Councillor Resignations at Huon Valley Council

Effective immediately, Councillors Gibson and Campbell have resigned from the Huon Valley Council – Sunday 3 April 2022

Outgoing Councillor Paul Gibson

Dear Acting Mayor Doyle,

I am writing to you to resign from Council, effective immediately.

The General Manager has been appointed to his position through a corrupted process. He actively participated in a blatant conflict of interest when he took part in the recruitment process with the consultant – his intimate partner.

The recruitment process was also manipulated within Council. The names of the candidates were leaked before the interviews even started, and Cr Campbell was forced to resign due to bullying from councillors who pushed for this inappropriate appointment. I cannot remain on a council that knowingly condones these issues.

The General Manager is the only employee chosen by the councillors, who represent the residents. This is the pivotal role that determines council culture.

Following the Board of Inquiry, at the 2018 election there was an express desire from the community for good governance and transparency. To fulfill this, we needed to appoint a highly principled and experienced person to reinforce an excellent workplace culture and provide the community with a fair and transparent Council. This culture cannot be promoted in Council under a General Manager who actively participated in such a serious conflict of interest.

There has been overwhelming public disgust at the General Manager’s recruitment process.

Understandably, residents and ratepayers are expressing their desire to reverse this appointment through petitions and public meetings. By ignoring this, Council is ignoring its community. Cr Campbell and I have attempted to steer Council away from this conflicted appointment at every stage but have been outnumbered. The majority of sitting Councillors prefer to sweep the issues under the carpet, and continue with business as usual and good news stories. This is deeply disrespectful to our electors, especially given the community’s hope for a clean and open new council following the Board of Inquiry.

This conflicted appointment and the associated bad press is damaging public faith in Council, along with its reputation.

At last Wednesday’s council meeting I asked the General Manager to do the right thing and resign. He has refused. I made a commitment to the community that council dealings would be transparent and in the public interest. Under current conditions, and with the majority of elected councillors overriding all efforts, that is not possible. As such, I can no longer remain on Huon Valley Council. I am deeply committed to the Huon Valley community and to the wellbeing of council’s staff. I won’t stay silent any longer.

My resignation from Council will allow me to speak freely. I intend to stand for Mayor for the Greens in the upcoming election.

My focus will be on fair and transparent governance and community cohesion.

Paul Gibson

Outgoing Councillor Christine Campbell

Dear Acting Mayor Doyle

I am writing to resign as a Huon Valley councillor, effective today.

As an elected member on the recruitment panel, I was tasked with selecting council’s key staff position – the General Manager. I first became aware of the serious conflict of interest between the recruitment consultant and one of the applicants, her intimate partner Jason Browne, on 4 July 2021. I understand the consultant had previously advised other councillors on the recruitment panel of this relationship on 24 May. They chose to disregard a conflict that was impossible to resolve, and allowed her to remain as consultant and oversee applicant short-listing and interviewing.

I raised the seriousness of this conflict on numerous occasions with other panel members, but my concerns were dismissed. I was told to ‘accept the decision of the panel’.

I was bullied by another councillor when I continued pursuing the issue. This bullying has caused me a large amount of mental distress. I have been acutely aware of how bad it is for Huon Valley ratepayers if councillors intentionally ignore such a basic recruitment conflict.

The bullying of myself in meetings has not been checked by the previous mayor, or by yourself as acting mayor. I have no confidence meetings are safe from bullying, and there has been no change to HR practices at council.

A petition to council was signed by 1400 community members asking for action to be taken about the serious governance failure around the general manager’s employment processes. The petition reflects widespread resident’s concerns, but it has essentially been ignored.

When I was elected by the community I made a promise to uphold integrity and transparency. I will not accept the serious conflict of interest that has allowed the appointment of the current person as general manager. Nor will I continue to endure the bullying behaviour of some councillors.

The Director of Local Government, echoed by yourself, has suggested ‘we all move on’.

I don’t believe we should normalise bankrupt recruitment processes, or ignore the damage these are having on our community’s trust in council.

I am resigning from council because I can no longer participate in processes that are morally and ethically flawed.

I will continue my work with the Huon Valley community.

Christine Campbell