Councils failing on GM appointments
John Jordan, Meander Valley Council GM .
The appointment of the Meander Valley Council general manager John Jordan is one of several GM appointments found to be flawed, partly because there is no documentation supporting either the shortlisting or preferred applicant decision.
An October report by auditor general Rod Whitehead listed Meander Valley Council as one of six councils failing in the recruitment and appointment of general managers.
In response, local government minister Roger Jaensch confirmed he will make the Local Government Act 1993 more specific in this area.
Mr Whitehead recommended that the state government develops mandatory requirements and supplementary guidance on recruitment, appointment and performance assessment processes that are consistent with contemporary HR practice.
Other councils assessed were Brighton, Burnie City, Clarence, George Town and West Coast.
The report does not single out examples of poor practice by named councils.
Mr Whitehead said that in the majority of recruitments examined, neither the consultant nor the council could provide documentation that rated and compared applicants using the selection criteria at the shortlisting or interview stages.
Often conflicts of interest were not documented or were reported after the shortlisting process had been completed.
Mr Whitehead wrote, ‘It is my conclusion councils have not managed the recruitment, appointment and performance assessment of local government council general managers effectively.
‘The recruitment and appointment of general managers was not conducted in accordance with the principle of transparency because for two councils there were deficiencies in the approach to declaring and managing conflicts of interest.
‘For all councils there was an absence of documentation to support either shortlisting or preferred applicant decisions.’
Unlike other Australian States, Tasmania does not have guidelines for the appointment of general managers even though these five-year appointments, often with salaries of more than $200,000, are pivotal in a council’s good operation.
Mr Whitehead found that despite many councils using a consultant for the appointment and recruitment, costing on average $26,300, the process was still inadequate.
The report also recommended that:
• councillors with limited recruitment experience involved in such activities do relevant training
• councils manage potential conflicts of interest once applicants for the position become known
• councils retain documentation that demonstrates how applicants were compared against each other to determine applicants to be interviewed and the preferred applicant.
