Major shake up at Geelong council as new chief executive Ali Wastie cuts executive roles

Following a tumultuous 12 months that saw major upheaval within its ranks, Geelong council’s new chief executive has pressed the reset button.

City of Greater Geelong chief executive Ali Wastie. Photo: Mark Wilson.

Geelong council has spilled its most senior positions and set itself the lofty goal of becoming the highest performing local government in the country.

In new chief executive Ali Wastie’s first major move, the number of executive director roles at City Hall have been cut from five to four.

Ms Wastie said no frontline roles would be lost as part of the process.

“While we’re exploring lots of opportunities to generate efficiencies, I do not have any mandate to cut jobs,” she said.

Consultancy firm Amrop Carmichael Fisher is overseeing the executive search, with successful candidates to report directly to Ms Wastie as part of a “united executive team focused on leading the organisation to become the highest-performing local government in the country”.

Prior to the announcement, three of the five executive positions were filled by employees in an acting capacity.

Only Robyn Stevens and Gareth Smith were permanent in their respective roles as executive directors.

Ms Stevens and Mr Smith must apply for one of the four positions should they wish to continue at Geelong council.

“I encourage applications from existing leaders who feel they have the right skills and experience to be part of this next chapter for our organisation – be ready for a highly competitive process,” Ms Wastie said.

Applications close November 5.

The four new directorates are placemaking, city life, city infrastructure, and corporate services.

They replace city infrastructure, strategy, governance and corporate, customer, community and economy, community service delivery, and planning and design.

“We’ve had an incredibly collaborative process with leaders to design which functions should contribute to each directorate, building on the changes implemented throughout the last three years,” Ms Wastie said.

Ms Wastie, previously chief executive of Bass Coast Shire, started in the top job in late August, at which time she said a review of council service expenditure would be first task.

In a video posted on LinkedIn, she said the new executive team had to be focused on “delivering the culture, opportunity and vision that our employees, customers and community expect of us”.

“We have a passionate and hardworking council who really want us to succeed,” she said.

Council’s financial statement, released last month, showed $2.47m was paid last financial year to councillors, the chief executive and executive directors.

It was revealed earlier this week City Hall’s 1867 full-time equivalent staff will earn an average of $113,323 this financial year.

“Our salaries are in line with market conditions and other local governments of comparative size,” Ms Wastie said.

Council monitors Prue Digby and Peter Dorling remain in their role until at least January.

They were appointed by the state government to oversee the appointment of the chief executive role after the initial search was botched.

Originally published as Major shake up at Geelong council as new chief executive Ali Wastie cuts executive roles