Another local council’s Chief Executive Officer resigns and leaves in February.
The head honchos of our local councils are going down like Skittles. Waverley & Guildford CEO Tom Horwood resigned in October and also leaves his post in February.
Julie Fisher, the chief executive of Woking Borough Council, joined the organisation in April 2021.
Ms Fisher leaves as the Woking council, which is in heavy-duty dog doo due to its financial management, faces bankruptcy. She will agree its 2023/2024 budget before she goes.
She described her job leading the organisation as “unique” in respect of the challenges the council faced, requiring significant time, energy and commitment over the past two and a half years.
She believed Woking Council was now firmly on the road to recovery, and the time was right to hand over to somebody with fresh energy to drive Woking’s recovery.
The council faces huge cuts to services and massive staff redundancies.
Surrey Heath’s head honcho could be next, as their Leader Shaun MacDonald has already admitted improper property investment issues and stated: “These included the failure to stay within the competency of the council team.” No pressure then, on their Chief Executive Damien Roberts (but to be fair he only joined after the crazy investment spree)
And after Surrey Heath? The favourites are Spelthorne and Runneymede as figures from the government’s new Local Authority Data Explorer revealed that their total debt relative to core spending is astronomical compared to other authorities of a similar size.
What the hell is going on in our local authorities? Most of these officers are put into a paper bag, it is given a good shake, possibly not enough of a shake, and out they come working for another authority. Damien Roberts worked at Waverley Borough Council after receiving a £50,000 golden handshake went it all went to ratshi* at Croydon Council – how did he ever become a Chief Executive of anything – we all nicknamed him The Omen because he presided over so much damage in Waverley! The merry go round just goes around and around, and when they jump off they land in another payoff.
There is a temptation to resort to non-diplomatic language, but instead consider that effective managers ensure their succession process is robust. Governments have given local authorities too much power to do financial harm to both residents and employees. Allowing the statutory obligation to deliver value for money to be jettisoned overboard with impunity.