Rik Hart puts retirement on hold to guide Parramatta Council
Rik Hart was preparing for retirement — until he was put forward for one last tour of duty at the helm of a troubled western Sydney council.
Rik Hart was eyeing a life of leisure — including more sailing — in retirement.
He was preparing to finish up as Inner West Council chief executive officer last month, bringing an end to four decades of top-level experience in the public and private sectors.
But then came a tap on the shoulder by the State Government for one last tour of duty.
The Office of Local Government knew Parramatta Council needed a safe pair of hands at the top after a turbulent year with the suspension, and then sacking of CEO Mark Stapleton in February.
It put forward Mr Hart, who was CEO of the former Warringah Council from 2007 until his inner-west calling in 2016, as the ideal manager to smooth the waters at the Church Street council chambers.
He duly landed the role and “tasted” retirement for a week before starting as acting CEO of Parramatta Council a fortnight ago.
His contract is for up to 12 months — enough time, he says, to make some important cultural and structural changes before his permanent replacement comes on deck.
At the heart of Mr Hart’s modus operandi is strong financial management.
He says he is a stickler for getting the numbers right — and being accountable to the community.
And the numbers are likely read very well for Mr Hart on his pay slip.
He is expected to be earning the same salary — $500,000 a year — as Mr Stapleton.
But Mr Hart is going to earn his big bucks. As he concedes, he faces some big challenges to lift staff morale following the recent upheaval in upper management.
“What’s been has been. I can’t do anything about that period. When you read what’s been reported in the media, it doesn’t look pretty for the council,” he said.
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“But for me, I’m just looking forward and seeing how we can improve the new structure.”
He said that a “spill and fill” of directors would help revive the leadership team.
“We’ve had three new executive directors start this week, in the areas of City Assets and Operations, Engagement and Experience, and Community Services,” he said.
“And we’re hoping to have the other key positions filled by mid-June.”
It comes as he prepares staff to report monthly to the community on the state of council’s finances, which are looking remarkably healthy.
Mr Hart revealed council had a whopping $400 million in the bank.
“There is little danger of us running out of money,” said the man responsible for an annual operating budget of $296 million.
He said he wanted council to be “more open and transparent” when it came to its finances.
“You see, if councillors and the community work off the same set of financial information, then a lot of the decisions made will be easier,” Mr Hart said.
“You can’t have councils running their businesses by notices of motion — which includes mayoral minutes — where they are authorising expenditure without reference to what staff are recommending.
“So, we’ll be carving the organisation up into a series of business units, and we’ll be reporting the full income and expenditure to the community.”
He believes Sydney’s second biggest council is set for a bright future.
“Look, the organisation has gone through a difficult time of late. But I’ve been impressed by just how many people are motivated to do a good job,” Mr Hart said.
“I haven’t seen anything that would give me cause for an investigation of anybody at council.
“I put a lot of store on the ratepayers’ satisfaction surveys, which show the community is in fact scoring the City of Parramatta higher than the Sydney metropolitan average.
“And I’ve never seen so many exciting projects in the pipeline. The transformation of Parramatta is going to be incredible — and I’m glad to part of it, even for a short while.”
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