LONG-TIME City of Whittlesea governance manager Michael Tonta departed council last week for a new role with the City of Melbourne.
Mr Tonta joined the City of Whittlesea in July 2005 and has been council’s governance manager for the past 15 years. He will serve as director of governance for the City of Melbourne.
Chair administrator Lydia Wilson said Mr Tonta’s wealth of experience would be difficult to replace.
“Mr Tonta has served the city with dedication and commitment for 15 years, which is quite an outstanding term,” she said.
“That would mean more than 150 ordinary council meetings, not to mention the number of special council meetings, induction programs and briefing sessions of council.
“There are few people in the sector who understand governance better than Mr Tonta.
“He is often called upon to speak at forums and participate in panel sessions given his enormous wisdom and knowledge in this particular area.
“I thought long and hard about the best words that I could use to describe Mr Tonta, and the following words immediately came to my mind: dedicated, tenacious, unflappable, professional, impartial and confidential.
“All of those are traits that make the very best leaders in the local government sector.
“He has provided very significant support to successive CEOs, executives and councils, and
I must sincerely thank Mr Tonta on behalf of the panel of administrators for his enormous ongoing support that he has provided to me and the panel throughout the time we have been at the City of Whittlesea.”
Mr Tonta said he had thoroughly enjoyed his time at the City of Whittlesea.
“It has been an extraordinary honour and privilege to serve both our organisation and community for over 15 years,” he said.
“I’d also like to acknowledge the governance team, which supported me to ensure that our corporate and council meetings, briefings and other governance activities were undertaken effectively.
“They mostly work in the background and help support our council to perform as an effective government.
“I’d like to thank the council for your good wishes and the community and the organisation for the support I have received over the time here.”
