THREE former Moree councillors – well-known for their strong views – spoke passionately in front of a packed public gallery at the December 12 council meeting that saw Cr Kelly James’ motion of no confidence in mayor Susannah Pearse defeated.

Community members all wanted the answer to one question: Why was general manager Kelvin Tytherleigh leaving office.

The official line was “by mutual agreement”, but that didn’t wash down too well with concerned attendees.

With audio minutes from the meeting published this week, former Moree Plains Shire mayor, Katrina Humphries, and former councillors Col Pring and Murray Hartin, spoke in favour of Mr Tytherleigh.

Mrs Humphries was gravely disheartened by the “merry-go-round” of general managers and Mr Hartin bluntly said “the mayor has to go”. Mr Pring said he felt for council employees “disheartened, disappointed and put out”.

Col Pring

Mr Pring acknowledged being a councillor was “a hard job”.

“I think some of you may have been misled,” he told councillors.

“We had a great general manager, who fitted into our community, who worked with the community, who visited the depot, who visited the offices, who visited everything that was going on in the community.

“I would like to say, thank-you, Kelvin, you may not have been the yes-man, but you were the right man,” Mr Pring said.

“I’ve been in Moree for 40 years. I’ve been on council, and I’ve seen councillors come and go.

“The cost of replacing a general manager is a lot of money. I think what new councillors, and existing councillors need to understand, is that I’ve never had so much contact or heard so many people comment as I’ve heard in the last week about what’s happened to our general manager.

“I know for a fact, through contact, a majority of council staff are really disheartened, disappointed and put out,” he said.

Murray Hartin

Mr Hartin was forthright in his address to council.

“We’ve had a man come to town inheriting the back-end of a dog’s breakfast and jumped straight into this community,” Mr Hartin said.

“Kelvin built a team. He went into a place where there was no morale. We had previous general managers who never left the office, and one before that who had delusions of grandeur.

“This one came in and did the job, and he made these people feel special who had not felt special for a long, long time,” he said.

“Then he added further to the team. He brought in some super-gurus, like the baby-faced assassin legal guru, Daniel Baldwin, and James Maxwell, who just got a national award.

“We’ve got all these wonderful people upstairs who finally felt like they were contributing to something. They were part of a team, and this bloke was the captain.

“Then he played his big guns. He employed Ian Stoneman and Darryl Fitzgerald. I reckon they are the greatest directors we’ve ever had appointed to this council. They shouldn’t be here. They’re only here because of this fellow over here (Mr Tytherleigh).

“Now Kelvin is gone, and we don’t know why,” Mr Hartin said.

Deputy mayor Wayne Tighe’s response

Deputy mayor Wayne Tighe called for calm and implored Mr Hartin to “give the new council a chance”.

“You voted for us, you’ve got to give us a chance. Don’t come in here and throw stones. Give us a chance to work it out, Murray. I love your passion. We’re going to work with these people,” Cr Tighe said.

“We’re going to get a new general manager, and we are going to be here for the long haul to make sure our shire will hold its own.

“There’re a lot of passionate people here. Kelvin was one of the people who asked me to run and I ran because of Kelvin,” Mr Tighe said.

Katrina Humphries

Mrs Humphries said the revolving door of general managers in recent years destabilises the shire.

“Sadly, over the last three years we have had five general managers – two of them relieving and three of them permanent – and it’s very disruptive to our community. It’s very sad that we have this ongoing merry-go-round or general managers,” Mrs Humphries said.

“I believe it destabilises our shire and I believe it makes Moree look very unstable to any potential investors, and I also think there’s a credibility issue around our council.

“Newly-elected councillors, or councillors returning, I think would have a big problem being able to justify the cost of this continual recruitment.

“If you add up the cost of paying out contracts and the cost of advertising and recruitment, which under law has to be followed through, we are possibly in the vicinity of $1 million in the last three years.

“That is ratepayers’ money, and I would think any fair-minded person would find it incredibly difficult to justify that sort of expenditure and the destabilisation that comes with it,” Mrs Humphries said.

Mayor Susannah Pearse’s response

Mayor Susannah Pearse addressed the former councillors, who were all given equal time to air their views.

