Mayor’s mates axe CEO

A MAYOR-ALIGNED bloc of councillors at Logan City moved to dump their chief executive officer Sharon Kelsey just seven months after headhunting her in a nationwide search.

The sacking comes as the council remains under the cloud of a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into allegations relating to Mayor Luke Smith.

At the time of announcing Ms Kelsey’s appointment last June, Mr Smith said she had been unanimously endorsed by councillors and referred to her “extensive experience”.

That included a stint as chief executive officer at Glenelg Shire Council and two years as the executive director of Victoria’s independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission before stepping into Logan council’s top job.

Yesterday, Mr Smith was a no-show at a special council meeting to decide her fate.

He said he was on a week of leave to spend time with family and was unable to comment further for legal reasons.

The council voted to terminate Ms Kelsey, who would have her two-weeks notice paid out. It was supported 7-5 votes. Five councillors voted against the decision, including Darren Power, who said it was a bad look given the ongoing CCC investigation into the matter relating to the Mayor. He said no explanation was given for her sacking.

A council spokesman released a statement after the meeting: “Council’s decision was in relation to Ms Kelsey’s six-month probationary period where it was decided she would not be appointed to the role of CEO.”

Silvio Trinca has been appointed interim CEO.