The fun and games are back on with this typically buried announcement on Council’s website. It reads under the heading of Special Committee Meetings:
“Notice is given of two meetings of the CEO Contractual Arrangements Special Committee to be held at 7pm on 10 July 2012 and 7pm on 31 July 2012 in the Council Chamber Glen Eira Town Hall. The meetings are expected to be closed to the public.”
Questions that immediately spring to mind are:
- Will Penhalluriack still be excluded from this ‘committee’? If so, then what is the justification for this discrimination since the contract negotiations are now past with Newton’s re-appointment?
- What are these meetings about, and why the need for two of them? If it’s about the contract then that needs to be made clear. If it’s about performance appraisal then this is indeed strange since Newton’s term only began in April 2012 and basically only one performance appraisal per year is recommended by the government.
- Secrecy remains in the way this council operates and in its total failure to be upfront about anything it does. If it wasn’t this advertisement would be in plain view on the home page for all to see. We at least congratulate council on its consistency!
Glen Eira Debates 
June 26, 2012 at 1:30 PM
Machiavelli would love this crap. My take on all this is that it’s Newton ensuring his future. You get an appraisal done just before the next election which with the gang’s support will say you’re fantastic. Once it’s on paper and the possibility of a new crop of councillors coming in you’ve got this hanging over their heads. How in the hell can they sack you when the previous bunch said you were fantastic. But, and a huge but, is that other ceo’s have been sacked. All it takes is 5 votes and the reason “irreconcilable differences”.
June 26, 2012 at 6:11 PM
I don’t think it’s coincidence that every single time something about Newton comes up it either involves lawyers and money or plain old secrecy and behind the scenes back rooms dealings. He should have gone years ago. Keeping him on and on isn’t doing this municipality any favours in my view.
June 26, 2012 at 9:31 PM
The meeting would be to set performance targets for the CEO. Probably gets a bonus if he reaches or exceeds any target. If this is the case lets hope they set the bar high. No way will Frank be allowed near any of these discussions. Too dangerous.
June 26, 2012 at 10:02 PM
From the Press Release hastily published last November: “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.”
Of course Council did no such thing. The matter wasn’t considered by Council. Delegated authority had been given to a Special Committee, and only they considered the matter. The Committee consisted of a proper subset of Councillors, since Cr Penhalluriack had been excluded, and it was improper therefore for a member of the Committee [Cr Esakoff] to speak on behalf of Council about the Committee decision. The decision was made in secret, based on secret criteria, by secretive people.
BTW I notice the mulch heap is now spilling out of its barn and is getting spilt all over the carpark, and the warning signs erected in front of the children’s playground are well above adult eye-level.
June 26, 2012 at 10:27 PM
If it is the case that the mulch is spilling out, then there goes another one of the recommendations that Newton was supposed to implement and oversee. Noel Arnold’s recommendations specifically included that the mulch be contained within the facility at all times and that it be turned regularly.