Council slammed over £300k payoff for controversial chief

SHETLAND Islands Council was yesterday condemned by Scotland's accounts watchdog over the way the authority handled the departure of controversial chief executive, David Clark.

A report by Audit Scotland controller Caroline Gardner has revealed for the first time that it cost the council a total of 306,000 to pay for the "golden handshake" which paved the way for Mr Clark to leave his post after an eight-month spell in office mired in scandal and controversy.

During his time as chief executive, Mr Clark was cleared of allegations that he threatened a councillor with violence during a phone call and also faced allegations about his personal life in a tabloid newspaper.

Ms Gardner's hard-hitting report claims that the problems surrounding Mr Clark's time in office began when he was hired by the council. The authority's recruitment and selection process was not sufficiently rigorous and the procedure fell short of what would normally be expected as good practice for such a significant post.

She claims that the furore surrounding Mr Clark's spell as chief executive has had a major impact on working relationships within the council.

Ms Gardner bluntly states: "It is of serious concern that a significant amount of public money has been spent in reaching a negotiated settlement with the former chief executive.

"Using public money in this way is particularly unwelcome at a time of increasing financial pressures in public services, particularly since the council previously incurred costs to terminate the contract of a chief executive in 1999. It is clear that lessons were not learned."

She continues: "The events of recent months have resulted in a serious deterioration in working relationships within the council. There is a risk that this will continue to affect the council's ability to conduct business in an effective way.

"Elected members have not demonstrated their ability to set and maintain a clear strategic direction. We found little evidence of elected members acting in the interests of Shetland Islands Council as a whole.

"Events over recent months have led to a significant proportion of members expressing concerns about the quality of leadership in the council."

Ms Gardner adds: "Working relationships in the council have been under considerable strain. Tensions exist between members and members, between members and officers, and between some officers.

"Some officers have expressed concerns about what they see as a lack of support and professional respect by members, and consider that they are being unjustly blamed for events outwith their control.

"There is now a level of mistrust between a significant proportion of the key stakeholders in the council and this is a barrier to conducting business in an efficient and effective way."

However, Councillor Sandy Cluness, convener of the council, defended the council's handling of Mr Clark's departure.

He said: "In relation to the Clark settlement, the council met twice for four hours and was finally convinced, reluctantly, by Cosla and our legal advisers that this was the way forward.

"A lot of this report is fine in hindsight and there were clearly things we might have been done better, but for most of us this was a completely novel experience."