Council’s Media Release:
Monday 21 November 2011
Glen Eira CEO contract extended
At the meeting of the CEO Contractual Arrangements Special Committee held on 17 November 2011, Council resolved to extend the employment contract of Andrew Newton as its Chief Executive Officer for a further two years until April 2014.
Glen Eira Mayor Cr Margaret Esakoff said Councillors are confident in Mr Newton’s abilities to manage an organisation with $1 billion of assets, a $100 million budget and almost 1000 staff.
“He has demonstrated excellent financial, people and workplace management and is a sector leader in the management of risk,” Cr Esakoff said.
Cr Esakoff said that Councillors had given the matter full and careful consideration and were confident that they and the community had the best person for the role.
“He is among the most experienced and respected CEOs in Local Government and is widely regarded in the sector as one of Victoria’s leading Council CEO’s. He has a demonstrated passion for, and commitment to, the Glen Eira community,” Cr Esakoff said.
Before commencing as Glen Eira City Council CEO in 2000, Mr Newton worked as an executive for the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments under both coalition and Labor Governments. The first minister he served was Malcolm Fraser, and the most recent was Rob Knowles in the mid-90s.
Mr Newton holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Monash University and an MBA from Melbourne University where he came first in his year. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
AND THE BAYSIDE MELBOURNE WEEKLY VERSION
Glen Eira CEO reappointed
Mr Newton has been in the role since 2000
COMMENTS: If the vote had been unanimous then Burke would have declared the decision as such. It clearly was not unanimous and thus underlines the (ongoing) divisions that are present in this council. We believe that residents have the right to know how each councillor voted and no council resolution should prevent any councillor from declaring his position.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those residents who in good faith signed the petition requesting that councillors advertise the position prior to making their decision. This is just another example in a long list of examples of how the community’s wishes are consistently ignored.
Last but not least, we thought that a comparison with the April 8th 2010 Media Release on the reappointment of Newton might be entertaining and informative. Surely a smidgeon of originality would not have gone astray at this point – after all the ghostwriter does earn at least $230,000 per annum! What this says about the respective mayors of the time we also leave for readers to judge. Compare the following extracts from 2010 to the current Media Release –
“Councillors are confident in Mr Newton’s abilities to manage an organisation with $1 billion of assets, a $100 million budget and almost 1000 staff. He has demonstrated excellent financial, people and workplace management and is a sector leader in the management of risk.”
“He is among the most experienced and respected CEOs in local government and has a demonstrated passion for, and commitment to, the Glen Eira community.”
Mr Newton holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Monash University and an MBA from Melbourne University where he came first in his year. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Glen Eira Debates 
November 21, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Love it. Tang and Esakoff the perfect dummies. Burke can put anything into their mouths and they’ll repeat it with conviction. Good to know that our past mayors have no minds of their own.
November 21, 2011 at 6:45 PM
“He has demonstrated excellent financial, people and workplace management and is a sector leader in the management of risk,” That’s the sentence that’s the most dishonest when you look back over the past year. He waited for months and months before doing anything about the potential dangers of the mulch. Financial management is also highly questionable given the budget mess with the car parking and probably blow out for the whole project. How good a people manager he is is revealed by the repeated bullying charges. None of these recent issues equals a great performance as ceo. If he would be in private industry I would have fired him years ago.
November 21, 2011 at 8:00 PM
The gang and Lobo have denied residents the opportunity to create a new and dynamic vision for the area. 14 years in charge is too long in anyone’s book and in any senior position, especially when this Council has been at loggerheads for years. Lipshutz and his mates have squandered a vital chance to finally set things right and to move into the 21st century. Residents should expect more of the same until the dictatorship is overthrown and that means scant concern for residential amenity, more secrecy and more wastage on all fronts. We can only hope and pray that new development applications happen right next door to Lipshutz, Esakoff, Tang, Hyams and Lobo. Only then will they know what residents feel like and how much resentment and loathing they cause.
November 21, 2011 at 8:16 PM
The gang what the 11 million dollar reservoir site for there soccer club, lets see if Newton will hand it over, lock stock and barrel, as a pay-back.
As deep-throat said to Bob Woodward of Water Gate fame “follow the money”
November 21, 2011 at 8:22 PM
The media release is insulting in the extreme to residents. It treats them as if they were naive and gullible morons. It claims that councillors have “confidence” in Newton. How anyone could have confidence in an individual who continually resorts to threats and legal action to maintain his position is unheard of. Nor should there be any confidence in an organisation that fails to act in full accordance with the tenets of good governance. I doubt that his reappointment had anything to do with “confidence”. This is what should be investigated by the ombudsman.
November 21, 2011 at 8:22 PM
Newton and Burke in, Esakoff, Lipshutz, Hyams and Lobo out.
November 21, 2011 at 8:28 PM
Is Newton the best person for the role? Sadly we will never know as the gang of four decided not to try. Very sad.
