Next week fork in road for council

THE sudden resignation of the Gold Coast’s top bureaucrat is a line-in-the-sand moment for our city’s economic future in this uncertain post-COVID world.

David Edwards was a state government bureaucrat with a specific skills set in major projects. Predecessor Dale Dickson had many strengths in his 18 years as boss. At the top of the list was keeping an eye on governance.

But Mayor Tom Tate and his leadership group of councillors chose a change of direction in selecting Mr Edwards. The new CEO’s brief was to turbo charge the economy and repair the COVID-hit tourism sector.

Mr Edwards had met with the Mayor to discuss several “big-ticket items” as priorities in the next few years. A hinterland cableway, subject of a report about to be received by councillors, was at the top of the list.

Mr Edwards had a booking with every councillor to determine their priorities. He would then meet with community groups, including some of council’s toughest critics.

Mr Edwards was also eager to take a fresh look at council’s workforce. He was determined to improve morale among workers.

Four other candidates made it through to the final round of presentations for the CEO job. All of this was staged behind closed doors at the Evandale chambers.

A council insider said councillors were not just faced with selecting a new CEO, but confirming council’s future direction. “Are we going forward as a council, or back with the same people?

“Those final five candidates would all have had different philosophical approaches. It is doubtful any of them would have been as aligned to the Mayor (on major project thinking) as David is.”

So, should council’s future work be based on developing major projects or “is it spending too much time on pissing contests rather than core issues like economic development and governance?”.

Next Wednesday’s meeting, and the answers from it, will be a test of the Mayor’s leadership and the direction taken by his leadership group.