Council accused of trying to make former chief executive's payout 'disappear' in move to new operating model

It was agreed at a secret meeting earlier this year that former chief executive of City of York Council Mary Weastell would retire early at a cost of £404,000.

And yesterday councillors agreed that the authority would move to a chief operating officer model, scrapping the chief executive role, in order to aim to provide more value for money.

But Labour group leader, Coun Danny Myers, said his party opposed the move.

He said: “Labour opposes the Lib Dem council leader’s efforts to make his bumper payoff of the former chief executive disappear.

“In this decision the council has closed its face to working with partners, and ignored their wishes to see a collaborative council with strong leadership in our city, in favour of an option that looks inward at itself, ignoring the fact that challenges of the city at present are overcome by working with a wide range of organisations for the collective greater good.”

Official documents showed Ms Weastell, who had been off sick since last summer, was planning to take the council to an employment tribunal, but on March 23 the proceedings were dismissed “following withdrawal of the claim by the claimant”.

Earlier this year she said she was “proud and privileged” to have taken on the role, and a council spokesperson said around £330,000 of the £404,000 costs were statutory payments and pension costs.

It was after her retirement was announced that the council said it gave them the opportunity to restructure, and it said the model had been recommended by the Local Government Association (LGA), following a review.

Coun Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said: “With the significant impacts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on the city, it is now more important than ever to focus on improving the services we deliver as a council and provide value for money to our residents, businesses and communities.

“The new chief operating officer model will place emphasis on operational delivery and service coordination, in order to make sure our residents receive the very best service from the council, particularly at a time when people need our services the most.”

Deputy leader Coun Andy D’Agorne added: “We have reviewed a number of different models to identify what is best for the council at this time and following the strong advice from the LGA, we have agreed to bring forward a new chief operating officer model to improve the services that we deliver at this critical time.

“Whilst our focus remains progressing our recovery and renewal plan to build back better, this model, as commented by the LGA, will deliver efficiency savings, improve service coordination and can be implemented with minimal impact on services.”

But Coun Myers said: “It doesn’t change the fact that the Lib Dem led council has wasted £500,000 of residents’ money getting rid of its top officer for no good reason”.

By moving to a chief operating officer model, the council is forecast to save around £95,000 per year, and the chief operating officer’s pay is capped at £145,931 on the highest pay level, as opposed to the chief executive role, which can rise to £153,891.

The decision comes following a period of consultation with elected members, key stakeholders in the city and trade unions.