Council stalwart retires

Published on 26 May 2017

 After 43 years behind the wheel beautifying Council's streets Mark 'Possum' Yates completed his final run as Federation Council's Street Cleaner on Thursday.

A hardworking and lovable larrikin, Possum, as he is affectionately known has now officially began his well-deserved retirement.

Mark first began with Council as a Parks and Garden Labourer, on May 8, 1974 before transferring to Street Cleaner in 1986.

It was a bitter sweet moment Mark said as he pulled the truck up on his final day.

“I really love my job and the people I have worked with over the years,” he said.

“We are like one big family here at Council and as much as I am looking forward to retirement I am really going to miss everyone too.

“It has been a great place to work and I have really enjoyed my time on Council.”

Federation Council hosted a celebration to honour Mark’s service and a large number of Council staff attended to congratulate Mark on his 43 year career.

Federation Council General Manager Chris Gillard congratulated Mark on his many achievements from over the years and thanked him for his honourable commitment to Council.

“On behalf of Federation Council we would like to wish Possum the very best in his future endeavours, and thank him for his unwavering devotion to Council and our Communities,” Mr Gillard said.

“Possum is so well regarded not only among the management and staff across Federation Council, but throughout our communities.

“We posted to our Facebook page and expressed our gratitude towards Possum and we have had thousands of hits and hundreds of post likes and comments of well wishes, which just goes to show the amount of respect we all have for this wonderful man, and rightfully so.”

Mark is set to take a holiday abroad to begin his retirement.