New City of Hobart CEO Michael Stretton says nothing’s off the table

A shake up could be on the way for the Hobart City Council after the arrival of a new CEO. He says he won’t be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but nothing’s off the table. His observations so far.

Michael Stretton the new City of Hobart CEO. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Hobart City Council’s new CEO says culture, the budget and relationships between staff and elected members are things he’ll be looking at, and while he’s signalled change could be on the way, he says he won’t be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Michael Stretton, who has taken over from Kelly Grigsby, has worked in local government in Tasmania for the last 29 years, at Sorell, Glenorchy, Central Coast, Waratah-Wynyard, Launceston City councils along with a previous stint in Hobart City.

He’s spent the last six years as CEO in Launceston.

“I’ve seen a lot in local government over the journey,” he said

“The main difference here (in Hobart City) is that we have means, we’ve got a budget where you are capable of delivering really tangible things for the community.

“Whereas when I was at Waratah-Wynyard, you’ve got a $16m budget to service 14,000 people, it doesn’t go as far.”

Former Hobart City Council CEO Kelly Grigsby. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Mr Stretton said he’d be looking at whether the council was stretching itself too thin.

“One thing I will say is this council has a lot on it’s plate, probably too much some might argue, so I think we need to be really sharp on where our focus areas are and I think that’s something I need to work with the council on,” he said.

“It’s probably one for the council to be able to speak to, once we set the budget down.

“All councils, in my experience, they’re very passionate, they want to deliver for their community, but we take on way too much and we end up creating environments that are stressful.

“It might be we’re starting less to finish more … so we can make sure we’re doing what we said and delivering.”

He also planned to make improvements within the organisation, though he said it was too soon to tell exactly what needed to change.

“The thing that stands out to me most and it’s the thing I think is the biggest driver of success is the culture of the organisation,” he said.

“I think anyone who works at the organisation would put their hand up to say it’s not the constructive positive culture they would want.

“We’ve been measuring the culture for a decade or more and it hasn’t really improved to the level we want it to.”

Mr Stretton said he was aware there had been problems in the past between staff and elected members.

“There’s still some legacy things we’re working through,” he said.

City of Hobart Councillors, Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds, Deputy Lord Mayor Helen Burnet, Marti Zucco, Bill Harvey, Simon Behrakis, Mike Dutta, Zelinda Sherlock, Ben Lohberger, Ryan Posselt, Louise Bloomfield, Louise Elliot, John Kelly. Picture: Chris Kidd

“But I would hope we would see that continued collaboration and that respectful communication between staff and elected members, in the eight weeks I’ve been here.”

In 2022 the council moved to change its meeting structure to halve the number of public general meetings, while introducing fortnightly closed door workshops.

The change was opposed by some elected members who said it would lead to less transparency around council decisions.

Mr Stretton said he’d been working with the council and was open to changes.

“I’m listening to what the councillors views on that is and looking at best practice, there might be some tweaks in that space,” Mr Stretton said.

Alderman Marti Zucco and Councillor Louise Elliot of Hobart City Council were unhappy general council meetings were changed to fortnightly. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“There’s all sorts of different opportunities, obviously we introduced the portfolio committee structure, [we will be] reviewing that and whether the workshops are the right way to go.

“I couldn’t foreshadow what the changes might be, but if a lot of it’s working well, we’re not going to throw babies out with bathwater, you just need to tweak the things that maybe aren’t working as well.

“I don’t think anything's off the table.”

He said there was a desire by some to make the council more open.

“We want to look at making sure our decisions are transparent, that’s a key factor for us, maybe looking at ways that we can get our thinking and workshopping more public,” he said.

“We used to have with the committee structure before where discussions were had in public view.

“There’s definitely a view from some of them, they’d like to see that returned, that’s something we’re looking at.”