Defer the appointment of a General Manager for Wingecarribee Shire until after local government elections
Petitioner:
Mr Adam Jacobson
| Member:
Smith, Nathaniel
| No. of Signatories:
535
| Date closed:
10/02/2021
To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, since the last local government elections in 2016 ratepayers of Wingecarribee Shire have experience a tumultuous term with their council.
Over the course of the term, extended by COVID-19, ratepayers have seen a cumulative 45.3% rates increase, the departure of a General Manager, a reduction in the number of councillors from 9 to 8, blowouts in local project costs or loss of major grants, and the imposition of a Performance Improvement Order on council.
Wingecarribee Shire Council is seeking to fill the position of General Manager. In August 2020, ten town/village community associations wrote to Minister Hancock requesting that the appointment of the General Manager be deferred until after the Local Government election on September 4 2021. The reasoning was that it would be undemocratic and immoral for current councillors, by virtue of the extended term; the increased statistical likelihood of a casting vote; and proven dysfunction, to appoint a person into a role crucial to the future of the shire.
We now again ask, through this petition, that the NSW Government deem that Wingecarribee Shire Council defer the appointment of the General Manager until after September 4 2021 when a newly elected council is confirmed.
