Councillors vote unanimously in favour of Organisation Review

A southeast Queensland council has voted in favour of an independent report of the organisation, with one councillor saying it was important to promote a culture where people were happy at work. But another branded the move a stunt.

Moreton Bay Regional Council councillors have called for an independent review of council staff. Photo: Ric Frearson

“Bullying” and human resource components will be on the agenda, according to Councillor Adrian Raedel, after Moreton Bay Regional Council voted in favour of an independent Organisation Review.

The item was not scheduled to be discussed in Tuesday’s General Meeting, but was moved by Councillor Raedel and passed unanimously.

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An external company will be awarded a tender for the review, but it is not yet clear what the scope of the review will be or if the findings will be made public.

Mayor Allan Sutherland said the time was right to conduct a review. Picture: Bradley Cooper.

Mayor Allan Sutherland said there was no specific reason why councillors had decided to get involved with staff matters, which is the responsibility of the chief executive officer.

“Every responsible organisation periodically undertakes strategic assessments, as part of normal business to encourage innovation and improvement,” he said.

“Now is an appropriate time to look at how we have done and what more we can do.”

Cr Raedel, who has said he will run for Mayor at the 2020 local elections, took to his Facebook page to announce the policy after it was passed, citing bullying and HR processes.

Councillor Adrian Raedel is running for Mayor at the 2020 local elections. Picture: Bradley Cooper.

“Is there bullying in council — what do we have to do to stamp it out?” he said. “Those that are doing the right thing have nothing to fear.

“The ideal outcome would be to have an organisation where people are happy to come to work, energised and proud of where they work.

“It’s a process we want to get right and with minimal disruptions for council and staff — my belief is it will be fairly short.”

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Fellow mayoral candidate Dean Teasdale said the policy was an “early election stunt” by Cr Raedel.

2020 Mayoral candidate Dean Teasdale said the review is an “early election stunt”. Picture: Chris Higgins.

“Why should ratepayers pay a CEO, 12 Councillors and a Mayor to run Council and then also need to pay someone else to tell the CEO, Councillors and Mayor exactly what’s actually going on in the organisation that they’re supposed to be running,” he said.

“Any report or review must be made public.”

Council is currently determining the terms of reference and contractual arrangements. It will make a public announcement when the contract is awarded.

Cr Sutherland is yet to announce if he’ll run again in 2020.

The council is also reviewing its Gifts, Sponsored Hospitality Benefits, Awards & Prizes policy separately.

A spokesman said that review is still ongoing.