Mayor Mark Honey has confirmed there no plans for Kiama Council to make further comment on the matter of the General Manager.

The only development has been the publishing yesterday of the Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of Council on Thursday 10 December.

The meeting was attended by the nine councillors and the Interim Director of Corporate and Commercial Services, Veronica Lee.

The Extraordinary Meeting was called for the sole purpose of discussing a confidential staff matter, relating to Council’s:

·        Community Strategic Plan Objective: 4.0 Responsible civic leadership that is transparent, innovative and accessible

·        Community Strategic Plan Strategy: 4.2 Council embraces good governance and better practice strategies

·        Delivery Program: 4.2.2 Manage an effective workforce in an environment of continuous improvement

The Minutes show the Committee recommendation that:

1.     Council authorises the Mayor (and/or other designated person/s) to negotiate with the General Manager in relation to the General Manager’s contract of employment.

2.     In furtherance of 1 above, the Mayor (and/or other designated person/s) may seek the assistance of Local Government NSW and/or other legal representative(s) of the Council.

The motion was proposed Councillors Honey and Sloan, and voted for by Councillors Honey, Reilly, Rice, Sloan, Way and Westhoff. Councillors Brown, Steel and Watson voted against the motion.

In an email to staff on Friday December 11, the General Manager Kerry McMurray advised he would be taking a month’s leave from Monday December 14, with Ms Lee acting in his role from 14-31 December and Jessica Rippon, Director Environment Services, taking over the acting role from 4-18 January.