New chief exec hunted

People who like the idea of running the council have until the end of the month to apply for the vacant chief executive position.

The job came up as a result of the departure of Richard Cummins at the end of last month, in a deal whereby Mr Cummins agreed to go and the council agreed to pay him an undisclosed amount.

Until a successor is appointed the council's four strategic directors are taking turns to run the show.

As two of their jobs will disappear soon in a round of money saving changes, their performances could stand them in good stead if they apply to take over the top job permanently.

Under a system called Managed Change, being brought in by the council, instead of a chief executive plus four directors, there will be a chief, plus two. And instead of 19 heads of service, there will be ten. The aim is to save £2.4 million a year. The advert calls for someone not necessarily in local government, but with a track record of change management, who is committed to public service and democracy.

When Mr Cummins announced he was to leave in July he said: "I have been here 15 years, which is a long innings and now is the time to go if I am to do something else."

The fact that no one knows how much Mr Cummins, 57, received in his settlement caused outrage in the Free Press letters pages.

The settlement was backed by the full council, without members being told how much was involved. When the Free Press asked for the figures it was told that they had absolute exemption under the Freedom of Information Act, because the issue involved personal and confidential information. Readers said it should not be hidden because public money was involved.

Labour councillor Peter Morris said he understood that the council leader and some other cabinet members could not work with Mr Cummins. But he said Mr Cummins hadn't done anything wrong and it might be better and cheaper to sack the entire cabinet and keep the chief executive.