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City of Parramatta chief executive Gail Connolly is in talks to leave the council and has engaged lawyers to negotiate the terms of her exit, which could include a payout of up to a year’s salary.
Four sources with direct knowledge of the discussions confirmed the local government executive was seeking to depart the $515,000-a-year job. Her contract expires in April 2027.
City of Parramatta chief executive Gail Connolly.Credit: City of Parramatta
Two sources said Connolly had engaged lawyers to enter into early discussions about her leaving and that she was seeking a payout equal to 52 weeks’ pay, beyond the state’s standards for council bosses, which sets out a maximum of 38 weeks’ pay.
The revelation of plans to depart, which are yet to be officially agreed upon, is the latest twist in a festering internal staffing crisis at the council. In July, the Herald revealed the council had spent millions of dollars removing staff and having them sign non-disclosure agreements, and in an unrelated incident, the Independent Commission Against Corruption raided the staff offices later that month, seizing multiple staff devices.
Last month, the Supreme Court found Connolly had not complied with the requirements of the Local Government Act when she had withheld key documents from councillors before they voted to censure a fellow councillor over a Facebook post sharing a Herald news article.
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In a judgment on the case, Acting Justice Monika Schmidt found Connolly had improperly intervened in a code of conduct complaint against independent councillor Kellie Darley.
Schmidt wrote that Connolly “had no discretion to withhold [the documents] and was also obliged by the [Local Government] Act, I consider, to put them before council, so that the councillors were given the opportunity to consider the report in its entirety”.
She found Connolly “did not take necessary account of the requirements of the act, the code and procedures. General managers are given no role to play in a council’s consideration of a complaint against a councillor or a conduct reviewer’s final report, but they are obliged to ensure that the relevant business papers are put before the councillors.”
The Herald sent detailed questions to Connolly via the council’s media team. In response, a council spokesman said: “For privacy and confidentiality reasons, council does not comment on employment matters related to individual staff members.”
The spokesman said the council had filed a notice of intention to appeal against the finding.
Controversial appointment
Connolly, a seasoned local government executive who had also led Ryde and Georges River councils, was announced as the successful candidate for the Parramatta role in March 2023 after a six-month search.
Her appointment was mired in controversy. Days after Connolly’s appointment, an executive staff member at the council sent a 15-page dossier to the ICAC alleging “irregular negotiation practices” and “insistent candidate choices” in the lead-up to her appointment.
Included in the confidential dossier, revealed by the Herald last year, was the allegation that Donna Davis, then-lord mayor of the council and now the state member for Parramatta, had finalised Connolly’s contract in the hours before a council meeting was due to take place to rescind the offer, and that she had informed councillors of her actions 22 minutes before the start of the meeting.
However, the anti-corruption body made no findings in response to the allegations. There is no allegation Connolly engaged in corrupt conduct, only that a staff member raised concerns.
The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.
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