November 21, 2011 at 10:09 PM
D Evans the bad news is the residents may not be naive and gullible morons, they just act like they are. Hence they effectively get what they deserve which is to be treated like naive and gullible morons.
November 21, 2011 at 10:31 PM
Well that was hardly a surprise.
It’s simply another demonstration of the arrogance of our councillors – they actually believe that they are doing a great job and don’t need to change anything.
Although we are not going to get any information about voting we can probably assume it wasn’t unanimous – given Paul Burke’s statement and that fact that they took several meetings to make what should have been a pretty straightforward decision.
There has been speculation over how the voting might have split. I’d suggest we might get a clue about this from the election of Mayor and deputy. If Pilling, Magee or Lobo get one of those positions, it’s a fair bet they supported the CEO’s re-appointment.
And rather than keep carrying on about Newton, I’d suggest that posters here save up their anger for next year’s election. We may not get a say in appointment of the CEO but we do with councillors. And these councillors will be making the decision about the next CEO in 2 years time.
November 21, 2011 at 10:54 PM
Hyams will be Mayor. He wanted it in 2005 until stabbed in the back by Erlich. Lobo hasn’t got a hope in hell and nor does Pilling. The only thing that might get Magee the job is if the gang are feeling a little too self conscious. Tang’s had it twice, Esakoff 3 times. Lipshutz would love it but he does his best dirty work behind the scenes. He could settle for deputy mayor. Besides, he’s such a busy, busy man after all.
You reckon we won’t know who voted for or against. Disagree. Councillors are quite at liberty to declare how they voted. They’re not revealing the outcome, just their individual vote. This will really test the guts of Pilling, Magee and Forge. Let’s see them stand up for what they believe is right for a change instead of skulking about in the back rooms and being dudded all the time.
Glen Huntly, you’re forgetting one important point. Councillors of the present or the future will have to deal with the expert tactics of Newton and Burke. For the sake of argument let’s assume that we get 3 new councillors next year. Not enough to change things around. Even if we get 5 new councillors it will take them a couple of years to learn the ropes and to see through Newton’s games. They’ll be cajoled, feted, treated like kings, and if that doesn’t work, then out come the lawyers, the refusal to “co-operate”, the publishing of “incriminating” memos, or even personal emails. By the time they have to vote on another appointment they’ll either think he’s god’s gift to Glen Eira, or hate his guts but be too scared to vote against him. This is all about Newton and the focus has to remain on him and what he’s done to this council and the way he’s done it. What we really need is a Whistleblower from the inside. Think of all the dirty linen that would then be revealed.
November 22, 2011 at 11:14 AM
This next year is going to be a rocky road for Newton and Burke. There’s plenty of signs already. Magee and Pilling are voicing their opinions in public which is a first and destroys the rubbish of a united council and what someone wrote about residents becoming more aware is also true. You can fool some people all of the time but not all people forever when they see what’s going on in their neighbourhoods and the rising costs of everything without justification. The gang will get their comeuppance. I’m sure of that.
November 22, 2011 at 6:47 PM
This is the second time that we’ve been dudded by the gang over really important issues. The c60 and the racecourse won’t be forgotten and neither will this.
November 22, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Newton got back in by the skin of his teeth no doubt. When we take into account Penhalluriack that makes it a 5 to 4 proposition every single time. Not a good way to run a normal council. Glen Eira definitely isn’t normal and it’s the way that Newton has always worked. What Lobo called the 4 plus 1. Divided we conquer is Newton’s slogan or it should be. He owes plenty to Lipshutz and the gang. Can’t wait to see what the pay off will be and for Lobo – well, maybe someone should remind him of his earlier low regard for the gang and his reasons for this. How about some moral fibre in the backbone Oscar.
November 22, 2011 at 2:24 PM
Not a peep from the Caulfield Leader about Newton. Weird when the Bayside Weekly can get the story and run with it in their online version. They also ran the story on the petition to advertise. Nothing in the Leader though. Shows what influence a few advertising dollars can perhaps get you.
November 22, 2011 at 3:14 PM
They have different deadlines. The Leader will publish anything that the GEC puts out on press release. It is called reciprical business. Bit of a natural law I’m afraid. It will be in next weeks Leader.
November 22, 2011 at 4:45 PM
Hard copy may have different dead lines but not the online versions. Those can go up anytime. Look at what’s there today and posted at 10am+ – a story of a man falling off a ladder! If they wanted to they could have run the story and they could have inserted something about the petition since notification probably went out to both the Leader and the weekly. Their silence reveals a lot. They mustn’t rock the boat and definitely but definitely not ruffle Newton’s feathers!
November 22, 2011 at 7:43 PM
The Leader publishes the same on line edition as it prints. The Leader is not an “on line ” newspaper. It simply publishes on line for people that do get it. It will be in both next week. No worries about this. If not they would get a phone call from the town hall.