Thursday 11 June 2009

Open Letter to Interim CEO, Cairns Regional Council

  • Thursday 11th June, 2009

    Acting CEO
    Cairns Regional Council
    CC: All Councillors, CairnsBlog


    Mr Tabulo,

    Yesterday, the Mayor informed the Council and the people of Cairns, that the decision of the CEO Noel Briggs to resign “was a decision of Mr. Briggs and Mr. Briggs alone!”

    When Val made the above statement, I accepted it without question. Now, I read and hear rumours of a payment to be made to Mr Briggs in excess of $500,000!

    Excuse me, but when someone tires of their job and makes a unilateral decision to resign; I cannot for the life of me understand how they can then receive such financial compensation. Such payments are only made by mutual agreement, which leads me to the conclusion that (completely unbeknownst to me - Mr Briggs was asked to resign).

    The fact I believed the Mayor’s comments on Wednesday led me to comment publicly that Mr Briggs decision was made completely “off his own bat” and also resulted in me assuming the decision would be at minimum cost to ratepayers.

    I now feel I have been misled by the Mayor and that there has been an outcome that is ‘politically convenient for all parties’. Those hostile to Mr Briggs get a new CEO and Mr Briggs get a nice payment and retirement (ensuring no fuss from the Councillors he counts as personal friends).

    The only person not having their views represented is the poor old ratepayer!

    Please let me have your written advice as to when more information will be available and what detail will be provided by Cairns Regional Council to the people of Cairns region.

    Thank you.

    Regards,
    Councillor Rob Pyne

30 comments:

Bryan Law said...

Rob Pyne - you're just shamelessly trying to demonstrate fairness, common sense and regard for the ratepayer aren't you? Have you forgatten the standards set by Cocky, Sno-Job, Flunkey and Snake?

Seriously I think you've done us all a favour with this letter. I'm all in favour of ditching Mr Briggs, but paying him half a mil of ratepayers money when he ought be sacked for lies and incompetence - well that's too much.

Val, please toughen up, and for heaven's sake start trusting in the intelligence and goodwill of the electorate who voted for you. Stop snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

Unknown said...

from jewe in Kewarra

golden handshake for what.

are there more skeletons in the closet??? which need to be buried!!!

reward for service 'rendered' !!!!

Johno said...

All golden hand shake payments must be held back until the scrutiny of the Mayor, Councilors and the Ratepayers are reasonably satisfied that Briggs's departure was as stated.
If it were either by 'arangement' or by his own decision we are entitled to know the truth.

macca attack said...

you are right rob
please take note it is common to be paid out for "notice period
instead of time served" BUT it is not common to be paid your contract period out if you quit ONLY IF YOU ARE SACKED ! I lived in the abitration commision and this is unheard of !
Say I am employed on a contract for 3 yrs ,serve 6 months and quit .they pay me full 3 yrs what A JOKE ! BIGGER SCANDAL HERE ME THINKS?

Tony, Edge Hill said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bring back the Stocks. said...

Politics by Politicians for the sake of who?
Rate payers provide the funds and the mandate to run our Council. Let's get off the path of political spin and expediency at the expense of our northern paradise and get on with the real game.
God it's hard to tune my Uke with all this white noise.

Sing it everyone .... Tit toe through the Tulips ..... Through the tulips.

Unknown said...

Has anyone else noticed how McKenzie starts talking in a weird whisper, whenever he starts ridiculing the "so-called cash for comment " business? This whisper then turns into a manic hissing sound, followed by hollow laughter..

But today he demanded answers and wanted to know why Noel Brickhead was going to walk away with 500 K, that "we rate-payers are going to have to pay for".

Maybe everyone should come clean now. If Brickhead is implicated in this, why does he deserve a pay-out ?

Release the report now and punish the guilty !!!

Tony, Edge Hill said...

More political opportunist comments.

Briggs' contract was negotiated during the tenure of the previous mayor. We all know what a crooked operation he was running. It's highly likely that the contract in question required payout in full for any reason - the job of CEO is subject to political winds blowing, and this kind of protection would be normal. As a councillor, Pyne could of or should of demanded to see the terms of the contract when he first was elected. That he didn't (or now is pretending he doesn't know) is part of his continuing political game.

