Mayor Patricia White has strongly welcomed a letter from the Minister for Local Government, The Hon. Hoenig outlining actions to improve Council's management recruitment practices.
Today, the Mayor has called an extraordinary meeting of the councillors on Friday to discuss a Council submission to the Minister and the actions required by Council to improve performance.
"I have been saying for years that we need to make changes, and I strongly endorse and welcome any move by the Minister to have improved oversight of the Council through the required actions of an improvement order," Cr White said.
"I hope that fellow Councillors will join me in welcoming the need to accept the order's required improvement actions as they specifically relate to restructures that happened in 2024 and 2025, and any future appointments between now and year's end," she said.
"While the order is only in draft form at this stage, I support any moves by the Government to improve the sector and the operation of the Council as it relates to staffing recruitment at senior leadership level.
Cr White has raised concerns about the Government's claims in Schedule 1 of the draft Performance Order and has written to the Office of Local Government yesterday seeking evidence about the claims that have been made.
"Evidence must be provided by the Government under Section 438 (B) (2) NSW and at this stage no such evidence has been provided," she said.
"I am very confident in the processes that have been followed and would call for the release of all information as it relates to the proposed order.
"Councillors will need this information to guide the Council's drafting of a submission to the Minister.
"I would again reiterate that the Council is now embracing positive change including improvements with a new and very stable executive leadership team, improved financial management and great service delivery.
"We have fantastic professional men and women on our staff doing incredible work for the community and they don't need their workplace harmed by unfair criticism of political critics of the organisation," she said.
The proposed order will be discussed at an Extraordinary Meeting at 11am Friday 13 February at the Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre and can be viewed online via Council's website.
