South Burnett Regional Council CEO Ken McLoughlin at his desk at the SBRC last year
Gary Wall
SBRC General Manager Finance Gary Wall (Photo: SBRC)

November 3, 2014

Senior staff member Gary Wall has been appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer of the South Burnett Regional Council following the sudden departure of CEO Ken McLoughlin this morning.

southburnett.com.au understands Mayor Wayne Kratzmann and senior HR staff met with Mr McLoughlin about 8:00am on Monday.

After this, a meeting of all Council staff was called where it was announced that Mr McLoughlin would be leaving to “pursue other career opportunities”.

Mr Wall, the General Manager Finance, Property and Information Technology, was immediately appointed Acting CEO.

Councillors learned of the imminent change during the past 24 hours.

Sources within the SBRC said there were no allegations of financial impropriety or  misconduct; it was more a “clash of ideals” with Mayor Kratzmann and CEO McLoughlin heading in different directions.

Mr McLoughlin was appointed CEO by former SBRC mayor David Carter in 2011.

At the time he was Director (Strategic Projects) for Logan City Council.

He was appointed CEO Designate on October 17, 2011, before assuming the role of CEO on October 24, 2011, on a five-year performance-based contract.

This means he had almost two more years to complete on his contract at the time of his departure.

Mr McLoughlin refused to comment tonight on the day’s events.

southburnett.com.au could not contact Mayor Kratzmann at the time of publication.

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UPDATE November 5: Despite several attempts, southburnett.com.au has been unable to contact Mayor Wayne Kratzmann for comment. The mayor began 10 days leave this morning – which had been previously announced – and is due to return on November 15.


 

2 Responses to "Surprise As CEO Departs Suddenly"

  1. A most unusual situation considering the dogmatic support of Mr McLoughlin’s stewardship by all councillors until now.

  2. No comments yet!!! Really surprising. What is going on??

    I sure would like to know which direction the Mayor was going v/s the way that the CEO was travelling.

    One thing is for sure – it’s gonna cost the poor ratepayer heaps and heaps again. When does it end, the enormous waste that is. This deserves a full and very frank explanation very quickly indeed!!!

    Come on, get with it and fish out the “real deal”. There is a whole lot we poor suckers do not know, reminds me of mushrooms, how they are treated that is…

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