Savings after council chief changes
SENIOR management is being restructured at the borough council, cutting posts from seven to four with a saving of almost £300,000 a year.
The move follows chief executive Steve Atkinson’s announcement of his intention to retire. He will be succeeded by deputy chief executive Bill Cullen.
Three exisiting chief officers will become directors of their relevant departments. The two current deputy chief executive positions are being scrapped.
At last week’s full council meeting support was given to the new arrangement, allowing the current cost of the seven post format of £780,000 a year to be trimmed to a little over £500,000.
Chief executive elect Bill Cullen said: “With Steve Atkinson planning to retire and Sanjiv Kohli moving on from the organisation there was the opportunity to relook at the structure of the senior management team to see what could be fit for purpose going forward.
“But there was also the question of whether there could be savings to the taxpayer if there was some restructuring. To protect services going forward we have to do things smarter and more efficiently and so a new structure was proposed.”
Prior to the meeting and with the approval of the council’s scrutiny commission, a cross-party member appointments panel was convened to interview Bill as the obvious internal candidate for the role of the new chief executive.
Following a robust process overseen by an independent regional advisor it was unanimously agreed to recommend him for the role, do away with the two deputy chief executive posts and create three director positions.
As three existing chief officers are already carrying out substantial proportions of these roles their appointments were clear.
Sharon Stacey who was in charge of housing, community services and partnerships will become the director of community services.
Julie Kenny as chief officer for corporate governance and housing repairs is the new director of corporate services and Rob Parkinson who oversaw environmental health has responsibility as director of environment and planning.
Outside of the management team the restructure also removes the need for a corporate governance support officer, bringing the salary savings of £268,472 to just over £290,000 a year.
Leader of the council, Mike Hall (Con, Burbage, Sketchley and Stretton) said: “I think that will be a good move for the council but also shows how committed we are to the community we serve by still trying to reduce costs at the authority.
“I think they will make a great team. You always have to get this balance between cost saving and investment and growth. We have to keep growing as a borough and you have to keep doing more for the people of the borough as well because it’s taxpayers money at the end of the day in one way or another.”
The new structure will come into force from January 1 after being unanimously supported by all ward representatives at the full council meeting.