Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

Executive Portfolio Holder:	Ric Pallister, Leader of Council
Assistant Director:	Ian Clarke, Legal and Corporate Services
Service Manager:	Mike Holliday, HR Manager
Contact Details:	Mike.holliday@southsomerset.gov.uk or 01935 462161

Purpose of the Report

To confirm the recommendation of the Appointments Committee and appoint a new Chief Executive Officer for South Somerset District Council.

Public Interest

The District Council have commenced a programme of Transformation and Income Generation in order to meet the considerable financial challenges facing the Council within the next 3 years and this will require a unified workforce under strong and effective leadership. It is considered that change on this scale will require a dedicated Chief Executive with both the skills and commitment to deliver the required outcomes.

Recommendation

That the Council accepts the recommendation of the Appointments Committee and that with effect from 1st October 2016 agrees to:-

appoint Mr Alex Parmley as the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Paid Service for South Somerset District Council.

all annual pay reviews to be linked to the Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Executives of Local Authorities Chief Executive’s Pay Agreement.

Background

Since 1st August 2015 SSDC has operated without a substantive Chief Executive Officer (CEO) following the decision to cease the contractual arrangement with East Devon District Council. In July 2015 Full Council authorised a group of 4 members consisting of the Leader, Deputy Leader, Leader of the Conservative Group and Spokesperson for the Independent members (Leader’s Working Group [LWG]) to consider the future Senior Management arrangements within the Council. The starting point was a consideration of whether the Council could operate satisfactorily with just two senior officers; a CEO and one Director.

During the course of considering a structure, the future face of Local Government, following the election, was clearly set to change and this suggested that a merger with another Somerset authority should receive active consideration. The Council authorised the Leader’s Working Group to explore potential Joint Authority working with each of the Somerset District Councils. A decision to create a Joint Authority would have seen the likely merger of the senior management teams and the creation of a single CEO. Thus, whilst such an option was being considered it was decided to rotate the position of acting CEO between the two Strategic Directors on a monthly basis. This arrangement operated from August 2015 to April 2016 when Council agreed to appoint Rina Singh as interim CEO until such time as a new CEO was appointed.

In February 2016 Council made a decision not to merge and create a Joint Authority with another Somerset District Council at this point. Instead the decision was taken to begin the process of working towards two major changes within SSDC in order to meet the large budget gap that will exist by 2019-20. The first, and most significant, was a decision to commence a Transformation programme for the Council and the second was to have a major focus on Income Generation. Both these strands were considered important in meeting the financial challenges facing this Council. It was also jointly decided to work collaboratively with Sedgemoor District Council through a Strategic Alliance to seek further economies, ensure service resilience and jointly explore commercial business opportunities as a key part of Income Generation.

Given the scale of this undertaking and the decision not to merge with another Council, the Leader’s Working Group has reached a conclusion that there was a need to recruit a new CEO as soon as practicable. This view was reinforced by the advice of an external adviser and was subsequently confirmed at Council in April 2016.

Report Detail

The Appointments Committee, which is comprised of Cllrs Ric Pallister, Jo Roundell Greene, Tim Inglefield, Sylvia Seal, Angie Singleton, Andrew Turpin, Mike Beech and Mike Lewis, met both formally and informally to agree the external support they required and to determine the job and person specification.

The post was advertised in June 2016 and subsequently 34 applications were received. These were long-listed to 13, who were interviewed and tested by the appointed agency, Penna, who recommended 4 candidates for interview by the Appointments Committee.

The interviews took place on 26th July at the Innovation Centre in Yeovil. The candidates were given a tour of Lufton Depot, met with local business leaders, met with the Leader, Deputy Leader and Acting CEO and had lunch with a representative cross section of Assistant Directors and Managers.

Each candidate was then interviewed by the Appointments Committee and their recommendation is that Mr Alex Parmley of Eastleigh Borough Council be appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer for South Somerset District Council.

Financial Implications

The salary of the post of Chief Executive has been agreed at £110,000 pa. With on-costs this totals £139,328. Annual pay reviews will be linked to the Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Executives of Local Authorities Chief Executive’s Pay Agreement.

Council Plan Implications

The position of Chief Executive will be expected to progress all the aims and values of the SSDC Council Plan 2016 – 2021.

Equality and Diversity Implications

Due regard was given to equality and diversity considerations throughout all stages of the selection and interview process.

Background Papers

Reports to Council: May 2016, July 2016, September 2016, October 2016, February 2016, April 2016.