General News
29 July, 2025
CEO’s new GM gets the nod
JUST five years after removing a general manager role from its structure, Tablelands Regional Council has agreed to reinstate a third general manager position, costing the organisation an additional $45,000 a year.
The move was initiated by chief executive officer Dr Nikola Stepanov who, in a report to council, said it would remove some of her current duties that were pulling her away from core responsibilities of the CEO.
In 2020, the council changed the organisational structure to remove the third general manger in a bid to “improve organisational design and efficiency, and reduce costs”, giving the CEO more direct reports – two general managers and two executive assistants.
Former CEO Gary Rinehart then added an executive and operational layer of four additional direct reports, further increasing the workload and responsibility of the top position.
“In effect, (it) places the CEO in the position of having to also act as, and simultaneously take on, the delegations of a GM and a manager for the various functioning arms that do not sit under a GM (Planning and Development, Economic Development, and Project Management Office), or in Emergency Management, a manager,” Dr Stepanov wrote in her report to council.
She also advised that “a core office of the organisation, Legal and Governance, which necessarily has a direct and active relationship with the CEO, the elected body, and all activities of council, remained obscured within a GM portfolio”.
“Irrespective of how the current organisational structure was established, it is no longer not fit-for-purpose and changes need to be made,” Dr Stepanov said.
“The current arrangements are unnecessarily complex and do not add value in terms of financial savings, accountability, efficiencies or customer service.
“It has resulted in siloing in parts of the workforce, and lead to inconsistencies in the delivery of some of our functions.
“It sees the CEO with an excessive number of direct reports and with those direct reports sharing little or no consistency of levels or responsibility or delegation, and requiring varying degrees of intervention, supervision, and mentoring.”
Dr Stepanov said the vacant Executive Manager Planning and Development role would be reclassified as a general manager role which would cost $30,000-$45,000 more a year.
The council’s senior management salaries amounted to $845,500 in the 2023-24 financial year, with current general managers Mark Vis (Infrastructure Services) and Hilary Jackson (community and corporate services) paid more than $250,000 a year.
Mayor Rod Marti backed the move, saying it was “absolutely the right way to go”, stating that “importantly, it will relieve the CEO from an excessive number of reporting relationships – up to 8-9 – which effectively renders the CEO spending half a week managing those direct reports”.
“It’s great that the CEO is getting on with the job we asked of her,” he said.
During last week’s meeting, Deputy Mayor Dave Bilney welcomed the change, saying the organisation had been through several structural adjustments that had led to “intended complexities and a strain on executive leadership capacities”.
Cr Cardew was the only councillor who did not vote for the new general manager position.
“I have continually advocated that a restructure was needed to change the way we operate to gain more efficiencies in the operational space,” he said.
“I had hoped the restructure would take steps in achieving this but the way this has been restructured, all it’s done is shuffle positions around from different general managers and create a new general manager, so nothing really has changed.”
The new role would be general manager for place-making and be responsible for development assessment planning; development assessment engineering and plumbing inspectorate; strategic planning including network, planning scheme, infrastructure plan and priority infrastructure; economic development; tourism; and compliance.
“This significant change is complemented by a number of other organisational adjustments that have already taken place,” Dr Stepanov said.
“I look forward to the increased efficiencies and streamlined processes these changes will make across the organisation.”
