General News
15 May, 2025
Interim CEO Craig Niemann farewelled
Horsham Rural City Council will face a new chapter when they welcome new CEO Gail Gatt later this month but not before acknowledging the contribution of interim CEO Craig Niemann who attended his last council meeting in April.
"It was a matter of timing and availability and a degree of urgency as the council was in caretaker mode," he said.
"I was just finishing a 13 week stint at the Glenelg council when the phone rang and I saw it as an opportunity to help."
While he doesn't get caught up in social media, he said he was aware of some of the difficulties the prior council had faced and saw it as an opportunity to come in with fresh eyes and ideas and see it through the last weeks of its term.
"I had the opportunity to help steer the ship on both the the outgoing council and the incoming council and as it turned out it was an all new council except for one returning member, Ian Ross.
"And for Ian it was a new role too as he was elected mayor," he said.
Mr Niemann said he takes his hat off to anyone who puts their hand up for election to local government.
"No one comes into this with a full understanding of the nuances of government and there is a lot to learn and with HRCC there is a budget of $60 to $70 million dollars to manage," he said.
"Additionally it is a very public role and there is always risk involved so I had a great deal of respect for them"
Mr Niemann said he met the candidates at the forum prior to them being elected and since then had seen them adjust to working together as a team and grow in confidence.
The new councillors also faced a new ward system which he said could have been opportune because it presented a new way forward, with less comparisons.
"The ward system offered the new council a different playing field to develop their own way and individual responsibilities to the ward they represent and I think that was a good thing," he said.
"Obviously a new council inherits decisions made by the outgoing council and they may not always agree but it will be the same when this council's term finishes and that's how the system is structured."
Council, as in the councillors, make the decisions but they are based on the information provided to them by the staff.
"It is the CEO's role to support the mayor and councillors and to provide the best information possible for them to base their decisions on."
"The councillors job is to represent the community and its interests."
Mr Niemann said he believes the community doesn't often see the work that goes into running a council and the municipality.
"HRCC has 300 staff on the ground and they are all committed and proud of the work they do and I have enjoyed working with them," he said.
After 42 years in local government, Mr Niemann has seen local government change over the years but said it is mostly the people and places that change because the core of local government remains the same.
As the son of a dairy owned parents he set of to university after completing year 12 in 1982 to study accounting in Bendigo.
But he found the lack of practical application challenging and moved into business studies in conjunction with a position with Borough of Eaglehawk and then East Loddon Shire.
He applied from within local government for the CEO position at Serpentine and settled there for 20 years, married his wife Jill and had three children.
He served as CEO at the Bendigo Council and has held numerous board positions in health and community.
"Horsham and the wider district has so much to offer as a rural city and has many natural assets with the Grampians and Mt Arapiles so close," he said.
Mr Niemann is a advocate for green spaces and said he enjoys seeing the community enjoy these spaces.
Mines can be done well but he is not in favour of the imposing method of taking over farmland, "and I feel that from a farming persective," he said.
"Farm Fritz and other industries that are interested in coming to the region is good for jobs and the economy," he said.
"Horsham and the surrounding district needs jobs to keep our young people here because they are the future and without them the community as a whole cannot grow.
"We need young people in jobs and in our sporting teams too," he said.
Of the new CEO Ms Gatt, he said he hopes everyone will welcome her.
"Gail will be good for Horsham."
The outgoing CEO said he is looking forward to being at home after being a weekend husband and father for eight months and see what the future holds for him.
But you get the impression he is not finished with loval government yet, "I love what I do and that propbably comes from parents who were community minded," he said.
Municipal monitor Steven Kingshott will release his report on the HRCC at the end of the financial year. He was appointed in August 2024 after a difficult period for HRCC and the resignation of former CEO Sunil Bhalla.
In the 2024-2025 period 15 monitors or administrators were appointed to councils across Victoria to deal with complaints of governance and behaviour.
By comparison during 2026-2020 only five were appointed.
Mayor Ian Ross and councillors acknowledged Mr Niemann's experience and assistance in helping them in their new roles at the April council meeting and wished him well.