Following a decision by the Waitaki District Council last week to extend the contract of its chief executive, Michael Ross, for another two years, mayoral candidate and former councillor Gary Kircher hit out at what he said was a perceived lack of transparency surrounding the decision.
Last week, the council announced that after a unanimous decision made at a public-excluded meeting in April, Mr Ross, whose existing contract had been due to expire next January, had been given a two-year contract extension. Mr Kircher criticised both the timing and the way that the contract announcement had been made.
''The issue I have with this is all about the process that the current mayor has led and the time frame for the council's announcement.
''I really have to question why the council has decided on a two-year reappointment instead of giving the Waitaki district some certainty by seeing who the very best person might be for the job and getting them for the maximum five years allowed by legislation. It appears that the decision was made to keep the reappointment in-house to save going through a full process and that no other applicants were considered.
''This really looks like a cynical move with an abdication of the responsibility to do the best for the district.''
Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton yesterday defended the process, saying councillors debated other options but ''stood firm'' in their decision.
''The management extension will allow the new council which, because of retirements, will have at least three new members after the election, to assess the impact and direction of changes, above, and decide on the best management option.''
Mr Familton said that Mr Kircher's suggestions the contract agreement was a ''cosy arrangement'' or ''a cynical move'', were ''untrue, irrelevant and blatantly political''.
