By STEVE GRAY
PRESSURE is mounting on CEO of the Southern Downs Regional Council Andrew Roach, with four of nine councillors preparing to move against him.
However Mr Roach claims he has a good working relationship with councillors.
It can also be revealed that Mr Roach was dismissed from his former position with Port Macquarie-Hastings council in NSW before he was employed by the SDRC.
Councillors have been at odds over the amount of power Mr Roach wields and the way he wields it.
Matters came to a head at the last council meeting on January 29 when councillors decided to review the 1500 delegations possessed by the CEO and staff – powers they can use without reference to councillors. While many of these delegations are necessary, councillors feel too much power resides with the bureaucracy.
For instance, councillors didn’t know of a recent decision to sell council land until they read of it in newspaper advertisements.
At the 29 January meeting Mr Roach threatened to shut down council by refusing to act on delegated powers.
“That means the council business stops,” Mr Roach told councillors. “I’ve got no problems with that. I’m happy to give all the delegations back.”
Councillors were also upset over a recent decision to paint sections of the car park adjacent to the council building on Fitzroy Street, Warwick on 11 December. Within hours the paint was being stripped off in an operation which must have cost thousands of dollars.
One councillor says that mayor Peter Blundell banned him from investigating the background of current CEO Andrew Roach when applications for the chief executive officer’s position were being considered.
Mr Roach was dismissed as general manager from the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council in New South Wales after a special investigator was appointed to examine a number of complaints about him.
The NSW Division of Local Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet said the administrator of the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Garry Payne, terminated Mr Roach’s employment on 17 Februrary, 2011.
No reason for the dismissal was required and Mr Roach received a payout equivalent to 38 weeks’ wages.
Newcastle TV station NBN reported that “the sacking relates to an internal staffing issue, sparked by several complaints made against the general manager.”
The Camden Haven Courier reported that Mr Roach “took leave from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council… after a special investigator was called in to probe complaints against the general manager. Shortly after this his contract was terminated and he received a 38-week payout, amounting to $178,000.”
No details of the complaints against Mr Roach have emerged.
He was appointed as the new Southern Downs CEO on 9 October 2012.
A current SDRC councillor told the SFT that Mayor Peter Blundell said they could not have access to Mr Roach’s work history while they considered who should replace CEO Rod Ferguson, whose contract was terminated on 20 June 2012, just weeks after Cr Blundell took office.
“We were not allowed to check his background,” the councillor said.
The same councillor said that Mr Roach had done some good work modernising council.
Mr Roach yesterday said he had a good working relationship with councillors.
“Councils are often five-four in lots of different things and the make-up of five-four can be different from one subject to the other, but I’m comfortable with my job and I’m comfortable with everything that’s going on in council at the moment.”
Mr Roach said linking his current job with his dismissal from Port Macquarie-Hastings council was “a pretty long bow you’re trying to pull here, mate”.
