Cairns mayor defends appointment of trusted advisor, John Andrejic to CEO role

Battle lines have been drawn at Cairns Regional Council with the mayor angrily denying claims she and two councillors discussed the former CEO Mica Martin’s dismissal.

Cairns mayor Amy Eden has denied she discussed CEO Mica Martin's dismissal with incoming chief executive John Andrejic at a meeting in March. Mr Andrejic was appointed at a special meeting on Wednesday. Picture: Samuel Davis

Battle lines have been drawn at Cairns Regional Council with mayor Amy Eden angrily denying claims that she and key councillors discussed former CEO Mica Martin’s dismissal at a meeting with her replacement.

The embattled mayor has defended her efforts to appoint the “best man” for the job, declaring former chief executive John Andrejic as the preferred applicant of the 32 hopefuls for the interim position.

FILE PHOTO: John Andrejic is Cairns Regional Council’s new CEO following a special meeting held on Wednesday morning. Mr Andrejic has previously served as council’s chief financial officer and CEO. Picture: Marc McCormack

In an extraordinary special meeting on Wednesday morning, Division 1 councillor Brett Moller questioned the “integrity and ethics” of council appointing Mr Andrejic to the key civic post.

Mr Moller’s voice trembled as he read out prepared remarks inside council chambers, highlighting a list of concerns relating to the mayor’s capacity to appoint the chartered accountant, who is one of Ms Eden’s most trusted advisors, to the role.

Dvision One councillor Brett Moller (right) said Ms Eden's relationship with Mr Andrejic constituted a conflict of interest and called for her to be precluded on a vote to appoint council's next CEO. Picture: Samuel Davis

As exclusively reported by the Cairns Post, Ms Eden and two other councillors met with Mr Andrejic on Wednesday, March 20 – four days after the local government elections.

It can now be revealed that the two elected representatives in attendance were Deputy Mayor Brett Olds and Division 3 councillor Cathy Zeiger.

“At that meeting, former CEO Mica Martin’s role was discussed with Mayor Eden, Cr Olds and Cr Zeiger seeking John’s advice around the recruitment process for a new CEO,” Mr Moller told Wednesday morning’s council meeting.

“Reportedly, John’s advice was to review Ms Martin’s contract and to seek the advice of the Director of People and Organisational Performance (Christine Posgate).

“That advice was subsequently acted on.”

During the meeting, Mr Andrejic’s interest in Ms Martin’s job was gauged by the trio, Mr Moller said.

“To which, reportedly, John replied that he’d be interested in taking a phone call,” he said.

“Why did she (Ms Eden) feel the need to arrange the meeting with John?

“And does this give rise to any declarable conflict of interest by her, given that Mayor Eden then nominated herself, along with Crs Olds and Zeiger to the interview panel for the recruitment of a new CEO?”

The Cairns Post is not suggesting Mr Andrejic isn’t qualified for the role.

Following the meeting, Ms Eden refused to answer on three occasions why she met with Mr Andrejic before finally offering an explanation.

“The meeting in question was more of a debrief on the council elections that had just taken place,” she said.

“We met to debrief.”

When asked if Ms Martin’s departure, who left under “mutual agreement” in April, was discussed at the meeting, the mayor requested for the question to be repeated before strongly batting down the claim.

“No, no, no,” she said.

“Mica resigned.”

“It was a mutual agreement. Obviously the particulars of that are confidential in nature and that’s a requirement of legislation.”

Deputy mayor Brett Olds, Division Four councillor Trevor Tim, Division Three councillor Cathy Zeiger and Division Two councillor voted against a motion to declare Ms Eden had a conflict of interest in relation to the appointment of Cairns' interim CEO. They were defeated 5-4. Picture: Samuel Davis

Mr Moller said declaring Ms Eden’s relationship with Mr Andrejic as a conflict of interest was about maintaining the trust of Cairns residents.

“With each disclosure, her relationship with Mr Andrejic is becoming stronger in terms of involvement,” he told the council meeting.

“I suggest that there is a familiarity in the level of the relationship … that could give rise to the view that this is a close personal relationship.”

Councillors first voted on whether Ms Eden had a declarable conflict of interest, with five - Brett Moller, Rob Pyne, Kristy Vallely, Anna Middleton and Rhonda Coghlan voting in favour of the motion.

The trio who sat on the recruitment committee — deputy mayor Brett Olds, and councillors Matthew Tickner and Cathy Zeiger — as well as Team Eden candidate Cr Trevor Tim supported the mayor but did not have the numbers to overturn the motion.

Councillors then voted on whether the conflict of interest should prevent Ms Eden from having input on the CEO appointment.

But Ms Middleton sided with Ms Eden, flipping the majority in the mayor’s favour.

Council then entered a closed session with Ms Eden’s confidante emerging as the recommended CEO.

All councillors except Mr Moller and Division 5 councillor Rob Pyne voted in favour of Mr Andrejic’s appointment.

He will serve as interim CEO for a three-month probation period, with the option of an extra three months by mutual agreement.

WHAT COUNCILLORS SAID IN THE MEETING

Picture: Brendan Radke

Kristy Vallely (Division 6)

“This has kept me awake for many hours. I’m frustrated that we’re in this position. It could have been easily avoided. I feel sad that we’re here right now. If I put myself in the position of a reasonable person in the public, this doesn’t look great.”

Picture: Brendan Radke

Rhonda Coghlan (Division 8)

“It’s not about the person, it’s about the process. I’ve lost sleep over this. I’ve had to search within myself to understand whether I had a bias. Thank you Cr Moller for voicing what has laid heavily on most of us.”

Picture: Brendan Radke

Brett Olds (Division 9)

“You can be impartial. I believe that and you can base your decision on merit. The mayor and CEO relationship is the most important and there’s a part of the Local Government Act that talks about that special relationship.”

Picture: Brendan Radke

Matthew Tickner (Division 2)

“I watched Mayor Eden apply an unbiased view across all the candidates. Optics are optics. I get there are some optics (issues) around John having some involvement in Mayor Eden’s campaign. Optics aside, we are looking to appoint the best person for this role and the best person for the ratepayers. I believe that everyone in this room can do that.”

Picture: Brendan Radke

Rob Pyne (Division 5)

“While no single interaction between yourself and John creates a conflict of interest, it is my belief that your interactions with John in their entirety do. A reasonable and fully informed person would believe that a conflict of interest exists such as to cause detriment to other applicants for the position.”

Picture: Brendan Radke

Anna Middleton (Division 7)

“I don’t think the conflict of interest necessarily means that Cr Eden can’t have input into the decision of the CEO. I consider them to be different things. One’s to do with conflict of interest. We voted on that.”

Originally published as Cairns mayor defends appointment of trusted advisor, John Andrejic to CEO role