PLANS to confirm the new City of Albany Chief Executive Officer were thrown into disarray yesterday.
The City Council MET behind closed doors last night to consider a recommendation for the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer.
A panel including Mayor Milton Evans and four councillors met in Perth last week to interview six shortlisted candidates from around Australia.
They had recommended Ravensthorpe CEO Paul Richards be appointed to the $250,000 per annum posting.
Confirmation of the appointment was expected to be made at the conclusion of the meeting.
The plan was derailed yesterday when independent enquiries raised doubts about Mr Richards’ suitability.
Mr Richards resigned as Superintendent of the WA Police’s State Intelligence Division in February. He had been in the role for 15 months.
His resignation followed an internal investigation into the alleged misuse of $15,000 by the State Intelligence Branch officers during Schoolies Week in Busselton last November.
At the time, Deputy Commissioner Chris Dawson said the investigation found the complain could not be sustained.
Mr Richards previously had a lengthy and distinguished career in Britain.
Mr Richards took up the three-year contract at Ravensthorpe in April, but his tenure has been marked by a long list of staff resignations.
The Weekender understands as many as 16 of the Shire’s staff of about 30 have resigned.
He had been granted a leave of absence to pursue the Albany role.
Ravensthorpe Deputy Shire President Don Lansdown said Mr Richards had signalled his intention to look further afield.
“To my knowledge he had mentioned he was looking around, but I wasn’t aware of where he was going,” Cr Lansdown said.
“We’ve had some problems because he wasn’t from local government. He had to learn and pick up on the local government way of doing things.
“We’ve had some staffing problems.”
It is understood Mr Richards was second choice for the position, but the preferred Victorian candidate passed up the Albany role.
Albany City Councillors were preparing counter-motions yesterday to have any appointment delayed.
“My intention would be to get this motion delayed until we do some more reference checks,” said Cr Daniel Wiseman.
“This is the most important job in Albany, so it’s best that we make sure we get the right candidate.”
Albany Chamber of Commerce CEO Graham Harvey urged the City to take more time to find a new CEO to replace Andrew Hammond who left to take up a role with the City of Rockingham.
“At this time in Albany’s history it is crucial that the City takes the necessary time to appoint the right person for this extremely important role,” Mr Harvey said.
“The person would need to have extensive local government experience and commercial experience - a person of leadership and vision.
“Albany’s future is too important to put at risk.”
Mayor Milton Evans was angry the decision-making process had been compromised.
“At considerable expense, we have employed Nicholas Crawley from Beilbey’s to facilitate this recruitment process,” he said.
“The reference and cross-reference process is sound.
“This man sets foot into Albany and is already fighting a rear-guard action because people can’t abide by the process.”
The motion to accept the recommendation went before Council as planned. However, Cr Wiseman left the meeting early, leaving Cr Robert Beugge as the only dissenting voice.
Mr Richards met with Councillors after the meeting.
It is understood he will take up his new position in December.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff