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.
