Ratepayers may be about to pay a hefty price for some Armidale regional councillors' lack of confidence in CEO Susan Law, should they decide to sack her at a yet to be announced extraordinary meeting this month.
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Mrs Law has not failed any of her performance reviews, in fact she was offered, but refused, a five per cent pay increase as recently as last September.
Armidale Regional Council Mayor Simon Murray confirmed the direct cost to the community was $859,308, perhaps higher.
"It could go as high as $1 million, but only a small portion of that will go to Susan," he said.
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"You see, this is expensive in a couple of areas. Of course, there's the direct consequence of the seven councillors removing Susan, we don't know how long we might have an interim CEO before we get a replacement CEO.
"Travel, recruitment, CEO handover, the new CEO's salary package, relocation costs, motor vehicle costs; all numbers that could expand."
The Armidale Express tried to contact Cr Ian Tiley for a comment on this matter, but to date we have not received a reply.
Cr Murray said he also held concerns that council would lose some of its skilled staff as a result.
"There are a lot of consequences of losing good staff. Not only the financial cost of trying to replace them, but their expertise and knowledge of the projects being worked on as we speak," he said.
"There could be a big flow-on effect if we lose staff."
"But the biggest cost to me is going to be to the community. Staff will be unsure of their jobs because of the upheaval, so won't be working to their full capacity. That's a cost both the community and council will have to cover."