Sandy Graham has been in the role since 2020 and the council will need to advertise the position this year.
Ms Graham has not yet said if she intends to be among the applicants.
A confidential meeting of the council’s chief executive performance and employment committee is due to happen tomorrow.
Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker said the meeting would essentially be about starting the recruitment process by approving a procurement plan for appointing a recruitment agency.
The council would need to give everyone a fair chance and the full process could be quite long, she said.
Ms Graham had an initial five-year contract. Last year, the council voted to extend it by a year.
Councillors chose that option in April last year, instead of either heading to the market at that point or extending her contract by two years.
Since then, there has been an election and the council includes six new councillors, with another to be appointed after a by-election in May.
Ms Graham’s contract extension is due to expire in October.
Her time as chief executive has included implementation of an upgrade of kerbside collection of rubbish and recycling, completion of the George St redevelopment, the opening of Mosgiel’s Te Puna o Whakaehu swimming pool and construction of Te Whata o Kaituna, which houses the South Dunedin library.
The council has an annual operational budget of more than $460 million and the capital expenditure programme in the 2025-34 long-term plan was worth more than $1.8 billion across nine years.
The chief executive performance and employment committee is made up of Ms Barker, deputy mayor Cherry Lucas and Crs Steve Walker, Mickey Treadwell and John Chambers.
