Kyogle Council: Interim general manager Brett Kelly resigns after long-time GM Graham Kennett sacked

A northern NSW council has descended into chaos, with an interim general manager abruptly tendering his resignation just weeks after the highly contentious sacking of the longstanding boss.

Kyogle’s interim general manager has announced his resignation.

A northern NSW council has descended into “chaos” following the abrupt resignation of the interim general manager — only seven weeks after he was hired.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal interim Kyogle Council general manager Brett Kelly has resigned from his position at the embattled chambers, just weeks after the sacking of long-standing general manager Graham Kennett on December 11.At the meeting, Mayor Kylie Thomas, alongside councillors Maggie May, Rob Cullen, Tom Cooper and James Murray voted to terminate Mr Kennett’s contract.

Former Kyogle Council General Manager Graham Kennett.

At the time members of the community and a group of four councillors hit out at the decision.

In a widely shared Facebook post, councillor and former mayor Danielle Mulholland wrote: “I do not understand why this vendetta has been relentlessly prosecuted.”

She also alleged the hiring of Mr Kelly was “conspiratorial and clandestine” claiming it “happened without the knowledge of at least four councillors”.

Kyogle Councillor Danielle Mulholland his hit out against the decision to sack Mr Kennett.

However, Mayor Kylie Thomas said the decision to terminate Mr Kennett’s contract boiled down to council needing a leadership change.

“We wanted to bring an independent, flexible person who has ability to shift culture and apply appropriate leadership that best meets the needs and expectations of our community,” she said.

Just seven weeks later, Mr Kelly has now announced he too will be leaving the council.

Ms Thomas said the interim general manager did not resign because of the community backlash, characterising him as a “pillar of strength”.

“Small town dramatics weren’t going to phase this guy,” she said.

Kyogle Mayor Kylie Thomas

She confirmed Mr Kelly had been offered another Brisbane-based job and had tendered his resignation on Monday.

“(Kyogle council) is still very much in transition,” she said.

Former Mayor Ross Brown instead characterised the organisation as “a council in chaos”.

“The whole deal was unnecessary, it’s cost the community in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and the result has been complete chaos to now advantage,” he said.

Kyogle Council chambers.

Former general manager Graham Kennett told NewsLocal he was “embarrassed” by the situation as a Kyogle resident and ratepayer.

He also said he would consider applying for general manager again if there were a “majority of councillors focused on serving our communities interests”.

“We are all hoping that the Mayor and councillors hold true to the commitment they made to let the new council select a general manager post the September elections,” he said.

“(When) the community has had the opportunity to select the people they want to represent them”.

Mr Kelly will continue to work at council until a new interim general manager is appointed in late February.