September 17: Peter Gilroy's departure
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The news that Peter
Gilroy is to leave his post as chief executive of Kent
County Council next May has somewhat inevitably triggered a fair
degree of speculation - of the usual "was he pushed, did he jump"
variety.
Much as I enjoy conspiracy theories, I actually think there is
no deep intrigue in the news. From my own conversations with
County Hall contacts, it seems the timing of his departure has been
privately known by the ruling Conservative administration for a
while and has been anticipated by a number of senior staff.
Either way, it is a matter of record that whatever
his critics might have had to say about him, he has presided
over one of the authority's most successful periods - no other
council has received the top rating from the Audit
Commission for its services for seven years running.
On that front at least, KCC has been rather like the
Manchester United of local government.
Mr Gilroy - who took over as chief executive in 2005 - can also
take credit for pioneering some new ways of delivering frontline
services, such as the Gateway projects that have
brought together a range of public services under one roof -
an initiative close to his view that there should be seamless
public services for people who might need help from different
agencies.
He also developed the Telehealth project,
allowing chronically ill people to assess their health at home, a
concept closely tied to the political administration's
determination to provide "personalised services".
There have been blips along the way, however. Most recently, KCC
got its fingers burned over its £50million investments in Icelandic
banks (as did lots of other authorities, it must be said). It is a
measure of the council's concern over the damage to its reputation
that it threatened to take the Audit Commission to court after the
spending watchdog labelled it "negligent" in a report (a charge it
was forced to drop).
Controversy has continued to dog the decision to set up
Kent TV at a not insignificant cost to the council
taxpayer. It will now be interesting to see what the fate of this
scheme will be.
Eyebrows were also raised when the details of his six-figure
salary - which singled him out as the highest-paid council boss in
the country for a time - became public, leading to a rash of
hostile headlines.
And the effort and money invested in developing international
relations between Kent and far-flung quarters of the globe has
also proved contentious.
But it is the end of an era, as he himself has said. He hasn't
quite left the building but when he does, he can be pretty happy
with his record.
The big question now is who will take his place?
Thursday, September 17 2009
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