Jeff Tate is a bureaucrat, an artist, a runner, and has a resting heart-rate of 54. Oh, and he's also the man who will lead Douglas to de-amalgamation.

With his car packed at his home near Adelaide, Jeff Tate will this morning embark on the long drive north to begin the hard work as Transition Manager for the Douglas region.

The cool, calm and collected former Onkaparinga (SA) CEO of 14 years spoke with The Newsport yesterday about his approach to the role, and his outlook in these turbulent times.

The Newsport: What attracted you to the job?

Jeff Tate: I had a long period in local government and it was very successful, I think, I regard it as being successful.

I decided I wanted to do something else, but I wasn't completely across what I was going to do so I actually retired...I like to keep busy and I did actually have a second career in consulting, and that has been great with a lot more flexibility.

I saw this advertised (Transition Manager position) and I thought it sounded really interesting, and I had done an amalgamation in South Australia...a voluntary amalgamation of three councils, and then I had 14 and a half years as CEO so I was able to stick with it. I wasn't just there, then gone. I think that's part of my thinking about the Douglas situation.

I saw this as an opportunity to create something new, even though it's a recreation of something, I think it should be looked at as something new and not something old because what was there was five or six years ago. It really is a new start and that's the approach I'm taking.

TN: How are you getting your head around what the issues are, and what resources are you using?

JT: What we're trying to do is the group of Transfer Managers are working to a common template for the plan. It's important to get that planning right, and that includes looking at all the work that's been done before hand, understanding Treasury (Queensland Treasury Corporation) figures and all the assumptions.

My intention is to have a very small team of people to work on the de-amalgamation, and they will largely be drawn from the Cairns Regional Council. At the same time there will be a need for external resource as well but I'm trying to minimise the costs...not just for the de-amalgamation process but also the administration costs.

When the new council comes in on the 1st of January they can change it if they wish, they'll appoint their own CEO who will have his or her own ideas on how things should work, so it's all going to be interim structures.

TN: Are you expecting any backlash over working with a predominantly Cairns Regional Council team?

JT: I imagine there'll be some views expressed about that. In any community there are always a range of views...The relationship I've had with Cairns so far has been completely professional.

One of the points I'd like to stress is that I'm basically a bureaucrat employed by the State Government to undertake a project over the next eight or nine months.

I'm not the new council. We'll be advocating very strongly for the new organisation, but I am a bureaucrat.

I'll take account as to what people in the community will be saying...but I've got a job to do, and I'm looking to take a very strong risk management approach to it.

TN: Were you surprised by the poll result given the QTC figures and the recommendation of the Boundaries Commissioner?

JT: For me it all starts now. What happened before, it's a democratic process and having worked in local government for a long time I believe in the idea of people having their say and controlling what happens in their community.

Life starts now. I've got a project to do and that's what I'll keep my eye on...I'll do the job to the best of my ability with the intention that things kick off on the 1st of January on a solid footing, and the basis we work on won't fall apart in the first twelve months.

I sound like a bureaucrat I guess, but I am.

TN: There was a vast difference between Queensland Treasury Corporation figures and those put forward in the Friends of Douglas Shire model. What figures will you be basing your plan on?

JT: The (QTC) figures will be the starting base for me, and obviously any other figures that are around I'll be taking into account as well. I'll be doing my own analysis.

There are two things you need to look at; one is the mechanics of things, how things are worked out and whether they're correct or not. That's largely a factual thing.

And then the other thing is the assumptions people have to make. If you're projecting forward, you're making assumptions by definition. It's about interrogating those assumptions.

TN: What does success look like for you?

JT: My thinking is this is about getting things ready for the 1st of January, but also putting things in place so the new council is able to operate and make their own decisions about things as they go along.

There'll be a transition. It won't all happen in the next eight or nine months, there'll be things that will need a transition over time.

People will need to understand and accept that's the case, and it is largely around managing risk - business risk, not political risk - and I understand that one."

TN: Do you feel a certain level of pressure to perform?

JT: I will do my best. I don't want to feel pressured because if you feel pressured all the time you don't perform at your best.

A bit of pressure is good, it's like in running with a bit of competition and the adrenaline gets going. When I work I try and be calm. I'm lucky, I've got a really low resting pulse rate I think comes from fitness, and I practice calmness as well. I operate from a fairly calm base which I can ark up to a high energy level to get things done.

I will deal with the role with a lot of passion, to do it and do it well.

People won't necessarily see that it's been a good job when I finish because you won't know until a few years down the track if it's been successful or not.

I don't feel under so much pressure I can't move. At the end of the day I have to make some decisions myself and I'm quite prepared to make those decisions. And I will attack the role with gusto.