A WARRACKNABEAL farmer believes Yarriambiack Shire Council’s decision to reappoint its chief executive Ray Campling shows it’s out of touch with the community.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At a meeting on Wednesday, council re-appointed Mr Campling for the next five years.
The Victorian Farmers Federation Warracknabeal and Brim branch had previously criticised council for wanting to re-appoint Mr Campling without advertising the position.
The branch believed the move showed poor governance.
At the meeting, branch president David Drage said the biggest concern among residents was the difference between council’s perception of Mr Campling and the community’s perception.
“You need to look at what the community perception really is,” he said.
Councillors voted unanimously to re-appoint Mr Campling.
Mayor Graeme Massey said it hadn’t been a quick decision.
“This work goes back to February, when all councillors were involved in an annual review,” he said.
“Councillors were given plenty of information and briefed on the process for months.
“A draft contract was submitted in June when we had more discussions.”
Cr Massey said council had not only received a letter from the Victorian Farmers Federation Warracknabeal and Brim branch, but also the Warracknabeal Action Group.
“All councillors read those letters and took them into consideration,.” he said.
“We are fully aware of the process we have taken and are happy with it.”
Cr Kylie Zanker said Mr Campling was dedicated, hard working, passionate, strategic, fair, and motivated.
“This decision has not come lightly and contrary to some public thoughts, it is not a knee jerk reaction to re-appoint,” he said.
“The renewal of the chief executive contract has been a discussion that councillors have had on the agenda for over the past six months with much discussion and deliberation.
“I can assure everyone that Ray Campling met his performance criteria and was benchmarked against other local government chief executives.
“So why advertise when we have an experienced chief executive who is meeting his key performance indicators.
“It seems ludicrous.”
Cr Zanker said the cost to recruit a new chief executive would be about $80,000 and would involve hiring a recruitment agency.
“When we look at who is around to apply with the experience we need, the numbers are rather low,” she said.
“Local government chief executives and managers have been leaving the sector in mass and over the past two years because of rate capping, cost and service shifting and volatile nature of the sector.
“In my mind advertising the position when due diligence had been done and when we were already confident that we have an experienced chief executive, would be wasting money.”
Cr Zanker said council had had community consultation sessions at Warracknabeal but residents didn’t attend.
Mr Drage said the lack of attendance highlighted how broken the relationship between council and residents was.
He said while he understood council had a tight budget, $80,000 spread over five years seemed minimal.