GEORGE Bernard Shaw said, “Titles distinguish the mediocre, embarrass the superior, and are disgraced by the inferior.”
This quotation would seem to be very appropriate following the latest shenanigans at the Shire of Toodyay with the addition of ‘executive’ to the titles of the managers, who collectively are to be known as the ‘executive management group’, with their departments becoming directorates.
Read more
This pomposity should certainly either distinguish or embarrass them.
Oh, and as an aside, our local government is now referred to by our administration as an industry.
The Local Government Act (LGA) was passed in 1960 and the Road Board district became the Shire of Toodyay.
At that time the administration was arranged with three departments, finance, planning and works, each with a manager reporting to the Shire Clerk.
Later on, the Shire Clerk became the Chief Executive Officer and a few years ago the managers were designated under section 5.37 of the LGA as ‘senior’ employees.
This was done by resolution of Council because by doing so it gave Council some say in their hiring and firing.
However, although the senior employees have now been bestowed with the titles of executive managers, nowhere in the LGA are they mentioned.
Furthermore, not only do we now have informal executive managers, they are in charge of informal directorates, about which the Act is also silent.
One could be forgiven for assuming that their new importance would command a higher salary, but the question is can we now expect a higher level of efficiency and service from them and the staff under their control?
As an example, we will soon have a new Works Manager who will head the ‘Infrastructure, Assets and Services Directorate’ (Shire Depot).
The internal flow chart shows a very ‘top-heavy’ staff of an executive manager, a second-tier manager, five officers, a couple of coordinators and a dozen workers.
Will we now see mechanics working on shire vehicles in their fully equipped workshop, as opposed to the present practice of sending simple mechanical work out to sub-contractors?
Being on a roll, I would bet the next move will be to rename the executive managers as directors with the CEO as managing director.
Despite all this self-grandiosity, presumably the staff do more or less the same jobs that have been done since the days of the last Shire Clerk about 30 years ago.
He managed to adequately service our population of roughly of 4,600 with far less staff than we now employ, and without a 5 per cent to 9 per cent rate increase each year.
Geoff Appleby
Toodyay
