REDLAND City Council will hire a community events officer, without conducting a financial viability review into such an appointment.
Division 2 councillor Craig Ogilvie lost his bid to get council to conduct the review before making the appointment at last Wednesday's general meeting.
The new officer will provide a one-stop shop for events organisers and attract community events to the Redlands.
Mayor Karen Williams said the new officer would be paid with $100,000 from available Community Grants money and would ultimately save the council money.
Cr Ogilvie said making the appointment was irresponsible when council was heading towards a $11.3million dollar deficit.
"We need to be finding these savings and then start looking for more," he said.
"This officer would be nice to have but we need to be on an austerity diet and we are reaching for the lolly jar," he said.
Cr Paul Bishop also voted against the proposal saying "community grants were the lifeblood of many valuable community organisations".
Council CEO Bill Lyons said neither he nor council officers liked the fact the organisation was heading for a larger deficit.
He said council was talking with consultants and the leadership team about a "root and branch" review of all costs.
At the same meeting, council debated applying for a $1million grant from Rockefeller Foundation for a chief resilience officer.
Councillor Paul Gleeon backed up Mr Lyon who said such an appointment would be unviable as there would be ongoing costs after the grant ran out.
