Baw Baw Shire has its third interim chief executive officer in the past four months.
Former Dandenong City ceo John Bennie was appointed by council to fill the interim role at its meeting at Wednesday and started in the position yesterday.
He replaces Cohen Van der Velde who had been interim ceo since February and was due to finish in the position in the next couple of weeks to take a planned and extensive period of long service leave.
Mr Van der Velde replaced another interim appointment, Martin Hopley, who took leave for personal reasons after taking on the interim role following the resignation of the previous CEO Mark Dupe.
Both Mr Hopley and Mr Van der Velde were senior executives of the shire before acting as ceo.
Mr Bennie held the top position at Dandenong for 16 years, stepping down in November 2022.
His final few years at Dandenong were marked by a major controversy that became known as "SlugGate" after council and Victoria's Health Department were accused of corruption by the owner of I Cook Food, a food manufacturing business based in Dandenong.
Council ordered the business be closed down and laid charges against it after its inspectors claimed to have found a slug at the premises.
Founder of the family business Ian Cook argued at several inquiries and court hearings that a slug was never found at its factory that provided 25,000 meals a week to Meals on Wheels, hospitals and aged care facilities.
Council charges against I Cook Food were later withdrawn.
Mr Bennie was named and questioned at several of the hearings and by police that were brought into the investigation.
At a Supreme Court hearing where Mr Cook sought compensation from Dandenong council and the Department of Health and Human Services the judge ruled the closure of the business by the council was "invalid".
When contacted by The Gazette on Thursday Baw Baw Shire mayor Danny Goss declined to comment on "SlugGate" and Mr Bennie's role at Dandenong during that time.
On a personal Facebook page soon after last Wednesday's council meeting Cr Goss said the appointment of Mr Bennie as the shire's interim ceo was "great news for Baw Baw Shire".
He said council conducted proper due diligence of several candidates for the ceo role.
He described the position as "a very specialised job".
Cr Goss said since leaving Dandenong City council Mr Bennie "had done some work in the sector" while semi-retired.
Mr Bennie is a proven leader and accomplished ceo with a wealth of experience in local government and will help the council considerably in the months ahead, Cr Goss stated.
Cr Goss said council had now started an advertising campaign for a new permanent ceo and was continuing to work through a comprehensive recruitment process.