Caerphilly County Borough Council is set to announce its fourth chief executive in five months as the fallout from the secret pay deal scandal continues.
Former council chief executive Stuart Rosser, who retired from the authority in 2010, will make a comback to take the top spot if councillors agree the move at a special meeting tonight (Thursday).
If the move, being proposed by council leader Harry Andrews, is approved, Mr Rosser will take over from acting deputy chief executive Sandra Aspinall.
The return of Mr Rosser follows the suspension of chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan and deputy chief executive Nigel Barnett.
Both men have been arrested by Avon and Somerset Police on suspicion of fraud and misconduct in a public office. The pair have been released on police bail pending further inquiries.
The police investigation, being carried out by the English force after a referral from Gwent Police, follows a damning report published by the Wales Audit Office into huge pay rises agreed by the council in secret last year.
Mr O’Sullivan’s pay increased from £132,000 to £158,000 as a result of the decision – later deemed unlawful by the Wales Audit Office.
The pay rises, of up to 30%, for 21 senior council bosses, caused huge anger among staff and the public and forced the council to vote through a compromise deal scrapping the original decision.
After Mr O’Sullivan was suspended on full pay, Mr Barnett took over his responsibilities, until he was suspended earlier this month following his and Mr O’Sullivan’s arrests.
In the interim, education director Sandra Aspinall has assumed the role of acting deputy chief executive but councillors now want Mr Rosser to come back for six months at a cost of £64,000 to council taxpayers.
Prior to the plan of Mr Rosser returning, Plaid Cymru group leader Colin Mann had argued an outsider should come in.
He said: “I have the greatest respect for Sandra Aspinall, acting deputy chief executive of Caerphilly Council, who has assumed responsibility for leading the authority following the latest revelations.
“However, it may now be time for the Labour administration to consider the option of an interim chief executive until the police come to a conclusion on the matters they are investigating.”
On Tuesday, council leader Harry Andrews said: “Mr Rosser has extensive experience in key local authority roles, which means he is ideally placed to represent the council’s interests in relation to the imminent governance and financial challenges ahead. He would provide the stability that this organisation needs at this time.
“We have a first class workforce, but I feel it is vitally important to restore public confidence in our governance arrangements and an independent, external appointment would help strengthen this position.
“I want to send a clear message to residents that we remain firmly committed to delivering high quality services and we are working hard to ensure swift and decisive steps are taken to address the issues facing us at the moment.”
The meeting is due to take place tonight (July 11) at 5pm.
If, has as been reported, we are about to see the return of Stuart Rosser, a past Chief Executive of Caerphilly Borough Council, as the `interim` chief executive, then that is a stroke of pure genius on the part of the Council`s movers and shakers.
He has more than three decades of public service under his belt, he has a totally unblemished record of public service, and, he is a consummate professional well able to help sort out the mess this Council`s senior officers have got the Caerphilly County borough Council into.
Whoever came up with this idea is a genius.