Five more years for Council CEO

Central Coast Council Administrator Rik Hart has given CEO David Farmer a five-year extension of his contract.

Hart tabled a performance review of Farmer for the year at the December 12 meeting of Council-under-administration, though the tabled document was absent from public online access until the next day.

The meeting finished at 7.20pm.

Farmer left the room while his performance review was mentioned.

Hart said Farmer received a 4.3 out of 5 for his performance.

He said Farmer had requested a five-year extension of his appointment.

Hart said retaining Farmer’s employment would help Council transition out of the administration period which would be about four years by the time the councillor elections were held in September 2024.

Consistency of leadership would be ideal, he said, and, in previous positions Farmer had twice been a CEO when councillors were returned.

His contract will continue until April 2029 so he will be in the position during the next term of councillors and into the following term.

He will also receive a four per cent pay rise for the coming year, Hart said.

Farmer was brought into Council in April 2021, a decision made by Hart as acting CEO at the time and interim administrator Dick Persson after the Council went into administration in November 2020.

Farmer has been the chief executive of four councils over 23 years – Mudgee in Western NSW, Cairns City in Far North Queensland, his hometown of Wollongong and Ipswich City Council – before coming to the Coast.

Each of his last three roles has involved major challenges in governance and finance.

Farmer assisted an elected council return from a period of Administration at both Wollongong and Ipswich.

“At Cairns he oversaw the recovery of the organisation, taking over five years after a poorly implemented merger,” a press release stated when he was announced as the Coast’s new CEO in 2021.

Merilyn Vale