Selwyn District Council chief executive contracts need to be changed to avoid large payouts if they resign early.
Sharon Mason leaves her position next Friday to take up chief executive for The City of Onkaparinga, south of Adelaide.
Mason will leave with a $57,380 payout, equivalent to three months’ pay, after the council decided not to require Mason to work out her notice period. Her resignation just before Christmas came as a surprise – saying when she arrived in 2023, she would be staying for at least five years.
“I will certainly be here for five years,” Mason said at the time, adding she would also like to take up a two-year extension she had on her contract.
But Rolleston Residents Association chair and former councillor Mark Alexander said his personal view is the next chief executive should not get a payout if they choose to leave before their contract term ends.
“There’s a lesson that the council should learn in appointing the next CE (chief executive) that clause does get included,” he said.
“I can understand if you ask them to leave, you pay them out, but if they resign and you let them out, it seems bizarre.
“Selwyn has always been an attractive council for CEs to come to. If a new CE wants that in their contract, then the council should not want them.”
Mason’s contract was overseen by former mayor Sam Broughton, Mayor Lydia Gliddon said. Councillors approved her appointment but weren’t privy to details of the contract. Broughton did not return calls to Selwyn Times.
Gliddon would not comment on whether she consider changes to payouts in relation to notice periods.
Council executive director of strategy, engagement and capability Steve Gibling will be the acting chief executive from next Friday.
He is expected to become the interim chief executive when the council meets on January 21 where councillors will also discuss a timeline for the appointment of a new chief executive.
Gibling is likely to get a pay increase for his extra duties, Gliddon said.
The decision to allow Mason to exit from her contract early would allow the council to have “continuity” in a new year and through the Annual Plan process.
The council has promised a single-digit rate rise.
“I can understand there is frustration, but I think what is important is it is not a payout, it is a payment in lieu of notice. We are required under the employment contract and employment law to do so,” said Gliddon.
“We can’t simply choose not to pay ... and I don’t think the council is willing to break employment law.”
Mason would not discuss the issue with Selwyn Times.
When Mason left her previous role as chief executive for the Buller District, Gibling was also appointed interim chief executive for nine months before moving to Selwyn.
