EXISTING senior staff members Brad Ferris and Tracey Squire have landed the two newly created positions of deputy chief executives at Albury Council.
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The long awaited appointments were announced yesterday and coincide with the return of mayor Kevin Mack from contesting Farrer in the federal election.
Mr Ferris will be in charge of infrastructure, planning and environment and Ms Squire has the responsibility for business, growth and community.
General manager Frank Zaknich will become chief executive under the move, but long-serving planning and environment director Michael Keys and acting community and recreation director Simona Coad will depart at the end of June.
Mr Keys has been a senior staffer at Albury since the mid-2000s after previously working at Murray and Dubbo councils.
He also had a stint as acting general manager when Les Tomich had to vacate the role to undergo heart surgery in late 2011.
Ms Coad stepped up to director level when James Jenkins went on extended leave in August last year.
Cr Henk van de Ven was the most vocal critical of the shake-up instigated in 2017.
According to the council's 2017-18 annual report, $1.13 million was spent on senior staff other than the general manager, who was paid $336,314.
Mr Ferris has been council's engineering director for 11 years and Ms Squire has been the economic development tourism director for a decade.
"Tracey is a proven strategic leader who brings a high level of business and commercial acumen coupled with community building to her new role while Brad, who is a qualified civil engineer, will continue to provide the strategic direction for infrastructure, development and commercial business related activities across Albury Council," Mr Zaknich said.
He paid tribute to Mr Keys, Mr Jenkins and Ms Coad,
"Their exemplary commitment and significant contribution to the organisation over the many years they have been a part of our senior management team has really been outstanding," Mr Zaknich said.
More than 40 candidates from across Australia applied for the deputy chief executive positions which take effect from July 1.