Confidential leaked documents show concerns about political influence in the appointment of a long-term employee to a plum $500,000 job at a south-east Queensland council, despite her not being shortlisted by the recruiter tasked with filling the role.
Louise Rusan was voted in by councillors as chief executive of Redland City Council in early 2025 following a six-month process that saw an earlier recruiter quit after raising concerns about staff who would report to the chief executive being on the selection panel.
The documents, obtained by this masthead, show Rusan was not shortlisted for the role by the second recruiter, leading a key councillor to raise concerns about potential political influence and an inappropriate vote with internal risk management figures.
Following Rusan’s shoehorning into the second recruitment process after what was intended to be its final stage, councillor Wendy Boglary – a member of the audit and risk management committee – wrote to its two independent members outside of council.
In the email, Boglary said she was concerned the process “may not align with local government principles, and may potentially be non-compliant with legislation”.
“I am concerned that this deviation from the agreed process, including an inappropriate vote, may have influenced the selection outcome,” Boglary said.
The council advertised the role in September 2024 after former chief executive Andrew Chesterman’s resignation. Rusan, who has held various positions at the council since 2011, began acting in the role at that time.
That recruitment process came to an end two months later, when recruiter Mark Ogston pulled out after having to manage links between Rusan and council staff placed on the panel – a relationship he said “a majority of candidates were worried about”.
The issues raised by Ogston were not eliminated in the second round of recruiting, which began in November 2024.
During both processes, the recruitment panel featured staff that would, or did, report to the future chief executive. The second round was chaired by the CEO’s own executive assistant, Micah Beaumont, while he was acting in a more senior position.
Following initial interviews, the new recruiter, Tim Turner, provided a shortlist of candidates to the panel – made up of Mayor Jos Mitchell, Deputy Mayor Julie Talty, Beaumont and two external members – which did not include Rusan.
Two candidates were chosen by the panel to present to councillors in early February, but potential problems with one of them were raised by a councillor just two days before the final interviews.
Immediately after those presentations, councillors and Beaumont held a closed-door meeting where it was decided to have the second-ranked candidate struck out and have Rusan present to the group. This was despite Rusan being described by Beaumont as the “third closely ranked candidate” in an email to councillors after the meeting.
It’s unclear how Rusan became the third-ranked applicant when Turner had provided three other shortlisted applicants and five more longlisted applicants. On the document sent by Turner to the panel, Rusan is named on a third list titled “internal applicants”, of which there were just two.
In his email, Beaumont said a majority of councillors had supported one of the applicants who had presented “but requested to receive a presentation from Louise Rusan”.
In an email to her fellow members of the audit and risk committee later that week, Boglary put it more bluntly, saying there had been deviation from the agreed process that the panel would select two finalists, with the preferred candidate to be appointed by a council resolution.
“Given this was strongly driven by a councillor, deputy mayor Julie Talty, it could be perceived as political influence, which, in my opinion, undermines the principles of good governance,” she said, seeking advice about “how to manage the impending risks associated with this recruitment process”.
The council’s policy forbids decisions being made in closed-door meetings of councillors.
Emails show Rusan made her presentation to councillors the following week, before being voted into the role by councillors in their public meeting on February 19, 2025.
In the ultimate vote, one councillor, Paul Bishop, attempted to abstain but was told this would be reflected as a vote against. Asked if she was for or against, the audibly exasperated mayor, appearing via videolink, said she was for Rusan’s appointment.
Asked this week why he wished to abstain, Bishop cited “governance concerns”.
In response to questions from this masthead, Boglary declined to comment except to say her concerns were about the process of the appointment, not the person being appointed.
Mitchell Petrie, the external chair of the audit and risk committee with whom Boglary raised the concerns, also declined to comment when contacted by this masthead.
Both recruiters also declined to comment.
Beaumont and Rusan did not directly respond to questions. Rusan said as a candidate in the process, she was not in a position to comment.
A Redland City Council spokesperson said: “Council undertook a thorough and robust nationwide search for a new CEO and all appropriate processes were followed.”
Talty and Mitchell did not respond to questions before deadline.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics and the public service. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.