By Cam Lucadou-Wells
I Cook Foods remains “unfinished business” for outgoing Greater Dandenong Council chief executive John Bennie.
The council’s CEO for the past 16 years says he’ll be aiming to resolve the ‘Slug Gate’ saga before he stands down on 30 November.
He says that parliamentary inquiries, the Victorian Ombudsman and Victoria Police investigations have “vindicated Council and its officers”.
But it was “not possible to draw a line” under it until I Cook’s Supreme Court lawsuit against the council and the state Department of Health was finalised.
“There’s unfinished business there from Council’s point of view in responding to the claims that have been made against the council and individuals in the council.”
Time is fast running out for Mr Bennie to achieve that by his tenure’s end.
The I Cook end-date is “out of my hands”, he concedes.
“We understand that if the adjourned case is to be reconvened that it may be in the period that I remain.
“A date had to be chosen (for my departure) and the end of November seemed to be the most logical and appropriate time.”
I Cook Foods is one of several reasons why he and a majority of councillors agreed on a four-month contract extension.
Mr Bennie also listed the council’s post-Covid financial recovery, a new staff EBA, and advocating ahead of November’s state election.
As to why he’s now stepping down, he says “sixteen years is long enough”.
“There’s a certain period of time that a CEO can achieve their optimal output.
“(This) is the time which I need to be looking to move on and quite frankly the council need to be looking at a new CEO.”
The I Cook saga, in which the Dandenong South commercial caterer alleges it was wrongly and corruptly shut down by health authorities, has dragged for three years.
It has coincided with an “unprecedented” Covid period – a time challenging for everyone, he says.
“I think we’re all now hearing, experiencing and recognising the fatigue that exists everywhere from Covid primarily is greater than any of us might have imagined.
“As a CEO of an organisation of 1000 people, … seeking to ensure that staff avoid catching Covid on one’s watch is something that has inherent pressures built into it.
“But when you overlay that with the other matters that Council continues to deal with, it has built up a workload that has caused work pressures to be high.”
Mr Bennie adds the challenges of rate capping, cost-shifting, climate change and the Covid-related impacts on “a community already struggling with the cost of living and life’s disadvantages so prevalent in the City of Greater Dandenong”.
“In this context, Council’s response to the I Cook Foods’ Supreme Court claim is no more nor less important.
“Each and every one of these issues has brought its own unique challenge to our resourcing, our capacity and our resilience – but for a CEO, these have been matters that I am expected to manage and I do so willingly.
“These – and more – are equally important matters that a CEO is expected to address and I remain committed in my final six months to doing so to the best of my ability.”
