His appointment as director emergency management is the first of the senior appointments that will soon be followed by the naming of new directors of communities, sustainability, corporate and infrastructure.
Council currently operates with three acting directors and no director sustainability. Matt McPherson is acting director corporate, while Andrew Fletcher is acting director community and Kate Lemon acting director infrastructure.
Applications close for the other four directors’ positions on April 26 (Wednesday) and once assembled the five will report directly to Cheif Executive Officer Pauline Gordon.
She is a newcomer to the Campaspe Shire Council herself, having been appointed to the CEO role late last year.
She appears to be hand picking her new executive team and is using Ringwood-based senior management and executive recruitment company Camden Search to fill the roles.
In a Campaspe shire website “sales pitch’’ to prospective candidates she opened by saying ”this is my back yard and it could be your back yard too’’.
Ms Gordon announced the shire was open for business and was looking for people “ready to deliver great outcomes and with a can-do attitude’’.
Ms Gordon’s sales pitch was passionate and from the heart, something sources from within the shire say she has in bucketloads and is spreading quickly to what was reportedly not such a “happy place’’ in recent years.
She said the successful applications would value ‘’community partnerships’’ above all else — a term which appears to be the new catchcry of the shire.
"You will need to be a people person,“ she added in the video while accepting a coffee from the new co-manager of the Gargarro Gardens Cafe, Joel Raglus.
The recently appointed Chief Executive Officer and new executive team have sent a clear message by the appointment of Shannon Maynard to the flood recovery role.
That being they are hoping to support the flood-devastated Rochester community in whatever capacity they can, both financially and through shire’s existing service network.
Mr Maynard was unveiled to the public at Rochester’s Community Chat breakfast, four weeks after he had been appointed to the position, created after funding was secured through the state government in response to the flood disaster.
Council has been using its community development officers to work with flood-affected communities, on top of their usual duties, but a funding injection by the state government has allowed for Mr Maynard’s appointment.
The new role as Executive Director Emergency Management will involve Mr Maynard working with the shire’s flood-affected communities as — six months after the flood — they continue to struggle to return to a normal lifestyle.
Mr Maynard will have his own team of officers working out of temporary offices in flood-affected towns.
He is the start of a significant recruiting campaign by the shire, which includes the director communities role and the management of the high-profile recreation and leisure and community partnership portfolios.
Applications close for that position tomorrow (Wednesday, April 26).
The same timeline applies to the director sustainability position, which includes overseeing the council’s waste and environment management, regulatory services such as local laws and public health, along with integrated planning.
Council’s financial position will be the responsibility of the new director corporate, along with the people and culture element of the local government organisation.
The corporate role includes the budget process and long-term financial strategy of the council, while also managing council’s IT department.
Major projects and leading the property and building recovery from recent flood events will be the big-ticket items for the new director infrastructure, along with responsibility for the shire’s road network.
