Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Podunk’s planner plans his move


They’ll be holding another going away party at City Hall shortly, as another senior executive with the City moves on to new challenges. According to a Vancouver Island website, Prince Rupert’s City Planner (among other jobs) Tom Ireland is re-locating to a 100,000 dollar a year job with the City of Duncan.

Ireland who has been working at Prince Rupert City Hall for over18 years, takes up his new duties as Chief administrator for Duncan on July10th. Ireland received the job offer over 21 other applicants for the recently vacated position in Duncan, a position that became available after the current administrator announced his retirement after thirty years of service.

His experiences in Rupert in working with First Nations and senior levels of government apparently counted heavily in his favor when it came time to make a final decision.

It will be of interest to see how many applicants the Mayor receives for the now vacant position here! The story from the Cowichan News Leader is reprinted below.

Duncan goes to Ireland to replace long-time exec
By Peter Rusland
The Cowichan News Leader
Wednesday, June 7, 2006.

Goodbye, Paul. Hello, Tom.

The City of Duncan's long-serving administrator Paul Douville will be replaced July 10 by Tom Ireland.

Douville is retiring locally after 30 years of city hall service while Ireland moves to Cowichan from Prince Rupert. Ireland juggled duty as the City of Prince Rupert's corporate administrator and city planner, and head of the development services department for about 18 years.

He was picked for Duncan's $100,000 post from 21 applicants. Six were interviewed by city councillors and consultant Jim Craven, city hall said yesterday. Ireland impressed Mayor Phil Kent as a stand-up guy.

"He's very energetic, quite up-front and you know what he's feeling. He also conducts himself with a good deal of humour."

Ireland holds a Bachelors degree in environmental studies, a diploma in public sector management from the University of Victoria, a B.C. Board of Examiners certificate in local government statutory administration, and a senior certificate in local government administration.

Experience working with First Nations; federal, provincial and local governments; plus private groups in making various projects reality also makes Ireland a good fit to replace Douville, Kent signals.

The family man in his early 50s enjoys, fishing, gardening, and cooking.
The city is very lucky to land Ireland, Kent says.

"Many other communities haven't had luck getting applications. Duncan's a desirable place to come," the mayor said, noting Ireland's glowing references.

"He'll be a good fit as a team member with our staff and he's shown a very good ability to work with senior levels of government."

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