Matthew Cripps, left, with former Mount Worth ward councillor and mayor Murray Cook.
Matthew Cripps, Baw Baw’s Director of Planning and Development, has abruptly left the council “to pursue other career prospects.”
Mr Cripps’ departure was announced by the council on 6 July, with his last day on the 11th.
Mark Dupe, Baw Baw’s Corporate and Community Services director as of September last year, is now the council’s longest-serving director at just 10 months.
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The departure of the planning director follows that of former community assets director Phil Cantillon, who left for Frankston City in October and was replaced early this year by Cohen Van der Velde.
With Baw Baw CEO Alison Leighton only taking the reigns 11 months ago, the council’s “executive leadership team” line-up is now completely different to what it was this time last year.
The media release announcing Mr Cripps’ departure was unusually brief, with two lines from the CEO and not much else. The release covering Mr Cantillon’s departure was over five times longer at 541 words.
“Matthew Cripps has contributed greatly to the development of planning during an extremely high growth period for the Shire,” Ms Leighton wrote.
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“We are very appreciative of his service and leadership and wish him every success in the future.”
The only other notable information in the release was that recruitment for a replacement “will commence immediately,” suggesting even those within the organisation only had short notice of Mr Cripps’ departure.
