by BRIAN BENNION

SCENIC Rim’s Chief Executive Officer was dramatically voted out of office by councillors after hours of debate behind closed doors at last week’s council meeting.

CEO Jon Gibbons was appointed in March 2018 with great fanfare on the promise to “refresh and refocus” Scenic Rim Regional Council.

He introduced a new managerial team and was charged with the task of bringing a change that would open the door to opportunities to be an “efficient, effective and agile organisation”.

Under his stewardship councillors voted in favour of scrapping the committee system and streamlining the decision-making process with councillor workshops closed to the public and two public meetings a month.

The council has come under scrutiny with the number of complaints to the Office of Independent Assessor, a damning customer service survey, its failure to deliver promised works projects, comments about a culture of secrecy, a majority vote from Tamborine Mountain to leave the Scenic Rim local government area and the council’s lack of interest in utilising borrowings while rates have continued on the rise.

Mr Gibbons’ contract ends on June 18 next year.

A decision on his reappointment was deferred twice, forcing the council to extend his contract as they deliberated on his role and questioned decisions of the previous council to delegate assessment of the CEO’s role to Mayor Greg Christensen.

The CEO’s contract was not listed on last week’s meeting agenda and was raised as a late, confidential item as the meeting was called.

Councillors emerged from a five-hour closed session to vote four to three to advise Mr Gibbons that council did not intend to renew his employment agreement and would advertise the position.

The council also voted not to release the report into the CEO’s contract agreement.

The motion was moved by Councillor Derek Swanborough and seconded by Councillor Jeff McConnell.

Mayor Greg Christensen, Deputy Mayor Michael Enright and Councillor Virginia West voted against the motion and spoke of the decision being a “disruptive and dangerous precedent”.

Cr West said the CEO had fulfilled all that had been expected of him in extreme circumstances.

“I most certainly cannot support this motion. [The CEO] has taken the organisation and the community through drought, through bushfire and now through a pandemic in a very successful manner,” Cr West said.

“Council has a very strong financial reputation.

“I believe this is a very disruptive and dangerous precedent at this stage of the Refresh and Refocus journey that council is already on and in my opinion, it is a very disappointing outcome for the community and for Council.”

Cr Christensen said he was disappointed that the motion was put forward.

“The CEO has played a central role based on the evidence that's quite visible to growing a strong foundation as a council, building a clear focus of removing silos in the organisation and delivering a better engagement to the community and has set this council on a strong path during his tenure in service,” he said.

Cr Enright said it was “a sad day” for Scenic Rim Regional Council.

“I can only speak for my personal and professional involvement with the CEO and I believe that the Scenic Rim Regional Council is in a much better place than what it was when he became CEO of this organisation,” he said.

“We have seen a transformation in the way that the organisation is structured with the focus on delivering services to our community and to providing an organisation that operates more efficiently and to provide an efficient way for our organisation to cater for the future growth in the organisation.”

Cr Swanborough thanked Mr Gibbons for his service and said there was expectation that going forward the Scenic Rim would be led “in such a way that the region realised its full potential”.

“This decision has not been taken lightly.

“It has been considered over tens of hours if not more than that.

“It is a big decision, one of the most important decisions for the council moving forward,” Cr Swanborough said.

“We also look forward with great excitement and expectation that going forward the Scenic Rim will be led in such a way that we will be able to realise our full potential and I think that is the wish of everybody in this room.

“That objective is what we all, when we meet around this table, seek to do.”