Published on Friday, 15 May 2020 at 2:06:31 PM
Katherine Town Council is aware of the recent negative comments regarding the fracturing of Council and the Elected Members. We want to reassure the community that we are taking this seriously.
Mayor Fay Miller said “All seven Elected Members met together with the CEO Ian Bodill, on Tuesday night, 12 May 2020 to discuss the way forward for Council. The main focus was on improving the organisational culture, consolidate as a team and to focus on completing the many projects that have formed a bottleneck due to a variety of reasons".
Elected Members have agreed to engage the services of Dr Felicity Lewis, a former Mayor of Marion in South Australia and past President of the Australian Local Government Association to assist and provide knowledge with the confirmation of roles and responsibilities of Elected Members and strengthening their relationships with staff and the Katherine Community.
This meeting demonstrates that Elected Members want to work together as a united team. Each member has made a positive contribution towards lifting our sights and focussing on our strategic planning.
Council believes that we owe it to our community to show greater unity, and there was agreement from 6 of the 7 elected members to do just that. Alderman Matt Hurley has declined to support the decisions made on Tuesday night. There will always be occasions where Elected Members will disagree individually on some matters, but the important thing is to respect the final decision of Council.
Council Senior Officers and Elected Members will utilise the services of Dr Felicity Lewis to build the team into a cohesive working relationship serving our ratepayers.
We expect to be open and transparent at all times and let the Katherine community know how we are going to fix matters. Constructive and collaborative discussions with the community is paramount. We look forward to making ourselves more available for discussions and questions once COVID-19 quarantine period is behind us.
Top left to right: Alderman Jon Raynor, Alderman John Zelley, CEO Ian Bodill,
Alderman Peter Gazey, Alderman Matthew Hurley Bottom left to right: Alderman Toni Tapp Coutts,
Mayor Fay Miller, Alderman Lis Clark.
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