Officially appointed for a four-year term at a special council meeting last night, the new CEO will begin on January 31, replacing Brett Stonestreet who has served in the role for the past three years.

Moyne Mayor Jim Doukas said Mr Madden was unanimously selected by councillors from a field of 27 candidates for his outstanding experience and qualifications in areas of service delivery which are critical to shire residents.

“The new CEO will be challenged to find new ways to stretch ratepayer dollars to improve services such as road construction and planning processes,” he said.

Cr Doukas also thanked Mr Stonestreet for his service.

“On behalf of my fellow councillors I would like to thank Mr Stonestreet, particularly for his diligence and positive attitude, and wish him prosperity in his career,” he said.

Mr Madden has worked as director technical services at Golden Plains Shire Council for the past 15 years with duties including planning, building, local laws, roads, contracts and waste management.

He holds a degree in civil engineering and a graduate diploma in municipal engineering and management, has been vice-president of Regional Arts Australia and chairman of Regional Arts Victoria.

Mr Madden said he had identified Moyne’s recently established and proposed infrastructure developments as a key challenge.

“I believe that there is the potential for substantial ‘win-win’ outcomes with both the development proponents and the community benefiting if we get the balance right,” he said.

“Moyne has already established a robust community engagement process for major infrastructure developments, and I plan to build on the current arrangements to ensure that the boom in green energy developments can be sustained whilst maintaining the critically important small communities and productive agricultural industry.”

Moyne Shire councillors voted (four to three) earlier in the year to advertise the CEO position and not automatically renew Mr Stonestreet’s contract, but took the unusual step of encouraging him to reapply for the position.

Mr Stonestreet, who has been CEO for the past three years, would not comment on whether he had taken up the councillors advice to reapply but said he was keen to stay living and working in the area if the right opportunity arose.

Mr Stonestreet said he was proud of the contribution he was able to make to the shire while CEO. “I think I was open and transparent with councillors and the community and provided the community with a lot of input into decision making,” he said.

“We were also able to produce three surplus budgets and we have been independently assessed as a financially sustainable council.”

The Moyne Shire has also achieved a community survey satisfaction of second out of 20 councils in its groups under Mr Stonestreet’s leadership.

“I have really enjoyed working for the Moyne Shire Council and a would like to extend a special thank you to all my staff for their support and hard work” he said.