The Far North District Council has paid $212,750 in compensation to former chief executive Blair King, who resigned in 2023 citing a toxic work environment and poor treatment by councillors.
The council’s legal costs in the dispute exceeded $220,000, bringing the total to over $430,000.
The Employment Relations Authority found King had suffered an “unjustified disadvantage” during a key meeting with Mayor Moko Tepania, though it also found fault on both sides.
The payout continues a long-running pattern of costly and contentious CEO departures at the council, with only one of the last four chief executives leaving without a dispute or severance package.
All of these council CEOs are big pay packet parasites to the ratepayers. Never found out what happened with the disgraced NPDC CEO Craig Stevenson either.
Our previous CEO Geoff Williams in Rotorua IS NOT MISSED.
Wonder where he ended up after he jumped ship here………probably on his launch in Auckland.
Not sure how some of these people sleep at night actually. Indebting ratepayers with stupid vanity projects and overpaid staff. 😡
Oh the poor diddims!
Local councils, like we the peoples governments, should not be corporations.
Dead right.
There should also be responsibility and accountability for failures. There is no part in life, unless you are a parasite, where failure does not lead to having to deal with the sh*t you created.
There should actually be a higher standard for public servants, something between merit and honour and dedication to the public and not their mini-queen delusions.