MOUNT Isa chief executive Emilio Cianetti could be described a quiet, mild mannered man. I have never seen him direct frustration or irritation to anyone in or out of a council meeting.
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As a journalist you have to keep independent but Mr Cianetti was a man you could not help liking. I do acknowledge I don’t know Mr Cianetti too well, having usually seen him from the distance. He was usually content to let his mayor be the council’s mouthpiece. But former mayor Tony McGrady described the chief executive as a hard worker who was always in the office before and after Mr McGrady arrived. I have never heard a bad word said about Mr Cianetti.
Except of course when it was revealed that a nameless former employee accused him of corruption. These were charges investigated by independent solicitors in 2014-15, costing the council more than $40,000, which cleared Mr Cianetti of blame. And some councillors in the previous term suggested he was too much a supporter of the mayor at the time.
I was cynical of why Mr Cianetti would return to his former position as Director of Engineering Services. Especially during an election year with a new mayor.
But then again, he has worked for the council 20 years, having started as a works engineer in 1996. He first started as director of engineering in 2004. There’s a lot more that goes into being CEO, such as being a public face, than in what’s undoubtedly his passion, engineering.
Also, his contract lasted three years when he took the CEO position in 2013, according to this publication.
With the end of a contract and a new mayor with an aim of restructuring to create more positions, maybe it was Mr Cianetti’s own choice. Maybe there was no better time for him to return to the former role.
I also want to share the quotes from an article that first acknowledged Mr Cianetti as CEO.
“I am proud of the community I serve and proud to be a Mount Isan. I have seen the city evolve over the years and want to help move the community and our organisation forward into an exciting future, because I truly believe we have an exciting future ahead of us.”
-Chris Burns, senior journalist