May 14 The report is tabled

May 16

May 18, 2020: Resignation and sacking

May 19: Mayor talks about Justine Linley's sacking

May 21: Price fixing links of acting CEO confirmed

May 24: Fresh doubts published over recruitment processes/ Fall out continues over decision to terminate Justine Linley's CEO contract

May 28: Push for new interim CEO

June 10: New CEO announced

June 12: First day of new interim CEO, Janet Dore

June 18: Directors jobs to be re-advertised

June 29: Director of business services resigns

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