Dick Persson

On 23 July 2003 the Minister for Local Government, Tony Kelly, following the release of the report of a public inquiry, headed by Emeritus Professor Maurice Daly, into the conduct and management of Warringah Council which revealed an extensive loss of trust between the council and its community, proclaimed that he had advised the Governor of NSW Marie Bashir to dismiss the council and appoint Persson as the Administrator of the council, with an initial term due to expire on 1 August 2005.[20][21]

Coming in to administer one of the most complained-about councils in the state, Persson took on the role of transforming the administration of council through implementing good practice and the removal of conflicts of interests in council operations. This included in the matter of planning decisions and conflicts of interests of the former councillors, the extent of which Persson found particularly surprising: "When I arrived here I was given a security card like most of us have nowadays. I thought "Oh, that's for security reasons". I later found out it was to keep councillors out of some parts of the council, because they were literally standing over the shoulder of people reviewing development applications, asking them questions and putting pressure on them, possibly indirectly, certainly clearly." To combat the primary problem of a public lack of trust in the council, in 2003 Persson also appointed Dr John Warburton as the first Internal Ombudsman of the council.[22]

In September 2004, Persson requested that his term as Administrator be extended beyond his initial term, which was scheduled to expire on 1 August 2005, citing a number of important projects yet to be completed and the continuing work establishing a change in culture amongst staff at the council. An extension was approved by the Governor until the Local Government Elections in September 2008, at which point a new council was elected with a new directly-elected mayor, Michael Regan, whose party ticket ran on a platform of council to be 'run as a board of directors'.[23][24][25] Immediately before the elections, Persson made the unprecedented step of commenting on political affairs, expressing a desire for individuals involved with the former dismissed council not to stand for election and noted in particular one candidate as having been prominent in the disruptive nature of the previous council and was "the only candidate in Warringah whom I sincerely hope does not get elected."[26]

In the 2006 Australia Day honours Persson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "service to the community, particularly through the development and implementation of new public policy initiatives relating to health, electronic government-wide business and provision of public housing, and to planning and local government."[27]

On 27 February 2008 the Minister for Local Government, Paul Lynch, dismissed the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and appointed Persson as the new administrator.[28] The dismissal of Council was made after the mishandling of a project initiated in 2001 to build a cultural and entertainment centre, known to locals as the Glasshouse.[29] The results of a public inquiry into the matter had reported back to the minister in February 2008 and had found that the Council had failed to provide appropriate financial and project management and had lost control of the costs, that the project costs had harmed the Council's ability to provide services and amenities to the community, and that the Council's "communications management strategies" had resulted in inadequate consultation with the public or appropriate regard to their concerns.[30] Appointed for a four-year term, Minister Lynch noted that Persson had the task of "rebuilding the fundamentals of Council and to help re-unite the local community."[31]

On 20 January 2009, administrator Dick Persson announced his decision to step down at the end of the month, citing the demands of being away from his Sydney home in Bronte for several days a week. He described the Glasshouse project as a "wrong decision" by the Council, attributing it to "woolly thinking with the best of intentions from people not experienced with planning and delivering major capital works."[32][33] He was replaced in the role by Garry Payne, head of the Department of Local Government.[33]

In May 2016, with the release of the Local Government (Council Amalgamations) Proclamation 2016, Persson was announced as the Administrator of the new Northern Beaches Council, which comprises the former local government areas of Manly, Pittwater and Warringah.[37][38] As administrator, Persson directed the implementation of functions of the combined councils into one and noted shortly before the September 2017 election that "I believe the integration of the three previous councils into one Northern Beaches Council is on track to become the benchmark in terms of performance. This is largely due to the skill and hard work of our Council staff and managers."[39] Persson released a report to council in September 2017 entitled "Stronger Together: Administrator's Report to the Community", which detailed the achievements of the new council since the May 2016 proclamation. Persson remained as administrator until the election of the new mayor on 26 September 2017.[40]

In 2019, Persson was appointed by the Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, to be a member of the Central Sydney Planning Committee, which assesses all development over $50 million in the City of Sydney; the Committee comprises the Lord Mayor, two City of Sydney Councillors, and four people appointed by the Minister with expertise in relevant fields.[41]

On 30 October 2020, the Minister for Local Government, Shelley Hancock announced Persson as the new interim Administrator of Central Coast Council for an initial period of three months after the council was suspended following the reveal of an $89 million debt in Council finances and an emergency $6.2 million loan provided by the NSW Government in order for Council to pay its own staff.[42][43] Persson's appointment was announced with the task of ensuring "greater oversight and control over the council’s budget and expenditure to restore its financial sustainability and importantly reinstill the community’s trust in the effective functioning of their council."[44] Persson was also appointed with Rik Hart on the administration operations team, with whom he had worked on the transformation at Warringah Council as administrator in 2007–2008, with Hart becoming Acting CEO on 3 November 2020.[44][45]

On 2 December 2020, Persson delivered his first 30-day interim report which revealed "catastrophic budget mismanagement", including accumulated losses of $232 million since 2016, increased debt from $317 million (2016) to $565 million (2020), and an estimated operating loss of $115 million for 2020/2021 financial year, and that several actions were required to put the council in a stronger position, including asset sales of at least $40 million, an increase in rates and council charges, and a substantial reduction in Council staff to 2016 amalgamation levels including a significant reduction in upper and middle management positions..[46]