The Central Goldfields Shire Council will enter administration on Saturday following the passage of the Central Goldfields Shire Council Bill 2017 through the Victorian Parliament earlier this week.
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The bill, which dismissed the previous Central Goldfields Councillors, received Royal Assent on Friday afternoon and Mark Davies was appointed as interim administrator.
Mr Davies will start as the council’s interim administrator on Saturday and begin the process of fixing the financial, governance and cultural issues identified by the Local Government Inspectorate and municipal monitor.
It comes after shire councillors yesterday claimed to have been made scapegoats for the municipality’s administrative failings by the state government who they said “stepped in to look like tough guys”.
Mr Davies has previously served as chief executive officer at the Surf Coast Shire council and as chief financial officer at the City of Darebin.
He also served as a commissioner on the Commission of Inquiry into the Ararat Rural City Council.
Long-term administrators will be appointed to oversee the shire until 2020, following the completion of Mr Davies’ interim appointment.
Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins said the government was “getting on with fixing the serious issues identified within Central Goldfields Shire council”.
“The appointment of an interim administration is the first step towards getting council back on track, so it can deliver the good governance and services the Central Goldfields community deserves,” she said.
