Former premier Jeff Kennett says Melbourne City Council CEO Ben Rimmer has morale problem

FORMER premier Jeff Kennett says Melburnians are being let down by poor morale at Town Hall. And he’s placed the blame on one key council figure.

FORMER premier Jeff ­Kennett says that low morale at the Town Hall is hurting Melbourne.

Mr Kennett has put the blame at the feet of City of Melbourne chief executive Ben Rimmer, whom he ­believed would be gone by the end of the year.

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CEO Ben Rimmer at the City of Melbourne Council meeting.

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“There’s been a massive turnover there and they’ve just lost one of their best operators (city operations director ­Martin Cutter) down to the City of Geelong (as new CEO),” he said.

“So there has been this people voting with their feet to leave the City of Melbourne.”

Last month, the Herald Sun revealed that nearly one in five staff left the council in 2016-17, up from 12.5 per cent a year earlier.

But Mr Cutter said the ­Geelong job was just too good to turn down.

“I’ve long held aspirations of being the CEO of a large city council, and in my current role I have acted as the CEO of the City of Melbourne on two separate occasions,” he said. “The CEO position at the City of Greater Geelong is a fantastic opportunity for me and my family, and it is my sole reason for leaving the City of Melbourne. Any insinuation otherwise is frankly disrespectful and damaging.”

Mr Kennett said that a big task for the next lord mayor would be to review morale at the organisation, fill vacancies with quality people and then assess the performance of ­senior managers.

Mr Kennett said that Mr Rimmer, who was appointed in February 2015, was nearing the end of his contract.

“I’d be very surprised if he wanted to extend,” he said.

A former deputy secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Mr Rimmer also worked for Boston Consulting Group. He took ­extended sick leave in 2016 for a serious illness.

Mr Kennett praised Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood for how he had filled the shoes of Robert Doyle after the lord mayor took leave and later resigned over sexual harassment allegations, which he denied.

Mr Kennett revealed that he approached Cr Wood at the recent funeral of Ron Walker and offered his support if he ran for lord mayor.

“This is a young man with a great deal of ability, and he’s got a great career in front of him,” he said.

Cr Wood opted not to run for the top job. Mr Kennett is now backing Property Council executive Sally Capp in the mayoral election.

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