Caerphilly County Borough Council looks set to appoint former chief executive Stuart Rosser as its new temporary boss following the suspensions of current chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan and deputy Nigel Barnett.
It is understood councillors sitting on the authority’s appointments committee, made up of five Labour members and two Plaid Cymru, have unanimously agreed to Mr Rosser’s return on a part-time basis. A meeting of full council on July 23 will now make the final decision based on the committee’s recommendation.
Last week the council was branded “a laughing stock of Wales” by former Plaid Cymru council leader Lindsay Whittle after plans to appoint Mr Rosser at a special meeting were dropped at the last minute following a change of legal advice.
Instead, the council was told it had to advertise the position of head of paid service and interview candidates. Mr Rosser was the only applicant for the job and was interviewed by councillors today (Thursday July 18).
The advertised salary for the post was between £142,524 and £158,360 pro rata – the same level of pay which sparked the original leadership crisis. It is believed Mr Rosser has agreed to a lower salary for three-and-half-days a week for a six month period and has made a commitment to be available 24/7 if he is needed.
Blackwood Labour councillor Nigel Dix has welcomed the news.
He said: “I am delighted that Plaid have stepped up to the plate and showed some responsibility to support Mr Rosser as a candidate.
“I am delighted he’s coming back to help us out. It is good for the council, good news for the workforce and good news for the taxpayer because he has agreed to come back on the salary he was on when he retired in 2010.
“We can now move forward in a positive way to sort out the council’s governance issues.”
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.
Prior to the meeting of the appointments committee, the opposition Plaid Cymru group has questioned why the original pay rise, deemed unlawful by the Wales Audit Office, had not been fully reversed.
The council cut Mr O’Sullivan’s pay rise to £5,000 in January with the Wales Audit Office deciding not to seek a court ruling, but according to the council the original pay rise decision still stands.
Plaid leader Cllr Colin Mann said: “I was staggered to learn that the salary scale for the chief executive has not been scrapped and it is now being offered for an interim chief executive.
“People are asking exactly what is going on? We have Labour previously apologising for the incredible pay rises but then negotiating only a fairly minimal reduction for 20 out of the 21 people who received them.
“Now there is the post of interim chief executive being advertised at the very rate that Labour apologised for.
“In spite of the widespread media reporting that the pay rises had been rescinded when challenged about the advertised pay rate, a council spokesperson confirmed that the pay rates had never been rescinded.
“No wonder the public are confused and becoming even more dissatisfied with the shambles at Caerphilly Council.”
A Caerphilly Council spokesman said: “The compromise on senior officers’ pay that was reached earlier this year resulted in Mr O’Sullivan being paid a spot salary of £137,000.
“The arrangement related to him alone and the salary scale itself was not rescinded. That’s why the interim role has been advertised at the appropriate salary scale level.”
Best decision made by this council in fourteen months of administering our Authority.
I will bet that the ships sails in a straight line for at least the next six months, look out any of those people, who were said by the Auditor General for Wales to have acted `unlawfully` in the pay deal scandal and who still sit behind their desks in reach of the civic cheque book.
Plaid leader Cllr Colin Mann said: “I was staggered to learn that the salary scale for the chief executive has not been scrapped and it is now being offered for an interim chief executive."
Is Colin Mann paying attention at council meetings? I certainly knew that the the so called 'reversal' of the pay structure was nothing of the kind, the highest paid officials merely had their pay adjusted to lower bands within the new pay structure.
Colin Mann will be saying next that he didn't know that his deputy, in the Plaid group, was one of the five councillors who awarded these disgraceful rises in the first place!