Like his blowharding on Mackenzie's show today, ducking questions and refusing to sucking up to the leader of the conspirators, Mr. Cash for Comment hisself.

Rob is proving to be a political hack just like his old man.

Quien Sabe said...

To Tony of Edge Hill,

There are people who need wheelchairs....and then there are "cripples".

Generally the "cripples" are those without the intellectual capacity to put their point across without descending into the gutter.

Other "cripples in wheelchairs"

Professor Stephen Hawkings.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Christopher Reeve

Rob is in pretty good company

hieronymus bosch said...

Tony, Edge Hill,

Could be wrong but i am pretty certain that briggs' contract was renegotiated after the current council elected to keep him on. I think blake and val were privy to the negotiations.

The salary in these contract negotiation is NOT known to councillors or ratepayers (wow, that's democracy!) until the budget figures come out when it is handed down at the end of this month.

I think time proved Tom to be a great servant of Mulgrave and Cairns, and Rob looks like heading the same way, old son.

the cat's vomit said...

This blackguard, this uncouth scoundrel of a fellow...Mackenzie has the brazen temerity to mock the CEO on his radio program? Didn't this unprincipled, tockless, narcissistic dinosaur CAUSE the whole debacle?

Phil, Cairns said...

Hey Rob,i am just thinking about what i want to write as i want to be honest as to how a father of three children in cairns feels about recent council activity.Now,i am hoping that you can reply to me as we now have a lot of uncertainty about the future of cairns due to the current leadership.

My concerns are as follows.

1.Taipans guarantee,is it a bank guarantee or does the council guarantee the taipans for $1m which comes out of council funds.

2.Can we get back the $17k of legal costs for cash for comments and which law firm was involved.

3.Payout for CEO is outrageous.As you said in the cairns post (not quoting but generally) if he was sacked fair cop but if personality clash,not cricket to the tax payers.

4.Southside aquatics, how was the decition made to save 250k when probably the 80/20 rule will work and most people follow gary and desley lenton to their new pool at edmonton.

Mate, the buisness acumen is not stacking up for people to invest.

following is off the record as i know them and do not trust their decisions,linda cooper,val schier and allan blake.

Hope this is of interest and keep trying to represent the majority as you have been.

Michael P Moore said...

Derogatory and discriminory comments have been removed from "Tony, Edge Hill's comments"

This is in line with the CairnsBlog Comment Posting Policy.

Bryan Outlaw said...

While you're all busy patting yourselves on the back for getting rid of Briggs, YOUR MAYOR again has let down the aims of controlled development by approving a huge, overheight project in a new area of the CBD. 17 meters above anything else in the city, a huge increase. "She" again voted with the "development at any cost" group on council.

Val misrepresented her views to get elected (or more likely really didn't have any views) and she's now the new Kevin Byrne in a bad dress.

Keep on fighting yesterday's battles, while the city is gutted like a fish.

colin riddell said...

Well done rob pyne the mayor admitted on maccas show today that the payement to briggs was NOT his pay till the end of contract ,just his entitlements after 29yrs in local government thanks to your letter we got the truth . ps we hope

Lil at Yorkeys said...

Oh for heavens sake, let's have the blasted Henry Report released publicly, so we can all let our milk down. We need to know, & They need to know We Know.
If there is any inappropriate behaviour of Briggs/Hull/Snakey/Bonneau/Cochrane/Val/The Cleaner Down the Hall/the Call Service Manager then we need to know. Simple.
Then if Briggs has done the wrong thing, we can subtract his payout from his entitlements. Ipso facto, no?
I was also thinking - instead of yukky fluoride in the water, couldn't we have the Pyne Elixir of Truth? Rob has so far been as transparent as your proverbial piece of plastic film.
Go go go Rob. You're a beacon.

Polly said...

Didn't Rob Pyne vote with the gang of 4 to keep Briggs on post election? Then the move to advertise the position was defeated and now we are 500 grand poorer.
Even if Briggs was as good as what Pyney and co. were telling us, surely he would have got the job thru application anyway.
Oh yeah that's right, we kept Briggs on for stability! Who is responsible for the 500k now Rob?

macca attack said...

