By Casey Neill
The outgoing Yarra Ranges Council CEO says housing, roads and drainage will be among the biggest challenges for his replacement.
Glenn Patterson announced on Wednesday 25 July that he’d be leaving his job of the past 10 years to take on the same role at the City of Casey.
“I still have the energy and the commitment, but 10 years is a decent stint in a role like this,” he said.
“It’s good for me and the organisation to have a change.”
Mr Patterson said his replacement would implement a change to “activity-based working” when the council relocated to its new headquarters and that was “a key challenge”.
“There’ll be all sorts of issues in terms of medium-density housing coming into urban area,” he said.
But there’s also opportunity for investment in the Upper Yarra, including through the Mountain Bike Destination project.
He said the new CEO would need to continue infrastructure upgrades, including aquatic facilities and pavilions, and deal with unmade roads and drainage solutions.
“We’re getting more extreme weather events,” he said.
Mr Patterson said Yarra Ranges had “modernised” during his time there.
“We’ve invested heavily in technology and digital initiatives to improve our interaction with our customers,” he said.
He said the council had also increased its capital works delivery, to a record $72 million this year.
“We’re more active and we’re doing more and delivering more on behalf of the community,” he said.
Mr Patterson highlighted community hubs and recreation centres – like the Mount Evelyn athletics track – as key projects delivered during his tenure.
“There’s been a real splurge on that kind of investment,” he said.
“We’ve also quadrupled the amount of footpath investment.”
He said Yarra Ranges had also improved its planning services under his watch, and increased its tourism pull.
The region is now second in the state for visitation, up from fourth place 10 years ago.
The new civic office is one of the projects he wished he could have seen through – it was on the radar when he arrived.
“It’s not been the most popular project,” he said.
But Mr Patterson said it would make a huge difference for the community and employees.
