Shire of Gnowangerup CEO Bob Jarvis to retire in September after three decades in local government

A Great Southern council is on the hunt for a new chief executive, with a long-time public servant set to retire. Shire of Gnowangerup chief executive officer Bob Jarvis will depart the council on September 30 when his current contract expires. Councillors voted to appoint a recruitment agency to find Mr Jarvis’ successor at a special meeting last Wednesday. Mr Jarvis said it was the right time to finish up working after “semi-retiring” at the end of 2018. “I will be 70 in February and now seems like a good time to retire,” he said. Mr Jarvis has spent a combined 32 years working for local governments across WA, including the City of Perth, Shire of Manjimup, the City of Bayswater and the Shire of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. He has spent 19 of those years as a chief executive officer, including nearly a decade in the role at the Town of Bassendean. He was appointed chief executive of the Shire of Gnowangerup in October 2019 for a three-year term. He said finding a capable successor was his key focus in his last four months in the position. “A high priority is to get a competent CEO,” he said. “I want to see progress to get the Gnowangerup Star project up and running. The lino machine needs electrical work. We’ve got a few of the machines up and running and they are quite spectacular. “We’ve got a few projects to finish using grant funding and we will also be getting a few projects started using road funding, but someone else will need to see those projects through to completion.” Mr Jarvis said he had been fortunate to work with a good council at the Shire of Gnowangerup. “They are an exceptional council, you couldn’t ask for anything else as a CEO,” he said. “I’m very pleased with what we have achieved.” Mr Jarvis said he would continue to do relief work in local government after he retired, but he was looking forward to focus more on his family. “I have grandchildren and I want to spend more time with them,” he said.