From the Australian defence force and organising the Sydney Olympics to British local government and the British police, Redland City Council's new cohort of general managers come from a broad variety of backgrounds.
Mike Hyde is the new general manager for customer services, leaving his position as general manager of Wingecarribee Shire Council in the southern highlands of NSW to move closer to family and friends in south east Queensland.
Mr Hyde said he’s embracing the change of roles, which is nothing new to him after 30 years in the army which included postings in the Middle East and the US.
“I left the army in 1996 when I was headhunted to work on the Sydney Olympics, and when that finished up I worked for Wollongong City Council, but I left in 2005 before it imploded and the council was sacked in 2007!” Mr Hyde said.
After years of military postings in Queensland, however, he said he’s happy to be back in the “right state” for Origin matches.
But adjusting to supporting the local sports team has not come so easily for new corporate services general manager, Martin Drydale, a diehard Poms supporter in the Ashes.
Despite moving to Brisbane in 2004 for a change from a life’s work with Scarborough council in England, Mr Drydale left his job at QUT to apply for the Redlands position.
“I missed the involvement in the community, and working in the government sector that is closest to the community, so I applied and thought, ‘here we go again!’” he said.
“Scarborough is a seaside town with very similar demographics to the Redlands, but for a population of about the same size we had 36 councillors! But with no state government, there was less bureaucracy and a cleaner funding relationship with the federal government.”
With rates consultation on the horizon for Redlands, Mr Drydale said he’s looking forward to community consultation and working through the benefits of various models, having experienced significant rates reform under Margaret Thatcher in the UK.
New general manager of governance Nick Clarke is another Britsh expat to join the management team, leaving a 15 year career in the British police force as a chief inspector to follow a career in tune with his passion for the environment.
Mr Clarke also found it hard to shake the British connection, leaving his first Australian job with the EPA to work with Brisbane City Council and oversaw their partnership with Cornwall’s Eden Project, an installation created to reinforce the importance and beauty of the environment.
As well as enjoying the Redlands’ natural beauty, Mr Clarke said he was looking forward to the challenges of a newly created position.
“We’re going to see unprecedented change across Queensland’s councils after changes the state government has brought in,” he said.
“I’m going to be overseeing the review of council’s committee and workshop structure and assessing how well the public can access the decisions and see why and how they’re made.”
Seeing councils through significant changes is nothing new for the fourth new face to Redland City Council, Toni Averay, who has come direct from Logan City Council after working through the new challenges of amalgamation and implications for DAs.
Ms Averay is the general manager of the newly formed regulatory services department, and also comes from a military background, leaving the army in 1997 when her eldest son started high school and they no longer wanted to be posted around the country.
“Since then, I’ve worked for five different SEQ councils, each with its own challenges and priorities, but now I’m looking forward to staying at Redlands long enough to enjoy the fruits of the hard work I put in!” Ms Averay said, having left Logan just after implementing a new system in order to take up the Redlands job.
“It’s also going to be a great challenge to guide the new department in balancing lifestyle, environment and employment factors while accommodating the 15,000 new infill housing the state has allocated to the Redlands,” she said.
The overhaul of the council’s organisational structure has been implemented by chief executive Gary Stevenson, who welcomed the new faces and said “collectively [they] will provide sound management to build on the strengths of this organisation and, in time, will demonstrate prudent leadership for the community”.
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