When Paul Anderson took the reins at Gosford City Council, he had a challenge on his hands. The council didn’t have the best reputation in the community, and the staff culture was not what was desired. Having spent his entire career in local government, Paul was up to the task. ”I’ve been in local government for 27 years,” he says.
”I started off as a trainee building surveyor and then worked my way through management levels to director and then general manager roles. This is my third full-time role as a local government general manager or CEO in New South Wales. Prior to that, I had director roles and acting general manager roles. My last stop before Gosford was at Eurobodalla Shire Council, which is on the south coast of New South Wales.”
Coming into the council, Paul set to work nailing down the issues at hand, which was a challenge in itself. ”he process when I started was to pick up an organisation that had some issues with responsibility within the community. It had some community concerns about unethical behaviour as well as a lack of appreciation and reliability among the community, and was seen as a bit of a hindrance to local economic development.”