Polly . To have a go at rob pyne is incorrect on the 500k .
True he may have voted to keep briggs on , but IF what val said on macca on friday past , is correct and honest , wether briggs went last week or last year , he would have got nearly the same as they were entitlements .
After 29yrs in local govt, as when I was in the serbs fund , state employees retirement benifet , we got two and a half times our contributions , so after 29 yrs 500 k is possible , NOT a payout of contract as we were led to believe, I only hope we were told the truth !

polly said...

fair call on the 500k Mr Attack,

But Rob should still have a good look at his initial decision to support Briggs into the top job.

Anonymous said...
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Lillian at Yorkeys said...
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Ingrid Pitt said...

Let's get the facts right here: Rob pledged his support to Schier, Leu, Lesina, and Forsyth to advertise the position and then changed his mind and went with the Blake/Cochrane motion (For stability!) Happy to forgive, but not forget...

colinwhodares said...

To be totally honest , I was never a big rap for rob pyne , but I misjudged him , because he never lets the people who elected him down.
He will make mistakes , but we won,t die wondering if he had a red hot go at getting to the truth.

It is hard to say "this appears not to be right" when most other sheep say nothing !
The other people in zones of council must be wondering if they elected a group or if they elected for somone to stand up for them
!
I don,t live in rob pynes zone .

I have never met my elected councillor in zone 2 and never heard ms lansky do or say anything for us in edmonton, rob please move zones.

Noj Nedlaw said...

colinwhodares raises an interesting point.

Nancy Lanksey could almosty be called the "shadow". Rarely to you hear of her - and her name is the one I always forget when naming the local eleven.

What does she stand for? Where does she sit on development?


I also note that she had a very low recognition/support factor in the Blogs recent poll.

Lillian of Yorkeys said...

As much as I respect him, Rob Pyne cannot get everything right - neither can anyone! Although, Our Rob is getting a lot of things right these days.

I do believe that the newly-elected Councillors were lobbied by the 'experienced' re-elected Councillors to keep Briggs on, for stability etc. What with the amalgamation & all, it probably didn't seem like such a silly choice to some.

I just had a look at the vote that day - CRC Minutes 24 April 2008 (p. 174) - The original proposition was to discuss arrangements for appointing a new CEO (Briggs was then only Acting CEO).

However a new motion was proposed by Blake/Cochrane [surprise surprise] that Briggs be appointed as CEO. The motion was carried. Those voting against it were Schier, Leu, Forsyth and Lesina.

They tried, obviously.
I guess in hindsight . . .

FairBusiness said...

Nancy Lanskey may not be making much noise but she is as straight as an arrow. Guarantee she does her homework before every meeting. I have it from a good source that many councilors turn up to meetings without even viewing the agenda before hand and rumor has it that one particular outspoken councilor does not always attend meetings or leaves early???? With a degree in politics, Nancy is from a true "Local" family with integrity and ethics and I am sure she will prove herself in the future.
I believe she is the "quiet achiever" in this Council.

Johnny B. said...

Nancy is indeed quiet. Alsleep on her horse more like it.

colinwhodares said...

Nancy is from a true "Local" family "writes fair business " why do people in cairns write this "true local waffle "???

Do you think it impresses people from down south ?

It scares the hell out of me .

Yeah yeah I know go back if you don,t like it , I do like it ,
it is just being this"true local " stuff is stupid.
You lot up here are thirty years behind southerners in most things , but heck you are friendly !
If nancy just did her job and said something on anything once in a while , like rob pyne and julia leu do all the time , it would be welcome !
"The ghost who doesn,t talk"

NorthernBeachesWarrior said...

As for Nancy Lanskey doing her homework - she more often votes along with the block and is clearly pro development.

She along with others recently voted to allow Deadmans Creek to be owned and maintained by Glencorp's Clifton Views development, for this natural system to be interferred with to suit the developer and against huge community opposition.

One also never gets a reply from her when you email before a Council meeting. The only Cllr who regularly replies is Cllr Pyne!

If this is doing her homework, then she gets a mark of D.

colinwhodares said...

Lifted of the "nancy ghosts "council page.
"Hence, I believe that it is imperative that we plan for such population growth to ensure that development is sustainable, meets community needs and enhances our tropical lifestyle, so that our region is a healthy, safe and welcoming place for all people, residents and visitors alike."
This surely means as long as it is not in my backyard northernbeacheswarrior ?
I think we should scrutinise every single councillor and make them totally accountable for every thing they vote for on our behalf .
What do you think?