Gold Coast City Council CEO Tim Baker Resigns Abruptly Amid Expense Scrutiny

The boss of the Gold Coast City Council has abruptly resigned.

Tim Baker was appointed as chief executive of Australia's second largest council in 2021 and announced on Tuesday that he would leave the role early in December.

"Over recent months, my wife and I have been considering the next chapter for our family and what that means for our future," he said in a statement.

"After careful reflection, I determined that I was unlikely to be in a position to make the longer term commitment required of the role beyond my current contract.

"Serving as Chief Executive Officer of the City of Gold Coast for the past five years has been a privilege."

In 2024 councillors voted unanimously to extend Mr Baker's contract, worth about $700,000 a year, for another four years.

A council spokesperson said he would take leave after council's next full meeting on July 28.

Scrutiny over travel expenses

Mr Baker urged the Gold Coast to embrace growth during his tenure and described the city's light rail project as "the envy of the country" before it was scrapped by the state government last year.

But his use of ratepayer funds for overseas travel was described as "exorbitant" and "disproportionately high" by some councillors.

Mr Baker and one his staff members spent $54,000 during a week-long trip to the United Kingdom last year.

In February, it was revealed that an extra $46,000 had been spent on staff travel beyond what was disclosed in a public expense report.

Individual costs were withheld due to privacy concerns, according to council documents.

Earlier this month, Acting Mayor Mark Hammel announced he would ask councillors to back an independent review of the city's senior executive team, including Mr Baker, at council's next full meeting.

Councillors held a late-notice meeting behind closed doors on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a confidential legal matter.

"Legal matters being consider have to be done in confidential, especially if there's any staffing matters involved we don't discuss those in public," Cr Hammel said.

Councillor Nick Marshall said the meeting was "high-level, to do with specifics around roles".

"I'm going to leave the story-telling to the CEO to tell his story as opposed to me," he said.

"Councillors always need to be aware of what's going on and establish those guardrails for the city and that was an opportunity to do that prior to today's announcement."

Mayor Tom Tate, who is overseas, said in a statement that Mr Baker had helped the city prepare for the 2032 Olympic Games.

"The City strengthened its long-term financial sustainability, modernised its operating model, delivered major infrastructure and service improvements, enhanced organisational capability and positioned itself to meet the opportunities and challenges associated with the Gold Coast's continued growth," he said.