Pay rise for GM ‘obscene’ says councillor

By Tim Howard

Clarence Valley Council will award its general manager Laura Black a 2% pay rise – $7200 a year – if a mayoral minute to be heard at an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday is successful.

Mayor Peter Johnstone has brought forward the minute to note the Annual Performance Management report from the Performance Management Review Panel.

The panel recommended Ms Black receive a pay increase back dated to October 7 last year.

Cr Johnstone’s minute released with the business paper on Monday is a glowing endorsement of the general manager’s performance.

Over two pages he listed dozens of council’s programs and achievements as examples of the general manager’s strong leadership.

But the machinations behind the calling of this extraordinary meeting are bizarre.

It has been revealed four councillors: former mayor Ian Tiley and former deputy mayor Greg Clancy, the current deputy Jeff Smith and Bill Day, a councillor with experience on two different councils called the meeting.

They called it to deal with some matters concerning senior staff at council.

But Cr Clancy said there was a change in plans on Monday when other councillors called a rival extraordinary meeting to bring forward the mayoral minute.

“We decided for strategic reasons it was best to withdraw,” Cr Clancy said.

“The mayoral minute was going to be presented at the February 27 meeting and it seems fairly clear they brought forward their motion to undermine our motion.”

Cr Clancy said he was not sure why it was necessary to call an extraordinary meeting to deal with the mayoral minute, unless it was a tactical move.

“Extraordinary meetings are usually called to deal with business that’s urgent and can’t wait for the next monthly meeting,” he said.

“The general manager’s performance review would have been included in the February 27 meeting, so there’s no pressing reason it should have been called, unless it was designed to undermine ours.”

Cr Day was more outspoken.

He said the extraordinary meeting that would go ahead on Thursday “hijacked” the meeting first called.

“We could have held our meeting after the meeting to hear the mayoral minute, and risk our item being declared a direct negative of what had been just decided,” he said.

“We decided it best to withdraw and let them deal with the embarrassment of explaining why they had called an extraordinary meeting when one wasn’t needed.

“It’s strange politics.”

He described the move to award the general manager a pay rise in these times as “obscene”.

“The NSW Government has put a freeze on pay rises for politicians and senior staff,” he said.

“This is the only way, by a performance review, that a general manager can get an increase in remuneration.

“In a time of crazy inflation where people on fixed incomes and pensions are struggling to pay their rates, we’ve said ‘stuff you’ to pensioners, someone on $350,000 a year is not getting enough.”

The mayoral minute justified the decision increase Ms Black’s pay packet saying the Circular to Councils 23-11 from the Office of Local Government noted that the annual increments in salary that are normally awarded to general managers did not happen this year.

It said the reasons were explained in the circular, together with the statement that this was an unintended consequence of a decision made in respect to workers in state government.

The circular also explains that this consequence can be mitigated by councils by using the performance pay rise provisions in general managers contracts.

The CVC GM Performance Review panel recommended that this provision be used to increase the salary of Ms Black.

The Wage Price Index was 4% in September 2023 and the inflation rate was 5.6%. A 2% performance related pay increase would therefore suggest a drop in real terms when compared to inflation.

Mayor Johnstone said there was not escaping an extraordinary meeting on Thursday once the moves had been made.

He said under both the Local Government Act and the council’s Code of Meeting Practice once the call had been legally made the meeting had to proceed.

“I didn’t call the meetings, they were called by other councillors,” he said.

“I can’t comment on the motivations of other people.”

Cr Johnstone did not want to be drawn on the optics of giving a highly paid staff member a pay rise.

He noted that it was a process recommended in the Circular to Councils and when the review process had taken place the numbers had fallen that way.

But he said it was awkward for councils to deal with these matters because it was something that put councillors in the firing line.

In recognition of the have done as founders

February, hall

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