Council suspended after GM sacked in wake of mayoral vote hat-draw blunder

A bizarre sequence of events has led to a council in northern NSW being suspended for three months.

The decision was made by NSW Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig, who said in a statement that the appointment of an administrator was "necessary to restore the proper or effective functioning of [the Clarence Valley] council".

The suspension caps off an eventful month that began with a tied vote in a mayoral election.

That led to two names being drawn from a hat, but a misunderstanding about the rules resulted in the wrong candidate being declared the winner. 

The botched declaration led to the sacking of general manager Laura Black. 

Mr Hoenig said the council itself had voted for an external investigation of matters including governance, administration, operations and financial management.

The minister said he had considered submissions received after warning councillors suspension was possible a fortnight ago.

The man chosen to act as interim administrator is John Rayner, who ran Armidale Regional Council when it was under administration in 2020.

'Very serious step'

Councillor Peter Johnstone, who was incorrectly declared as Clarence Valley mayor before resigning when the error came to light, said the council was seeking an investigator, not an administrator.

"We were elected democratic leaders of the Clarence Valley and to remove that democratic representation is a very serious step," he said.

"What [Mr Rayner] will be doing is everything that all the councillors used to do, so expect a whole lot of unanimous votes on council decisions because he'll be voting on his own.

"He gets the pay of all the councillors and the mayor put together and just does the job on his own."

Cr Johnstone said he would focus on communicating with ratepayers and businesses during the three-month suspension. 

"I'm going to be preparing for our return because we're going to hit the ground running when we come back," he said.

"You don't have to be in office to speak to people, and that's what I'm going to be doing."

Local government woes

Four NSW councils are currently under performance improvement orders from the Office of Local Government: Georges River Council, Kiama Municipal Council, Shoalhaven City Council and Snowy Monaro Regional Council. 

University of Newcastle local government professor Roberta Ryan said that since 2024, one-third of general managers had left councils. 

She said some had been fired, but others had chosen to leave of their own accord.

"It's not just in NSW; it's a national and international trend that there is greater instability in that senior leadership position," Professor Ryan said. 

"It's particularly amplified in regional areas where those jobs become a job where there might be a greater risk associated with having longer-term tenure in those roles."

In NSW, there are two ways to elect a mayor, with some councils using a popular vote, while other councils have councillors vote on the position every two years. 

Professor Ryan said there were arguments for each model, but electing a mayor every two years could be challenging for organisational leadership. 

"[Then] a new leadership group comes in or a new mayor or whatever who might be talking to their community about different priorities that creates a level of change and instability that then needs to be managed," she said.