Councillors 'should attend in person' to interview managers for £93,000 a year posts

Councillors have been asked to attend their next meeting in person where they will be interviewing existing heads of service for two new senior posts. 

Monmouthshire County Council has agreed to create two chief officer positions as part of a shake-up of its senior leadership with the posts, carrying salaries of up to £93,000 a year, and to be advertised in the first instance internally to its current heads of service who sit below chief officers. 

Behind closed doors interviews with the full 46 member council will take place at the authority’s next meeting, on July 17 and chief executive Paul Matthews said he’d like all councillors to be the chamber in Usk rather than the usual format of councillors attending either in person or via video link. 

“I’d strongly ask you to be present in person,” said Mr Matthews who said he couldn’t require attendance at County Hall: “I think it’s important for the candidates I think they will have a better opportunity to show their best and you will have a better opportunity, in the room, to make a collective judgement.” 

He said the “two questions” councillors will have to ask are: “Is there someone deemed appointable? And question two is, who is that candidate?” 

Mr Matthews also defended his decision to recommend the posts are advertised internally as he said he believed the council has capable candidates within its existing staff and external appointments could take as long as nine months and prove an unnecessary use of time and resources. 

If following the internal process none of the candidates are considered suitable an external exercise will be run.   

The shake-up will save £100,000 every year, with initial savings realised in the current financial year, and along with the creation of the the new directorate of place and community wellbeing infrastructure will be confirmed as a permanent directorate.  

The directorates of communities and place and customer and the culture and wellbeing directorate are being deleted. 

The revamp has been brought about following the departure of two chief officers while Mr Matthews had also been on a period of extended sick leave earlier in the year. 

The council’s June 26 meeting was the first he had attended in person since returning to work and he thanked officers and staff for their well wishes and the leadership team, including his deputy Paul Davies who had filled the role of acting chief executive. 

Mr Matthews, who was given a round of applause when discussing his period of absence at the start of the meeting, said he had sought to “build an organistation that holds people” and said: “I never thought I would need to be a beneficiary of that. I feel I’ve learnt a lot about leadership over these last six months.”