as General Manager.b Pho9t supplied
Kyogle Shire Council sacked their General Manager Graham Kennett, effective immediately at their final meeting of the year on December 11.
According to IndyNR.com there had been an attempt to sack Mr Kennett in April 2022 that had led to 100 of the KSC staff, bar three, protesting the dismissal at an extraordinary meeting.
However, Mayor Kylie Weber told The Echo that ‘what happened 18 months ago is that there was a request to have a frank discussion around his contract. There was an extraordinary meeting called to discuss it as a group. It was leaked out to the community and took on a life of its own,’ At the end of the December 11 meeting Cr Maggie May, seconded by Cr Robert Cullen moved to take the council into closed session to discuss the GMs contract.’
The Mayor opened the meeting to the public gallery to seek opinion on going into a confidential session and ‘Mr Simon Dejoux put to the meeting that he did not think it was appropriate to go confidential’ according to the unconfirmed minutes of the meeting.
‘Mr Robin Harley asked to know what was of such concern and urgency. The Mayor said the matter had been deemed urgent by the chair and that there was a process to follow,’ state the KSC minutes.
The motion to go into confidential was carried with the votes of Mayor Kylie Webster and councillors Tom Cooper, Maggie May, Robert Cullen and James Murray. Councillors Danielle Mulholland, John Burley, Janet Wilson and Hayden Doolan voted against the motion.
‘Councillor John Burley had to leave the room for the discussion and the vote because he is related by marriage to Mr Kennett,’ according to IndyNR.com.
Following discussions the councillors returned to the open council and the Mayor Kylie Webster, seconded by Cr Maggie May moved to ‘Terminate the employment contract of the General Manager Graham Kennett under clause 10.3.5 effective immediately by final termination payment being thirty-eight (38) weeks’ pay in lieu of notice’ and ‘Appoint Mr Brett Kelly as interim General Manager for the period of up to 18 months’.
Crs Kylie Webster, Maggie May, Tom Cooper, Rob Cullen and James Murray voted in favour of the termination, Cr Janet Wilson voted against while Crs Danielle Mulholland and Hayden Doolan abstained, though this was taken as a vote against in the minutes.
‘This time we have had a review and the council has voted to go in a new direction and change GM,’ the Mayor told The Echo.
Interim GM
Brett Kelly was officially appointed as interim GM effective from December 12.
‘Brett brings extensive experience in leadership and successfully managing large complex organisations over the past twenty-five years,’ said a press release from KSC.
‘Brett’s most recent role was that of CEO for peak industry body AMIA (Australian Mango Industry Association). Prior to that he was the CEO for Australia’s largest farmer-owned berry producer Oz Group Co-operative, as well as earlier spending nearly ten years as the CEO for Norco Co-operative.
‘We welcome Brett on board and look forward to working together.’
Setting aside the merits or otherwise of the Kennett termination (they are – for now – known only the the elected councillors)… poor old Brett Kelly looks like he could easily be chewed up and spat out by the local government system.
Why ? He appears to have no local government or public service experience.
Local government is a highly regulated environment – he will not be able to rely on any private sector corporate/co-op management approaches/techniques he might have used in the past, he will have to ensure everything he does adheres to regulatory requirements or the decisions/actions he takes will be subject to all kinds of challenges (lawyers and property developers will be licking their lips, as will investigative journalists with a nose for sniffing out public sector stuff-ups).
This could well be the beginning of a very costly and contested period for Kyogle Council (starting with the whopping payout to Kennett).
Sadly, I suspect that Kyogle’s lovely community will be much the poorer for this decision, and not just financially.
Shouldn’t the ratepayers of Kyogle Shire be made aware of the reasoning? Surely there will be more to this story, in what seems to be undemocratic & a cloak & dagger approach.
There has been so much negative history of councils being inadequately run & hence the local community suffering the consequences. Hopefully this isn’t another example of that.
Many people in Kyogle are extremely unhappy with the decision to terminate Mr Kennett’s contract but also particularly concerned about the manner in which it occurred.
It must be noted that Mr Kennett passed a recent (in the last few months) performance review with flying colours and that Kyogle Council is performing well in the just released Council financial report.
So it appears as if the Mayor and her cohorts have sacked someone who appears to be very good at his job, well liked and supported among the Council staff and also respected in the community and replaced him with someone who has no local government experience whatsoever.
The Mayor seems unwilling to offer any reason for her actions which achieves nothing except to make us wonder if there are ulterior motives behind this move.
For a number of years now Kyogle Council has mostly been in the news for all the right reasons, why change it if it is not broken?
A simple question for our Mayor, WHAT IS GOING ON? – PLEASE EXPLAIN.
I don’t understand you people, it’s a contract job, they don’t last forever, especially when one of your relatives has a vote on everything concerned.
Interesting that informing the public of an extraordinary meeting of Council is “leaking” information. I think it’s a legal requirement. It speaks volumes about the Mayor’s understanding of accountability.
Anyone who was part of this termination of employment should be stepped down without pay and be investigated into the motivation and concerns of bullying and harrassment. Absolutely disgusting behaviour from a Council. Shameful actions for a Mayor to be a part of. Sounds like Nepotism to me…. Did anyone work previously with this new GM? What’s the connection and financial motivation?