AFTER more than seven years as chief executive officer, Mark McShane will officially retire from Mount Gambier City Council on Friday.
Mr McShane entered the role in 2011, after long-standing chief executive Greg Muller retired.
Mr McShane announced his retirement following last year’s Local Government elections, citing he had seen friends suffer chronic illness and “decided to reassess his personal priorities moving forward”.
“I have not stopped, it has been successive decades of quite challenging and demanding jobs,” he said.
“So that was my reason for saying it’s time.”
“It really is a great job, it’s a great organisation but ultimately you have got to make the call and I had to consider what I am going to do for the rest of my life.
“When you are working all the time often it can be too late, then you have not got the health you want to be able to do the things you have always planned for in retirement.”
Mr McShane outlined projects undertaken under his guidance, including the central business district upgrade, art gallery, railway lands, ReUse Market, demolition of the former hospital and the rail trail.
“We also assumed responsibility of the Riddoch which was a large piece of work and we managed to secure James Morrison Academy here and what went on in the background to make that happen was huge,” he said.
Mr McShane said the latest and largest achievement for council was securing the $25m in State and Federal funds for the proposed $39.1m Mount Gambier Sport and Recreation Hub.
“People keep on asking me ‘why are you not staying to see it built’, but I am leaving on a high,” he said.
“Securing $25m worth of grants is a good way for me to exit the organisation, somebody else can then take the reins and make sure the hub gets built on time, on budget and on spec to be open late 2021.”
While Mr McShane expressed pride of the work undertaken to deliver council’s physical projects during his tenure, he said the relationships with staff are most important to him.
“The key thing we have tried to do here is make sure we have got highly skilled professional people,” he said.
“The real reason why you stay in an organisation is the quality of people you work with and when you put in 60 hours plus a week, you want to make sure the people around you are highly professional and fun to work with.
“I have been fortunate in having exactly that in this organisation.”
Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin commended the outgoing CEO for his work for council and the community over the years.
“Through his strong leadership, guidance and management of council affairs, the City of Mount Gambier has progressed on all fronts,” she said.
“Mark’s knowledge and advice is outstanding across a broad range of community issues and topics and I have particularly appreciated his mentorship since becoming mayor late last year.
“He leaves us in a very solid financial position and he will certainly be missed.”
Interim CEO Graeme Maxwell starts in the position on Monday.
