FORMER Lake Macquarie City Council general manager Brian Bell will fill the role of acting chief executive officer at Central Coast Council should the need arise.
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Central Coast Council announced at its meeting last night that Mr Bell was on stand-by to become its acting CEO should the current CEO Rob Noble leave prior to the end of his contract on December 31.
The contingency plan comes after about 600 Central Coast Council employees who are members of the United Services Union (USU) passed a vote of no confidence in the council’s executive leadership team (ELT) on June 20.
The USU has been negotiating with council’s ELT on behalf of members who were employed by either the former Gosford or Wyong councils since the amalgamation of the two councils in May, 2016.
The USU said employees had become increasingly concerned about the lack of progress achieved in bringing employees across to the new council’s structure, and “salary harmonisation”.
The successful motion spoke of a “lack of genuine consultation, previous attempts by council to attack wages and conditions of workers, and the increase in industrial disputation”.
It also mentioned the “shambolic length of time” taken to resolve a fully populated organisational structure.
More than 85 per cent of Central Coast employees were not yet on the new organisation structure of Central Coast Council, the USU said.
Staff of the two former councils do, however, have their employment protected for three years after the merger date.
Council administrator Ian Reynolds had previously praised council’s executive leadership team and Mr Noble’s record of achievement in challenging circumstances.
He said having Mr Bell ready to fill the top job was a sensible contingency plan.
“Rob’s original contract with the former Wyong Shire Council was only for six months so he has stayed a lot longer than he originally intended as he wanted to be a part of building a strong and sustainable Central Coast Council,” Mr Reynolds said.
Mr Noble has twice had his contract term extended.
“He has done an amazing job and it is due to his hard work and leadership that this council has achieved as much as it has.
“I wanted to ensure that strong leadership and commitment to the success of this council continues.”
Mr Bell announced his retirement in April and finished up last month. He had spent more than a decade at Lake Macquarie council.
Mr Reynolds said Mr Bell had an outstanding record in local government and was a long-time resident of the Central Coast who knew the area well.
“Brian Bell is the best person for the job. He lives here on the Coast and has led an award-winning Council – Lake Macquarie Council – for a number of years,” he said.
“He has the runs on the board and the commitment to continue to make Central Coast Council the very best it can be.”
Last year, Mr Bell received a Public Service Medal for outstanding service to local government in NSW.
“He also comes to council with an exceptional record of achievement at Lake Macquarie City Council, with high levels of both community satisfaction and staff engagement, an AR Bluett Award in 2012 for best performing local government in NSW, and continuous improvement in all key indicators of council performance over his 12 years at Lake Macquarie,” Mr Reynolds said.
Mr Bell would serve as acting CEO only until the newly elected Central Coast councillors appointed a CEO after the local government election on September 9.
