Why was council chaos allowed to happen?

OVER the past year or so Nottingham City Council has suffered many problems which have resulted in them being virtually dysfunctional and now under Government supervision.

Apparently it has been claimed that the irregularities have been taken place for some time if not years, yet a lot of finger pointing and highlighting put the focus for the present situation on Councillor Mellen the present council leader elected to the position by the current majority Labour party.

It is a political position and relies on the advice and guidance of the chief executive (used to be known as town clerk/clerk of the council).

It is the responsibility of the chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure the foundations and strategy/systems are in place to ensure the council can function lawfully, legally and with integrity.

The CEO job is to advise the council ensuring best advice is available to them at all times:

■ Act as lead adviser, management leader and head of paid services

■ Continually examine alternative delivery models for infrastructure and service delivery, resource management, budgeting, prioritising, allocation, revenue and contracted spending and savings;

■ Maintain assets via data and information

■ Financial risk exposure to risk through debts and obligations (review overall budgeting).

The CEO should work closely with the treasurer, whose job is to manage revenue and cash flow:

■ Financial stability, overseeing, assess and allocate annual budgets. Oversee investments and safeguard finances.

■ Comply with regulations for the maintenance of cash reserves and liquidity.

As a lay person looking at the job descriptions and bearing in mind their positions, roles and function within the council I, as a citizen of the city, really do question how they missed what was happening and Nottingham City Council was allowed to get into the position it is in.

I believe the situation did not just happen overnight but has been developing for some time and ask why it was not spotted and resolved earlier before it reached the present position?

Dennis Ashcroft Sherwood