. •Search for new director to be managed in-house.
Out: Patti Wenn will be leaving the Baw Baw Shire Council for personal reasons. Image: BBSC.
ADVERTISEMENT
THE BAW BAW Shire Council is looking for a new Director of Community Care and Strengthening following the resignation of previous director Patti Wenn.
Baw Baw Shire CEO Helen Anstis told The Warragul Citizen Ms Wenn has been on leave since mid-May for “personal… and family reasons”.
“[Ms Wenn has] resigned and I’ve accepted her resignation effective immediately as of last week and I’ve advertised the position,” Ms Anstis said.
The directorship is one of two presently vacant at the council. The other is Community Assets, which has been vacant for 10 months.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Community Assets directorship is being managed by the McArthur employment consultancy, but the new vacancy is being managed in-house to reduce costs.
“It’s not being done through a consultancy, so our HR (human relations) team will organise the replacement and it will be advertised tomorrow for two weeks,” Ms Anstis said.
“Normally if you were to go through a consultancy you would have to negotiate a fee and all those sort of things.”
“We can do it in-house which is what we’ll do.”
The acting Director of Community Care and Strengthening directorship since May has been Recreation and Environment Manager Kerry Irwin, but Ms Anstis plans to take over much of the directorship role until a replacement is found.
“I’ve decided to take a closer look at that directorate during this vacancy period and so those managers will report to me so I can get a better understanding of that business,” Ms Anstis said.
“The managers will also be stepping up and taking on some additional responsibility so it’ll be a shared role, but I won’t be doing everything that director will be doing.”
“This is just an opportunity for me to meet with those managers on a regular basis to hear what are the issues that are happening [sic] and what are the opportunities and threats to our business.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The Community Care and Strengthening directorship covers home and community care, aged and disability services, social support services, maternal and child health services, sport and recreation, the Arts Centre, and environmental health.
Both vacant positions are expected to be filled by August.
Patti Wenn did a lot for Arts and culture and so a bit sad to see her go, hopefully the next person will also be a strong leader for the community arts role that Baw Baw Shire needs to play for the community and will take the advice of the ACAC group.