City hires new social services, heritage managers

The city’s new social services manager started her job this week, and a new manager of arts, culture and heritage has been hired to start next week.

Ellen Armstrong has been hired to manage the Social Services Division at City Hall; she started her job on Tuesday. She replaces Linda Mitchelson, who retired recently.

Armstrong has more than 25 years of experience working for municipalities. Much of that time was spent working for Northumberland County, where she held various management jobs and was also the acting director of communications for a year.

She is a graduate of Trent University who has furthered her education with several certificates in public management from the Schulich School of Business.

Meanwhile the city has also hired Karen Rennie to serve as manager of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Division. She will replace Becky Rogers, who died unexpectedly in October.

Rennie has worked for the last 10 years as heritage tourism manager and museum curator for the Town of Perth.

Rennie was responsible for promoting tourism to Perth, as well as running the Visitor Information Centre. She was also the curator of the Matheson House Museum, a sandstone house from 1840.

Rennie starts her job with the city on Monday.

The city will also be hiring a new director of community services soon. Ken Doherty, who’s done the job for the last 14 years, is retiring. He’s worked a total of 30 years for the city. His last day of work is May 4.

The city is also expected to soon hire an age-friendly coordinator, an operations manager for the Memorial Centre and a communications manager.