Decision behind closed doors

The appointment of an acting chief executive for the Dunedin City Council will be made at a public-excluded session of the council next week.

A council spokesman said the decision, to be made on Tuesday, would be taken behind closed doors to protect the privacy of those involved, as was the case with all appointments considered by the council.

Chief executive Sue Bidrose announced her resignation last week.

She is set to leave the council on July 17 and will take over as the chief executive at Crown research institute AgResearch.

The council has declined to say when the chief executive’s job will be advertised, saying only that Wellington-based recruitment consultancy JacksonStone & Partners has been selected to help the council find a replacement for Dr Bidrose.

The Otago Daily Times has asked for a timeline indicating when the job will be advertised and the appointment made; who will create the short list of candidates; who will conduct interviews; whether the candidate selected to offer the job will be selected by the entire council; and what the budget for the recruitment process is.

The council did not answer questions about whether there was a shortlist of candidates for the acting chief executive role and whether the term of the appointment would be decided on at the meeting.

"More information will be released after the appointment is confirmed," the spokesman said.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz