Town of Cambridge Appoints Consultant for Independent Governance Revie

Published on 10 February 2021

At a Special Meeting of Council held on 4 February 2021, the Council unanimously approved the appointment of Mr Steven Cole of Cole Legal to conduct an Independent Governance Review at the Town of Cambridge, as a requirement of the Department of Local Government, Sports and Cultural Industries Authorised Inquiry Report, which was tabled in the Parliament on 18 November 2020.

Mr Steven Cole is a qualified lawyer with more than 40 years of professional, corporate and business experience through senior legal and governance consultancy, as well as a range of executive management and non-executive appointments.

Steven's professional qualifications are from the University of Western Australia, Harvard, and other overseas universities, in addition to holding a current legal practice certificate (WA) (law degree with honours).

Memberships include Law Society (WA) and Australian Institute of Company Directors WA. Mr Cole has an extensive involvement with local government, including Chair of Commissioners - City of Canning in 2014/2015 and Facilitator of in excess of 40 Council governance reviews of regional and metropolitan local governments.

The Review will commence in mid-February 2021 and will cover the following:

(a) The role of council;

(b) The role of individual council members;

(c) Council culture and dynamics;

(d) Relationship between council and the CEO;

(e) Relationship between council and the administration;

(f) Management of employees;

(g) Recruitment and selection;

(h) Harassment and bullying;

(i) Procurement and probity; and

(j) Record keeping.

Mayor Shannon, Councillors and CEO John Giorgi look forward to working with Mr Cole and are confident the Review will endorse the good governance process at the Town of Cambridge.