Kiama Council Chief Executive Officer Jane Stroud is ready to build on “the amazing/difficult experience” of her first four years in the job after being retained for another three years.

A contract renewal until 2028 was debated and voted on at the Council meeting on Tuesday night after she was rated as operating at a high standard at a recent performance review.

Stroud joined Kiama Council as CEO in June 2021.

With an extensive background in local government and strategic planning, she previously served as director and deputy CEO at Logan City Council and director at Southern Downs Councils in Queensland.

At the end of Tuesday’s meeting, Councillors convened behind closed doors to discuss Stroud’s potential reappointment.

Council acknowledged and approved a request from the CEO to renew her contract for a period of three years from 18 June 2025.

Stroud’s employment contract will now run until midway through 2028 and she will receive a 3% pay rise as part of Council’s decision to keep her in the executive role.

“Firstly, can I just say thank you to the Mayor and the Councillors for their decision.

"It's the single biggest decision that Council and councillors ever make - they only get one employee and I'm really honoured and privileged to be their employee and to work with them,” she said.

“It has been a really amazing/difficult experience working at Kiama Council over the last four years and I'm really grateful to be able to continue to be part of the direction that the organisation goes in and to keep working with the amazing staff and the amazing team that I have built an incredible relationship with over the last four years.

“I have some absolutely fabulous people who work for me and who work on behalf of the community and do an incredible job. I'm proud to be their leader."

Stroud joked that she lives in “PIO Land” in reference to the Performance Improvement Order which has been imposed on Kiama Council by the NSW Government due to past governance problems.

“That's a shared challenge but that is the challenge,” she said.

“I would really love to see the organisation have that PIO lifted and to be able to know that we have a sustainable future in front of us and that you can leave a legacy that nobody has to go through this again because it's been really tough.”

Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald said he was really happy that the Councillors have decided to support the CEO in keeping her around.

“I think it promotes great stability in the administrative arm of Council,” he said.

“Council has shown that they have confidence there that things are heading in the right direction.

“We've only been here for nine months and essentially we've come in on the back of a Performance Improvement Order that is really important that Council are addressing and we've seen that the results so far are going very well under the CEO and the executive leadership group that the CEO has been able to assemble.

“It provides great stability for the rest of our term and essentially I think it's really good to provide public confidence in Council that the councillors and the administrative arm are working cohesively with a set of objectives in mind.”