PLAYFORD Council has appointed acting chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Green to the full-time role.
Mr Green has worked at the council for the past seven years, with the last 10 months spent in the interim position in the wake of former boss Mal Hemmerling’s dismissal in November.
He is contracted for the next five years, earning $300,000 per year.
Mr Green said he is looking forward to continuing to provide strong leadership as “Playford capitalises its place as the future of growth in South Australia”.
“I will be working closely with the mayor and councillors to continue providing high-quality service to our community that reflects the needs and desires of our ever-growing council area,” he said.
“For me, it is business as usual; the City of Playford is in an important and significant growth area and the next 10 years is critical in setting up this community for the next 50 years.”
Playford mayor Glenn Docherty said Mr Green was selected from an “impressive calibre of candidates”.
“It has been an exhaustive recruitment process seeing 45 applicants apply with a shortlisting of 13, with a strong field council has decided that Sam was the right person to lead the City of Playford into the future,” he said.
“Throughout the process, Sam established himself as a strong candidate and his excellent knowledge and deep understanding of our community was evident.”
Mr Green’s appointment comes after the council held two closed-doors meetings this week, on Monday and Wednesday night, to determine who would replace Mr Hemmerling, who was stood down on full pay from his $366,287 job in November, and sacked a month later, over allegations of sexual harassment brought forward by council staff.
Monday night’s meeting was attended by a representative from the Local Government Authority South Australia (LGASA) Recruitment, and candidates for the role.
LGASA recruitment and Virginia Liu from Norman Waterhouse Lawyers were present at Wednesday’s meeting, where the CEO contract was discussed.
Mr Green had previously served as Mr Hemmerling’s deputy.
Mr Hemmerling sued the council in the Supreme Court for wrongful dismissal, with defence documents lodged by council revealing allegations of sexual harassment against the former Adelaide Grand Prix chief from seven separate council employees.
In April, the council reported it had taken on a $400,000 “overspend” on legal services in last year’s budget.
The two parties settled outside of court in July for an undisclosed fee.
