Christchurch council finance chief resigns

Friday, 24 November 2023

Christchurch City Council’s outgoing chief financial officer Leah Scales.

Christchurch City Council’s chief financial officer Leah Scales has quit, the latest in a string of high-profile resignations that has left the organisation’s leadership in tatters.

In an email sent to all council staff and then to media on Friday, Mary Richardson, the council’s acting chief executive, said Scales would not return from sick leave.

Due to personal reasons, Scales would not work out her notice period, Richardson said.

It comes at the end of an excoriating week for the city council.

Scales’ resignation was announced just days after that of chief executive Dawn Baxendale.

And the revelation of Scales’ departure came just hours after The Press published the results of a damning investigation by professional services company KPMG into financial mismanagement and failures at the council.

A council spokesperson refused to answer questions on how long Scales’ notice period was meant to be or on what day she resigned.

In a statement, Richardson thanked Scales for her contributions and wished her well for the future.

Scales joined Christchurch City Council as its chief financial officer in May 2021, also taking on the role of general manager of resources in March 2022.

She was one of five members of the council’s executive leadership team, which included Baxendale.

Dawn Baxendale and mayor Phil Mauger during a Christchurch City Council meeting in February. Baxendale has since resigned from her position as chief executive.

That team has now been whittled down to two permanent members - Richardson and Lynn McClelland, assistant chief executive of strategic policy and performance.

Baxendale tendered her resignation on November 6 and went on leave a few days later, but her resignation was not made public until Monday.

On Monday, a council spokesperson said Baxendale’s leave was extending to November 30, after which time she would no longer be employed by the council.

Baxendale is also not working out her notice period, which was meant to be six months.

The KPMG report, released to The Press under official information laws, found that poor documentation and financial management within the council’s three waters unit led to a $6.5 million staffing blowout.

However, there were issues beyond the three waters unit. The report pointed to failures across the executive leadership, human resources and finance teams, and made recommendations for improvement.

Key council staff created their own 31-point action plan to address the report’s findings.

It assigned 17 of them solely or jointly to the head of people and culture (who unexpectedly went on leave earlier this month) and 16 solely or jointly to the head of finance, now Russell Holden, who has been acting chief financial officer since Scales went on leave.

The council plans on completing 15 of the action points by March.

Scales is the third executive leader to resign from the council this year, following Baxendale and Jane Davis, the general manager of infrastructure, planning and regulatory services.

Davis mysteriously went on leave in February and never returned. She resigned in July, but this was not made public until her resignation took effect in September, despite repeated requests for more information.

Richardson took on Davis’s responsibilities when she left, and most recently has taken on Baxendale’s.

A council spokesperson said Richardson and her colleagues were yet to decide what happened next for the executive leadership team, and did not confirm if the council intended to replace any roles.