This evening the full council of South Somerset District Council meet to appoint a new Chief Executive. There is only one candidate to vote for. We understand departing CEO Alex Parmley did take part in interviews from New Zealand, having already left. We’ll have much more on that later.

Meanwhile we continue to investigate the real reasons Clare Pestell declined to take up the post last month. Ms Pestell had been chosen by the council and then “decided” not to take it up “for personal reasons”. SSDC continue to block any questions relating to the non appointment.

So a vacancy at the top remains.

Tonight Full Council will be asked to appoint an experienced CEO to lead. They are meeting at 6.30pm at the Westland Centre (8 July) and the CEO appointment is the main agenda item.

The role will take in the period between now and the abolition of SSDC. It will therefore be an interim role. Jane Portman is the candidate selected by the Appointments Committee. She is a long serving local government officer at Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council. She was appointed CEO there in 2017. She had previously been in charge of Adult Services and prior to that Education.

Jane Portman left the authority in 2019 as part of the restructuring in Dorset that led to a new unitary authority. She appears to have the perfect mix of experience to take SSDC forward. More particularly she seems especially well positioned to move through the transition to a unitary authority.

It is true that her severance package raise eyebrows. Reported at over half a million including pension enhancements at the time, she will be an expensive hire. The report discussed tonight points out that “The salary for the post of Chief Executive has previously been determined at £118,767 per annum. However, it is recognised that this post will be leading the organisation through a significant change period and that skills and knowledge required are specific and of limited supply. Whilst the candidate’s salary expectations were slightly higher than we propose to meet, we believe that we will be able to compromise by paying a salary of £128,952 per annum. When applying the essential car user payment for which this post is eligible, this will take the total recommended package to £130,000 per annum.”

Actually to bring in a decent CEO with some real experience and valid experience at that, this seems reasonable. While some will say this is expensive, it is for a finite period of time. If SSDC get a competent leadership for the money, then it will be money well spent.