Onkaparinga CEO Mark Dowd could still face confidence motion

A VOTE of confidence in Onkaparinga’s chief executive is likely to go before the council a second time — despite legal advice to councillors to tread carefully ahead of tonight’s CEO performance meeting.

A VOTE of confidence in Onkaparinga’s chief executive is likely to go before the council a second time.

Cr Heidi Greaves, backed by councillors John Gunn and Gary Hennessy, put forward a motion of confidence in Mark Dowd at a meeting last Tuesday, but a decision was postponed.

Cr Greaves said she wanted the motion to go before the council again “as early as possible”.

It comes despite a confidential letter to council members from Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg, sighted by the Southern Times Messenger,that said all matters about Mr Dowd’s performance should be dealt with by the CEO performance management committee, not in public.

The committee was expected to meet on Tuesday, June 12, after the Southern Times Messenger’s presstime.

In her letter, Ms Rosenberg said the council had a duty of care to make sure Mr Dowd was not “bullied” and “harassed” under workplace law.

Her letter, written after raising “key issues” with a “legal representative”, added that the current circumstances of the CEO’s employment conditions created a risk for the council in terms of:

■ Any breach (even repudiation) of the contract of employment;

■ A claim for punitive damages (in addition to the damages for breach of contract) arising from issues such as future employability in a similar role and/or damage to professional standing and reputation; and

■ Personal defamation action against individuals “engaged in publication of defamatory materials”.

Cr Greaves pushed for a motion of confidence in the chief executive and his leadership team, and said the public needed to know the council had faith in them.

“The content around our confidence in the CEO and administration … is something that should be discussed in public,” Cr Greaves said

Cr Don Chapman, who asked for the motion to be “laid on the table” at the meeting, previously asked for the chief executive to resign, accusing him of misleading elected members to overturn a controversial inquiry into credit card spending.

He said an open meeting was not the place to discuss the chief executive’s performance.

An Onkaparinga Council spokesman refused to answer questions on whether Mr Dowd had received legal advice about his contract and whether he would seek renewal.

He did not provide information on when Mr Dowd’s contract ends.