Dubbo Council staff changes: Moves to recruit another new CEO
After 12 months of tumult, Dubbo Council is looking for a permanent CEO to guide it out of the headlines and and back into health. So, who is up to the top job?
Dubbo News
Don't miss out on the headlines from Dubbo News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Dubbo Regional Council has began recruiting a permanent CEO and the position is expected to be filled before the December local government elections.
In May councillors voted to appoint Murray Wood as the council’s interim chief executive officer for a period of 12 months.
They also voted to appoint a permanent CEO before the 12-month period was up, but did not specify when recruitment would take place.
At an extraordinary council meeting on Monday, as the Covid outbreak grew and after NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock delayed council elections from September to December, councillors voted to move ahead with recruitment of a permanent CEO.
Dubbo Mayor Stephen Lawrence said the move was about ensuring stability at the council.
“The council term has been extended by three months … there wasn’t previously effectively time to recruit for the position, but now that we have time to do it I think we should do it,” he said.
“It’s really important. It’ll give the organisation and the community stability, knowing that council has a permanent leader on the operational side.”
Before councillors voted to go ahead with recruitment of a permanent chief executive officer, the current interim CEO Murray Wood left the room along with the council’s culture and economy director Natasha Comber.
According to council documents, this was because Mr Wood and Ms Comber are both considering applying for the permanent CEO position.
When asked why council chose not to wait until after the election, when a new council could recruit a CEO, Councillor Lawrence told The Dubbo News “it’s very, very common across Australia for councils to recruit CEOs or general managers in circumstances where the contract extends into a new term”.
“It’s so common that it’s rarely commented upon,” he said.
Councillors agreed that Crs Lawrence, Anne Jones and Jane Diffey would form a selection committee to appoint a suitable candidate for the CEO position, along with an independent representative from Local Government Management Solutions.
The position has now been advertised and applications are set to close on September 6.
Councillors hope to have candidates short-listed by September 10 and interviews conducted by September 20.
In late September, there will be final interviews with council in an extraordinary meeting and the permanent CEO is expected to be announced before the council enters caretaker mode ahead of elections in December.
Mr Wood replaced Dean Frost as interim council CEO after Mr Frost was appointed to the position in February following former permanent chief executive officer Michael McMahon’s announcement that he would retire.
Mr McMahon was the replacement for Mark Riley who resigned from the top job in November 2017 shortly after the new council term started.
‘Tragic loss’: Tributes flow for boy found dead at swimming hole
A “talented” teenage rugby player whose body was found after he vanished at a popular regional NSW swimming spot is being remembered as a “loving brother, son and friend”.
Meth and $35k in cash: Dramatic arrests over alleged drug ring
Raids on three regional towns have seen nine people arrested after police allegedly seized hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of vehicles, tens of thousands of dollars in cash, kilograms of cannabis and almost three ounces of meth.