Councillors have voted not to renew the contract of Scenic Rim Regional Council’s CEO Jon Gibbons which expires on 18 June 2022.
The Council did not provide a reason for its decision not to re-appoint.
Mr Gibbons commenced his contract with Scenic Rim Regional Council in March 2018.
He had previously held senior positions with Gold Coast City Council, Norfolk Island Administration and Whitsunday Shire Council.
Scenic Rim Councillors discussed the renewal of Mr Gibbons’ contract in a protracted closed session during their meeting on Tuesday 9 November.
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen advised that Councillors made a majority decision (four votes to three) not to reappoint Mr Gibbons to the role of Chief Executive Officer.
“I would personally like to thank Jon for his diligent, values driven service to this Council and community since March 2018.”
“In his time at Council, Jon has convincingly delivered on an agenda of transformational reform, while steering the organisation through the tail end of 2017 flood reconstruction works, 2019 drought and bushfire impacts and 2020-2021 COVID-19 related challenges.”
“In doing so, Jon has demonstrated strong strategic executive leadership, developing a strong Executive Team and bringing pragmatic change to life for the region.”
Mayor Christensen, Division 3 Cr Virginia West and Division Four Cr Michael Enright voted in favour of renewing the contract.
Division 1 Cr Derek Swanborough, Division 2 Cr Jeff McConnell, Division 5 Cr Marshall Chalk and Division 6 Cr Duncan McInnes voted not to renew the contract.
Cr Swanborough thanked Mr Gibbons for his service and said the decision had not been made lightly.
“We also look forward with great excitement and expectation that going forward the Scenic Rim will be led in such a way that we’ll be able to realise our full potential and I think that is the wish of everyone in this room,” he said.
Cr Enright described it as a “sad day for Scenic Rim Regional Council”.
“I can only speak for my personal and professional involvement with the CEO and I believe that the Scenic Rim Regional Council is in a much better place than it was when he became CEO of this organisation.”
Cr West said she believed Mr Gibbons had performed all that has been expected of him.
“I believe this is a very disruptive and dangerous precedent at this stage of the Refresh and Refocus journey that Council is already on and in my opinion it is a very disappointing outcome for the community and for Council.”
Council will begin the process of recruiting a new Chief Executive Officer in the near future.
