MOORA Shire’s community development manager Mike Prunster has retired after nearly 22 years with the Shire.

Mr Prunster initially came to Moora to work for the Commonwealth Bank in the mid 1970’s and only planned to stay for three years.

But after some time with the bank he was looking for a change and decided to take over the newsagency, which he ran for about seven years before accepting a job as Shire accountant.

He held this position for nearly 18 years until he took over the role of community development manager.

Colleagues and councillors have valued Mr Prunster’s contribution to the Shire and the community in the many years he has been living there.

Shire president Sheryl Bryan said Mr Prunster had been an integral part of the Moora community and he was going to be missed.

“I’m so glad he’s not leaving the district and I think he may come back occasionally and do some consulting for us,” she said.

“His knowledge is going to be invaluable.”

Operational development manager John Greay has worked at the Shire slightly longer than Mike and was equally complimentary.

“He’s going to be sadly missed from my point of view – you just can’t replace 22 years of knowledge overnight,” he said.

“He’s got a strong interest and knowledge in town planning and I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of phone calls being made to him for advice.”

Mr Prunster said one of the most memorable changes he had seen in his time was the move from manual accounting methods to computer-based accounting.

“I think we were the second-last Shire in the State to adopt the computer-based accounts system,” Mr Prunster said.

“I never saw so many people at an annual meeting of electors as I did that year.

“They all wanted to know how we could justify spending $51,000 on a computer and software, even though many of them used them in their own businesses.

“None of us had ever had experience with computers so we had a lot to learn, but I think we handled the changeover pretty smoothly.”

With three children, seven grandkids and his wife Judy with secondary breast cancer, Mr Prunster says he hoped he would be busy enough not to be bored.

“I hope I’m not going to be bored and sit around watching TV all day.

“I’ve got my bowls and golf too, so I guess I could always fit in a couple more rounds.”

There’s also the work he does for numerous community organisations to keep him occupied and before any of that there’s about three weeks ironing and two weeks washing to catch up on.

“I also suppose I have to learn how to cook.”