By Chris Thomson | posted on November 2, 2018
WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S oldest working relationship between a sitting mayor or shire president and current CEO comes to an end tomorrow in the Great Southern town of Woodanilling.
Belinda Knight commenced as CEO of Woodanilling Shire in August 2001 and in the 17 years since has only ever worked with one shire president, Russel Thomson.
“I started here only three weeks before the planes flew into the twin towers in America,” Ms Knight said in a stark reminder of the passage of time.
“I’ve now been the longest continually serving president at the Shire of Woodanilling since it started in 1906.
“That’s something I’m pretty proud of.”
Her last day at the Shire, and the last day of her executive partnership with Cr Thomson, is tomorrow.
Exhaustive Weekender analysis reveals the partnership to be the longest currently existing between a CEO and shire president, or mayor, across all of the state’s 139 local governments.
“I’ve got a few more years to go until I retire but I just wanted a little bit less pressure as I wind down towards that,” Ms Knight confided.
“I’m going over to Lake Grace as Deputy CEO.”
She said there had “not been a moment” she had regretted at the Shire.
“Woodanilling turned my life around,” she added.
“My family, even as a child, my parents were pretty much the same; we moved every two or three years.
“I found that very hard to stop doing until I came to Woodanilling and suddenly, 17 years later I’m still here and I’ll really miss the place.”
She considered her greatest achievements to be a rebuild of the Shire office facade, and completion in recent years of seven units for older people.
“We have seven beautiful people living in them who love their units and have formed their own little community,” she said of the units located in Woodanilling town.
“They are all people who have come here from outside the shire, and had a connection and wanted to come back.”
Remarkably, Cr Thomson has been on the council since 1982 and Shire President since 1995. He said Ms Knight had “achieved a hell of a lot” for Woodanilling.
“From my point of view, it’s been a great relation- ship, and I’m sad to see it change,” he expanded.
“Belinda brought a huge amount of passion to the job.
“Woodanilling has been her home and when it’s your home you put all your effort into it.”
He said Ms Knight had done everything in her power to make the shire a better place.
“It’s a huge job in there, running a small shire,” he explained.
“At a larger place, the CEO says: ‘Look, Bill, just do that report up for me, will you? And I’d like it tomorrow night’.
“Well, at Woodanilling, hello, that’s the CEO’s job.”
Tomorrow is Ms Knight’s last day working at the Shire.
She’s racked up a big chunk of leave, and says she’ll take it until December 31.
Sean Fletcher, who also quite remarkably has filled CEO roles at the shires of Carnamah, Lake Grace, Morawa, Sandstone and Wyalkatchem, will act as Woodanilling CEO until the job is filled.
The position has been advertised on a three-to-five-year contract with a remuneration package of $126,956 to $198,210.
