Media Release
23 August 2016

Tasman CEO offered contract extension

The Tasman District Council has offered its Chief Executive an employment agreement for a further two years. Lindsay McKenzie joined the Council in May 2012 from Gisborne District Council on a five-year contract.

Chief Executives in local government are employed on a fixed term basis, usually for 5 years. A further term of em-ployment of up to 2 years is possible after the first 5-year term expires, subject to a formal performance review being satisfactorily completed at least 6 months before the 5-year term expires.

The Council has recently completed this process for Lindsay.

“I’m pleased to say that the Council has offered him a further term of employment of 2 years and that he has accepted”, said Mayor Richard Kempthorne. “We had until early November to do the review but with the election coming up and several councillors standing down, it was important that the current Council took the decision. The decision to offer the two-year contract was unanimous with a strong endorsement from all councillors.

“Over the last five years we have achieved a number of strategic milestones but we still have more to go. As well as performing beyond the expectations set by the elected members, the continuity provided by Lindsay’s presence and continued leadership will give the Council a greater chance of achieving the goals we set in 2012.

“When Lindsay started in 2012, feedback during the amalgamation debate gave us some very clear messages about where ratepayers thought the Council should make some changes and I am pleased to say we are making great pro-gress towards achieving those. A great deal of this success is directly attributable to Lindsay’s leadership of the staff and his relationship with the elected members”.

The new contract will take effect from May 2017 with the Council having to advertise the role externally in late 2018 to meet its legislative requirements.

ENDS

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