Jim Grayson quits Gympie Regional Council director job

One of Gympie Regional Council’s highly touted, highly paid new department directors has resigned from the role after 10 months.

Jim Grayson has quit his position as Gympie Regional Council’s infrastructure director after less than a year in the job.

One of Gympie Regional Council’s highly touted new executive team has called it quits after less than a year on the job.

Infrastructure director Jim Grayson resigned from the council this week to take up a new position with private accounting company KPMG in its infrastructure branch.

Mr Grayson, a former ASIC assistant director who worked on some of Australia’s largest investigations, including those into HIH insurance and Crown Casino Ltd, took up his Gympie council role in February 2021.

He was the first official hire of the new executive team under new council CEO Shane Gray.

The departure is the latest in what has become a carousel of changes within the council’s senior leadership since the 2020 election.

More than a half dozen senior executives and managers have left in that time.

Mr Grayson said a director coming in for a year and then leaving was “the last thing Gympie needed” but the new role he was taking with KPMG gave him a chance to be work closer to home.

Council CEO Shane Gray said the now vacant director position will be advertised in early 2022. Picture: Patrick Woods.

He said his time with the council had given him the chance to help guide it forward, particularly when it came to major hurdles like water security.

“There didn’t seem to have been a lot of good information (available),” Mr Grayson said.

“There was a lot more risk than had been identified, including around water supply for the future.”

Mr Grayson said he was glad his experience had been able to help the region move towards the future.

“Gympie is going through a lot of change,” he said.

Council CEO Shane Gray said Mr Grayson’s work was not always visible to residents.

“His passion and drive in areas such as our water network and security will benefit our region for many years to come”.

“We wish Jim well in his future endeavours.”

The council will advertise for the position early in 2022.