CEO appointed.

sue June 13th, 2008

Council has selected Mr Andrew Brien who was previously CEO of Tiaro and the Interim CEO prior to amalgamation, to continue in the role as CEO of the Fraser Coast Regional Council. The vote was not unanimous with Cr Les Muckan absent from the meeting and Councillors Barbara Hovard, Gerard O’Connell, Anne Nioa and Julie Arthur voting against Mr Brien.

I want a CEO who will focus on getting our basics right. I want the ‘nuts and bolts’ to be tightened and lubricated and put together strongly to ensure our Council delivers excellent services to our new bigger community. I want a sensible financial manager who weighs up carefully the pros and cons of investing in any venture and advises Council wisely. I want a leader who is focussed on ensuring that we have a united staff eager to deliver excellent customer service to our community.

I don’t for a moment think that our residents want a regional government to divest itself of its basic reason for existence which is to ‘govern’ us. It is very easy to mix and interchange the words ‘business’ with ‘government’ but government cannot ever be ‘profitable’ and businesses must be profitable. I don’t want to live in a city or a region that grows ever bigger without getting any better! I don’t want the ‘all growth is good’ mantra to compromise our peaceful lifestyle and our natural environment. So an ‘entrepreneur’ wasn’t what I was looking for. I think we, the Councillors, need to be the entrepreneurs rather than our CEO!

Our Council has no competition, you have to deal with Council there is no other alternative and running services like Libraries and Galleries and building roads, a profit does not make! I want our Council to concentrate on fostering appropriate growth while building a sustainable economy and delivering a high quality service.

I am pleased to listen to anyone with entrepreneurial ideas and believe Council can assist anyone develop such ideas, but in my mind a true leader is someone who can bring out the skills that others possess. I look forward to working with Andrew and I personally believe he already has a great understanding of how to best manage the challenges ahead and meld us into an effective, proactive community focussed Council

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