Warrnambool city councillors who ousted chief executive officer Peter Schneider have their say

While you may understandably be feeling some concern, we'd like to remind you that every large organisation, whether government or private, must occasionally, in the best interest of that organisation, go through such a process.

You have elected us to make the right decisions for this community.

Sadly some recent choices have not worked out and now we are attempting to correct that situation, prior to the next council term.

If we didn't feel so strongly about the situation we would never have made this decision so close to an election.

Council and the community have high expectations and we have set a high bar.

The community and staff surveys have sent a loud and clear message about the organisation's communication and engagement as being both lacking and dismissive in nature.

These results were extremely concerning given that 'staff culture' and 'community engagement' was asked to be elevated as key organisational priorities and risks.

It has also been baffling as to why one of our most successful engagement strategies, the Warrnambool City Council 2040 Plan, has seen the operational implementation of the plan both neglected and stripped of resources after being given contrary assurances at the highest level.

Having engaged with thousands of community members and almost 100 supporting organisations in developing the plan, it's disturbing that councillor's continual requests for appropriate operational support has fallen on deaf ears.

This is just not acceptable.

Councillors have developed a plan with you, the community, and we made a pledge to you that we are committed to it being resourced and implemented.

We are confident that the acting CEO will reinforce our values, particularly with staff, and pursue Warrnambool's interests with passion and represent us well with external stakeholders.

Whilst there may be diverse views in the community and among councillors, potentially the one thing that will hold the city back is obsessively dwelling on the past and using the past as an excuse.

We believe that our decision, as difficult as it has been, is in the very best interest of our community.

To convey a clear plan and pathway forward, for you the community, we have put in place a time- line that will see the newly-elected council undertake a recruitment process post council election which is scheduled for October 2020.

Now that the decision has been made, we expect the Mayor and all councillors to move forward and continue to focus on the aspirations and needs of the community for the remainder of the current council term.

- Warrnambool City councillors Sue Cassidy, Kylie Gaston, Mike Neoh and David Owen.

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