Friday, September 18, 2009

Patterson to be given top Powys job - without competition.

Jeremy Patterson, who was appointed to run the good ship, HMS Powys County Council when former Chief Executive, ex-sea captain Mark Kerr walked the plank last March, is going to be given the job on a full-time basis. He will start on a salary of £124,404. He will be given the job on a permanent contract without the job being advertised, and without facing any competition. The executive Board of the County Council have unanimously recommended this course of action to the next meeting of the Council, which takes place next week.

Jeremy Patterson is a very fortunate man, but I have to say that he's impressed me by his approachability, responsiveness and competence since taking over on a temporary basis 6 months ago. There are bound to be questions about making an appointment to a public sector job in Powys, paying such a massive salary, without advertisement or competition - but I do accept the Council's reasoning, and support the recommendation. Always better to appoint someone you know who can do the job, than take a risk on someone unknown.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this appointment is what it tells us about the proposed merger of the County Council and the Powys Local Health Board. A decision on this is expected next week. Appointing a Chief Executive to the Council, on a permanent basis, suggests to me that we cannot expect to see a merger any time soon. And quite right to. I'm not opposed to the principle of a merger of the Council and the Local Health Board, but its a decision that must be very carefully thought through.

Anyway, congratulations to Jeremy (assuming everything goes through next week, which it will ). I'm sure he will do a good job.

UPDATE - I now discover that this information was 'confidential'. I acquired the information from someone who had not realised. I will add that I see no reason why it should be confidential, and since it was sent out to all councillors, (around 100 people would have known) it was much the same thing as making it public! But I've decided not to publish confidential information on my blog. No point in withdrawing it now, but I will contact the local media, hoping they will not report on what is a very big Powys story until Wednesday, when the Council meeting is being held.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No need for you to worry about confidentiality glyn. councillor wynne jones had the information up on his web site as well.