Wednesday 15 April was a significant day in the demerger process as the pace of work stepped up.
The Demerger Transition Committee met to decide on three important issues.
The first item on the meeting agenda was to review the many high-quality applications received for membership of the Demerger Transition Dispute Resolution Panel, with the committee presented with an abundance of strong candidates.
Next up for consideration was the process and timetable for the appointment of the two General Managers-Designate. The committee agreed that the GMs-Designate need to be on board by April next year. During the final months of CGRC, the GMs-Designates role will be:
- Review the draft structure of the organisation for which they are recruited.
- Recruit as many vacant positions as possible by 1 July 2027.
- Working with the other GM-Designate and the Interim General Manager, ensure that all new staff are properly inducted and trained.
- Progress the Demerger Transition Project to ensure that both successor Councils are fully operational on 1 July 2027.
- Working with the other GM-Designate and the Interim General Manager, finalise the draft IP&R and other plans and policies for the Council for which they are recruited.
- Assist the CGRC Interim GM as required to ensure the continued operation of CGRC and the smooth transition to the new organisations.
The Committee has recommended to Council that Council establish two separate recruitment panels, and the recruitment process begin in August 2026 with the seeking of quotes from recruitment consultants to assist with the process.
The third item of business was the consideration of a policy for the distribution of Council’s cash assets. This is a sensitive matter that the Committee was determined to make as transparent and as fair as possible.
Council’s cash is set aside into reserves with each reserve being for a specific purpose. Some reserves are “eternally restricted”, for example water and sewer reserves, and the movement of money in and out of those subject to strict legislative control.
Other reserves are “internally restricted”, which means that they are established and used at Council’s discretion subject to some caveats.
For most of the reserves the Committee has recommended that the distribution be based on a trace of the transactions, starting from when the reserves of the predecessor councils were merged.
Later in the morning the Committee, together with the Interim General Manager Roger Bailey and Demerger Transition Manager Peter Bascomb met with local member Steph Cooke MP to provide her with an update on the demerger process. Ms. Cooke has undertaken to arrange a meeting to brief the Minister for Local Government, the Hon. Ron Hoenig MP, on the progress to date.
The third event for the day was the publication of the Request for Tender for the Financial Sustainability Plan (FSP). The FSP is a critical document for ensuring that the two successor councils are operationally effective and financially viable. The Committee will consider the tender responses at its meeting of 16 June 2026. The Committee had previously endorsed the scope of works for the tender, which goes beyond that of the 2024 FSP.
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