Musical chairs at Places Victoria

Board and staff changes continued last month with Planning Minister Matthew Guy confirming that Peter Clarke was no longer on the board and that Ken Fehily had been appointed as the chair.

The board of directors has decreased in number markedly since it was formed in October 2011 when VicUrban became Places Victoria.

Originally there were nine board members including Mr Clarke and Mr Fehily, but the board is now down to five members.

Jan West, Professor John Stanley and Timothy Shannon all appear to have resigned as they are no longer listed as members of the board on the Places Victoria website.

The remaining board members are Ken Fehily, William Bowness, Lorna Gelbert, Judith Nicholson and Graeme Parton.

Docklands News understands the board will eventually be whittled down to just three people.

To add to this Sam Sangster resigned as CEO in November 2012 after just a year in the position.

Since his resignation general manager precincts Simon Wilson had been acting CEO but Peter Armstrong stepped into this role early last month.

On March 4, the CEO of the Growth Areas Authority (GAA) Peter Seamer took over the role of Places Victoria CEO.

Mr Seamer told staff at GAA that Planning Minister Matthew Guy had asked him to  take over the role for six months.

Further job cuts are also likely in the coming months.

Around the same time as Mr Sangster’s resignation last year the authority announced that the equivalent of 53 full-time positions would be made redundant and Mr Guy has confirmed further job cuts.

“Places Victoria will now be restructured to become a sustainable business entity and this will include a reduction in jobs,” Mr Guy said.

Mr Guy did not comment on rumours the organisation will move from its current address at Goods Shed North.