“I’d like to respond to the former councillors who have sat in these chairs and understand intimately what we deal with as councillors,” Cr Pearse said.

“Our councillors have been in this role for eight weeks. For five councillors, this has been incredibly challenging, and I feel for those councillors.

“Unfortunately, in the last eight weeks, that hasn’t always been the case in these four walls and what our council has had to deal with is very different to what’s been dealt with by former councils.

“We, as a council, have absolutely been saddened by the resignation of Mr Tytherleigh,” she said.

“I’d like to ensure you’re all aware, is that when any person leaves an organisation there are things you cannot talk about, there are confidential matters, and there are things we cannot discuss.

“That is the fact of the matter. Things that go on in our council chambers, in confidential sessions, we as all councillors make a commitment that what is discussed in that room does not leave these four walls.

“If it does, we are in breach of the code of conduct. That is the oath and the affirmation that we all agree to, the day we start in this office.

“I completely understand your call and desire for full transparency. I totally get it. A community should be wanting full transparency from its council.

“However, there some things that we will never – because they are confidential matters – be able to fully disclose, and I ask for your respect of the council and Mr Tytherleigh in these discussions,” Cr Pearse said.

Praise for Mr Tytherleigh

Mayor Pearse praised the work of Mr Tytherleigh, and thanked him for his service to the Moree Plains communities.

“Having travelled with Mr Tytherleigh, I have never seen someone be able to work a room and get so many business cards so quickly,” Cr Pearse said.

“Kelvin has been really valuable in fostering a lot of relationships and I’ve been very impressed in seeing Kelvin in action.

“Personally, this is a very big thank-you from me,” she said.

“When Mr Tytherleigh joined our team – actually, when he was interviewed and when he came to town – one of the first things he noticed was the burnt and derelict houses in our community.

“As someone new to town, that was something he realised every visitor to our town would also be exposed to.

“It is something he took on and led us councillors through development of a program to actually deliver some real benefits here,” Cr Pearse said.

“Mr Tytherleigh appointed Mr Maxwell in a full-time capacity to that role and also reviewed our fees and charges for tipping and asbestos removal. That incentive to owners of these properties has resulted in huge gains.

“It was the coupling of a dedicated resource, but also some new policy initiative and I believe it’s a real feather in your cap, Mr Tytherleigh.

“Personally, I’d like to thank you for that very visible contribution to our community, and I’m excited to see what the rest of that program also brings about,” she said.

Transparency

Mayor Pearse told the gallery, Moree Plains Shire will address concerns about transparency with the proposed installation of cameras to provide live webcasting of ordinary council meetings.

“There’s been some discussion today, and discussion in prior weeks, about the community really wanting better understanding about how council goes about making its decisions,” Cr Pearse said.

“As I allude to earlier, confidential closed council is closed council. There is really specific rules about that.

“However, something we can improve upon is our webcasting of council meetings,” she said.

“Best practice of webcasting of council meetings is not currently what we do. What has been implemented in this council is that there are recordings of council meetings that are available after the fact.

“If you look around at some other councils, our neighbouring councils, what they have is actual live webcasting with video link of their council meetings.

“I believe, the council we are aspiring to be is a council that does believe in best practice, and believes in transparency.

“As such, I move a mayoral minute that in accordance with best practice, the general manager investigates options of live webcasting of council and standing committee meetings and that a report be presented to our February ordinary council meeting on options and costings for potential solutions,” Cr Pearse said.

Council has appointed Natalia Cowley to the position of acting-interim general manager, commencing January 22, 2025 for “up to, but not limited, six months”.

Ms Cowley, the former City of Coffs Harbour general manager, was on November 14 awarded one of the highest honours in international financial leadership, when named Outstanding Contribution to the Public Sector Award recipient from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Council appointed Darryl Fitzgerald to the position of acting-interim general manager, to take effect on January 4 until Ms Cowley begins her term.

Kelvin Tytherleigh’s last day as Moree Plains Shire Council general manager is Friday, January 3.

The full audio of the December 12 council meeting can be heard here: https://moreeplains.civicclerk.com.au/web/Player.aspx?id=413&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0