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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Ms Timms breaks ranks

Commenting in today's Southland Times on yesterday's confidential meeting of the 4 member CEO's Performance Review Committee, council chairman Ali Timms said 10 out of the 12 councillors attended and unanimously agreed to seek legal advice.
Confused?
Someone is.

9 comments:

Armchair Critic said...

There seems to be a couple of discrepancies there.
It is quite unusual that in a meeting with four people in attendance, ten out of twelve could agree to something. I would say that it could be because maths is not my strong point, but that's not true.
It also seems unusual that some of the results of a confidential meeting would be made public. English is most certainly one of my strengths, however I am fairly sure I know what confidential means.
As we know that legal advice is being sought, perhaps the loose definition of confidentiality can be stretched to include telling us what the nature of and need for the legal advice is. As a non-Southlander, I'm merely curious.

robertguyton said...

Very perceptive, AC. Both of the aspects you question are ... questionable.
The Nature of and need for legal advice, I feel I can confidently say, are around the personal Grievance claim lodged by the CEO against the council, as reported in the news paper. I'll paste the article in and that might clarify the issue. perhaps you'll find I've misinterpreted it. I'm happy for you to point that out as well.

Environment Southland has decided to seek legal advice regarding a personal grievance lodged against it by the chief executive.

An Environment Southland subcommittee held a public-excluded meeting yesterday to discuss the grievance lodged by chief executive Ciaran Keogh and what action it would take. Regional council chairman Ali Timms after the 30-minute meeting said 10 of the 12 councillors attended and unanimously decided to seek legal advice before acting.

She was unsure how long it would take for that advice to be made available, she said.

Last month the council decided not to renew Mr Keogh's contract and it was revealed that he had officially complained.

The Local Government Act required the council to review Mr Keogh's contract six months before its expiry and gave the council the choice of extending it for two years or advertising his post, Ms Timms said at the time. Mr Keogh's five-year contract expires in June, and the job is expected to be advertised this month.

scot.mackay@stl.co.nz the

Kevin O said...

If it was confidential, shouldn't Timms have said No Comment?

Armchair Critic said...

Pretty dumb move by Mr Keogh. Being the CEO at any council involves a whole lot of unpleasant stuff and all the CEOs I've known have been good at sucking it up (one of them called it "eating s**t" - I distinctly recall being told to attend a full council meeting and him saying to me "now, watch me eat s**t", a real defining moment).
Anyway, enough anecdata, taking a personal grievance claim is a good way of ruining your career, is Mr Keogh near retirement? There must be more to it than "contract won't be renewed". I thought CEO's tenures were limited to five years in statute, with no obligation to renew (a slight difference to normal employment law)? Expectations otherwise on Mr Keogh's part seem unrealistic, and a poor reflection on his judgement.
Or is there more to it, that might be what is confidential - has someone been exceptionally mean to Mr Keogh?
BTW - you note elsewhere that Mr Keogh predicted rising soil moisture levels. I too have this ability, should I apply for the role? (FTR I won't, I'm not experienced enough and I would prefer to carry on rebuilding Christchurch)

robertguyton said...

AC - thanks for your assessment. There is more to the issue than is revealed by the article, I can see from your response.
Your experience with the faecophagist CEO is pertinent and instructive.
My p*sstake over Mr Keogh's comments on soil moisture was in fun - I know that ES takes readings to depth and that it's significant that this bout of rainfall has fallen in such a way that it has been absorbed well, rather than washing off an impermeable surface straight into the rivers, but I thought it read funny in the paper. He won't mind my poking a little borax, I'm sure.
As for applying for the role, that option will be open to all and the position will be advertised this month, I believe. Can you master the Southland accent? Practice with the word 'purple'.

Armchair Critic said...

I'm a master of accents, the Southland 'r' is not a problem at all, but I still won't apply for the role.
Based on your comments (and I'm concerned that you may be giving too much away), one could allow for the possibility that the confidentiality is to protect the person who instigated the grievance, rather than (or as well as) Mr Keogh.
I have no idea whether his grievance is justified and, given that lawyers and likely some form of judge is involved, I can not know. Which is a long way of saying "the plot thickens".

paulinem said...

Robert from the beginning I thought I should sit on the fence re Keogh I took the attitude with the Keogh problem maybe there is something like an employment problem not revealed between council and Keogh that is relevant to the problem.

Personally I would have favoured Keogh

1) I was very impressed with his interesting and perceptive comments to the ODT in regards the Otago building their stadium.

2) But mostly due to working at ES for six weeks, It appeared to be a well run ship ...the staff appeared happy contented and friendly and working as though they felt they were of value to the job and our society. That to me Robert only happens if top management are doing their job effectively and efficiently. To me in a workplace where there is a good effective boss this will relate to good happy inspired and efficient staff employed below.

Southlander said...

How interesting. Cairan Keogh would not sought this avenue unless there was strong validity. He is considered one of the best CEO's of a local authority in the country. He is very strong on process based on what a local authority can and cannot do. This is often at odds with what (political)Councilors wish. He is also innovative in his approach to issues and has done much to rejuvenate the executive team.
His problem seems to be his Chair who appears erratic with a penchant to wish to undermine the CEO's job thus making the Council dysfunctional.
Dysfunctional councils can get the boot. Chair Timms should worried.

Ms Timms be aware that

Anonymous said...

Your comments are absolutely spot on Southlander.

The present chair is a disaster.

SFMc