THE Bass Coast Shire Council’s best and arguably most important executive, its General Manager Place Making, James Stirton, has been headhunted by the City of Greater Geelong.
The news has not gone down well in local council circles.
Among Mr Stirton’s roles at Bass Coast are Strategic and Statutory Planning, Recreation and Transport, Major Projects and Infrastructure Delivery (Civil design, construction and asset management).
Attracting planning executives is believed to be the hardest recruitment call in Local Government at the moment, harder even than finding a new CEO, with which Bass Coast is presently engaged.
Mr Stirton is believed to have been a frontrunner for the top job at Bass Coast.
According to a statement by the City of Greater Geelong on Wednesday this week, Mr Stirton starts his new job as ‘Executive Director City Infrastructure’ on January 22, 2024.
Mr Stirton’s appointment, so soon after the former Bass Coast Shire Council CEO, Ali Wastie started at Geelong, on August 28, 2023, can hardly be a coincidence.
And that after Ms Wastie said, on her early departure from Bass Coast, that the general managers she was leaving behind at Bass Coast were part of her “legacy”.
Prophetically, as it turns out, Ms Wastie was asked by the Bass Coast Post in July 2023, after her appointment at Geelong if it would result in a spill of top positions: “Will we also lose our senior leadership team now that you’re going?”
“That’s not an issue… When I step aside, any of my GMs can quite happily and ably handle that role. I honestly believe I’m leaving that legacy.”
It was only a year earlier, on August 17, 2022, that Bass Coast Council extended the contract of Ms Wastie for five years until February 17, 2028.
Now, instead of thinking it had its top two executives squared away, Bass Coast will lose its CEO and its General Manager of Planning within five months of each other.
“The City of Greater Geelong has appointed four highly credentialed Executive Directors to lead its four new directorates under CEO Ali Wastie,” said the City of Greater Geelong on Wednesday.
“The four appointees, who alongside Ms Wastie will form a strong and united Executive Leadership Team, each bring extensive local government experience, leadership and expertise in their respective fields.”
As well as Mr Stirton, Troy Edwards will join Geelong from the MAV as its Executive Director Corporate Services and former East Gippsland Shire CEO Anthony Basford is off to Geelong as its Executive Director City Life.
Both Ms Wastie and Mr Basford were members of the ‘One Gippsland Board’ together.
Mr Basford is believed to have announced his resignation to staff members at East Gippsland by email on Wednesday morning.
Tennille Bradley has been promoted from within to take on the role of Executive Director Placemaking at Geelong.
Ms Wastie has welcomed the announcement of her new team:
“The recruitment process was highly competitive, with the outstanding range of candidates for each position demonstrating the appeal of Geelong as a place to live and work,” said Ms Wastie this week.
“One of my first priorities as CEO was to establish a strong, united executive team ready to deliver for our community and employees.
“We’ve searched for the best people to invigorate our culture and meet our promise of being a high performing organisation, and we are delighted to have secured four experienced leaders of such a high calibre.
“Tennille, James, Anthony and Troy all bring a tremendous amount of knowledge and passion to their respective areas, and I think our community can look forward with excitement to the results they’ll help the City deliver.”
Ali Wastie’s rise up the government and local government ladder has been nothing short of meteoric:
- September 2018-February 2019 Director City Communities City of Melbourne
- February 2019: Ali Wastie appointed Chief Executive Officer of Bass Coast Shire Council
- On August 10, 2022, the Minister for Environment and Climate Action Lily D’Ambrosio issues a media release to announce the appointment of Ali Wastie as the Chair of the Board for Alpine Resorts Victoria.
- On August 17, 2022, Bass Coast Council extends the contract of the CEO Ali Wastie for five years until February 17, 2028.
- In June 2023, Ali Wastie is appointed CEO of the City of Greater Geelong after the Victorian Minister for Local Government Melissa Horne had appointed two monitors to oversee the CEO selection process in Geelong ((February 2023) and following criticism by the Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur (March 2023), that the CEO appointment process was costly and taking too long.
- In September 2023, Ali Wastie appointed chair of the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds Joint Venture, to oversee the $108 million redevelopment of showgrounds in a joint venture between the show society the State Government and its private sector partners PPP Solutions, comprising International Public Partnerships Limited and Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions.
