Council to vote on new political staffing policy
MAYOR Tom Tate will be allowed to have several “political” appointments in his office and councillors similarly employ a personal adviser under major staffing changes to be considered at City Hall.
Councillors at a full council meeting on Tuesday will vote on the appointment of “councillor advisers”.
The Bulletin can reveal councillors will vote on recommendations to appoint:
● Four council advisers for the Mayor and one each for each councillor.
● The city’s employment policy to be updated to allow for the changes and current office roles to be converted to councillor advisers
The mayor and councillors to proceed with the recruitment of the new positions.
The changes, if supported by councillors, means the Mayor almost certainly will be able to employ a senior media officer of his choice. This could happen later this week.
If the Mayor and councillors select their own advisers, it will be a significant turning point in terms of separating the political wing and
bureaucracy at the Evandale chambers.
“What it does is it lowers the threshold of involvement of the CEO (Dale Dickson) in people appointed under the councillor advisers’ policy,” a council source said.
Under changes to the Local Government Act, councillor advisers are described as staffers who can provide “administrative support, coordinating media activities, event management functions, policy development, office management”.
The Bulletin understands advisers, unlike office staffers, will be able to advocate future policy positions wanting to be pursued by the Mayor and councillors.
They can speak on their behalf at meetings and provide written updates to the media.
The appointments of councillor advisers will not lead to any increase in staffing and “the policy will continue to provide the total number of staff and position titles into the future”.
“It is noted that councillor advisers will report directly to the councillor who appointed them, and can be directed by the councillor to undertake any duties excluding personal or political campaign related matters,” a council officer’s report said.
CONFLICT between the political and bureaucratic wings of government is nothing new. From the beginnings of modern political times through to the present day, there are countless examples of the two wings which make a government function running up against each other.
This is particularly true with the Gold Coast City Council which has a long history of a robust bureaucracy and a profoundly stubborn group of elected officials who have not been afraid to make their mark and wield their powers when they feel they are being ignored.
Look no further than the conflict between the council and its controversial chief executive Dr Douglas Daines which ran through the late 1990s.
Culminating in Dr Daines’ sensational sacking in early 1998, it was a definitive statement from the elected councillors.
The power of the council’s bureaucracy grew dramatically in the late 2000s when it kept the city running through the chaos of the late Ron Clarke-era when many of the councillors were content to wage war on each other than work towards a common goal.
Councillors today seizing the power to make political appointments to their offices is a big moment for elected officials taking power away from the bureaucracy.
The big winner from this vote will be Mayor Tom Tate who is set to fulfil his long-held plans of employing his own Media Adviser, something he has been prevented from doing since the election.