Toowoomba council loses senior public servant as organisation battles 17 per cent turnover rate

One of the Toowoomba council’s most senior public servants has quit suddenly, at a time when the organisation is dealing with “concerning” turnover and vacancy rates.

The Toowoomba Regional Council has been rocked by a number of senior resignations, putting pressure on an organisation already dealing with high staff turnover and vacancy rates.

Council CEO Brian Pidgeon confirmed veteran development services manager Danielle Fitzpatrick, a high-ranking and experienced public servant within the planning department, left suddenly.

Ms Fitzpatrick, who was well-respected among councillors and regularly seen at special meetings, had been at council since amalgamation in 2008 according to her LinkedIn profile.

Mr Pidgeon also said the council was trying to replace the important parks and recreation services manager position, made vacant recently by the well-regarded Micheal Condren.

TRC CEO Brian Pidgeon. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“Council will be recruiting for a manager in our parks and recreation services branch along with a manager for development services,” he said in a statement.

While the circumstances of the resignations are unclear, it comes while the Toowoomba Regional Council tries to fill more than 210 vacancies across the organisation.

The council is also battling a staff turnover rate of 17.6 per cent in the current financial year, well above the goal of 10 per cent as set out in March’s ordinary meeting and higher than the result from 2021-22 of more than 14 per cent.

While she couldn’t comment on Ms Fitzpatrick’s resignation from the department, planning and development chair councillor Megan O’Hara Sullivan said retention was a major problem for local governments and large employers.

Megan O'Hara Sullivan.

“Everybody is moving around and Covid has made people look at the world differently,” she said.

“(The turnover rates) been creeping up for a long time, so that is a concern.

“It’s a concern for any org when you lose good experience and senior personnel but that needs to be on the forefront of our minds.”

Councillor Nancy Sommerfield expressed her concern at the turnover rate to finance and business strategy general manager Ann-Marie Johnston, calling it a “risk” to the organisation.

Toowoomba Regional Council’s Cr Nancy Sommerfield.

“I was reading an article recently reflecting the concerns of the QBCC (Queensland Building and Construction Commission) having a high staff turnover rate of 14.7 per cent, and here we are with 17.6 per cent,” Ms Sommerfield said.

“It concerns me that we are that high and I see that as a risk for our organisation.

“We talk about vacancy risk, well turnover at that level is also concerning.”

Ms Johnston said the senior leadership had formed a working group to address the council’s existing retention strategies.

In a different portion of the meeting, CEO Brian Pidgeon said the council had used working from home and out of the region as incentives to keep employees with valuable skills.

“Some positions we can’t get anybody and others we’ve got people we wish to retain and so work-from-home arrangements can be offered,” he said.

“It’s a really tough environment and organisations outside of local government are offering very competitive packages to attract people.”