West Sussex County Council leader tried to sack chief executive, union claims (From The Argus)

West Sussex County Council leader tried to sack chief executive, union claims

4:10pm Saturday 4th September 2010 in

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A council leader tried to sack her chief executive, according to union leaders.

West Sussex County Council announced on Thursday that chief executive Mark Hammond was on extended leave until further notice.

But now the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (ALACE) has accused council leader Louise Goldsmith of trying to sack him.

The union’s secretary, Mary Orton, said: “Mark rang us on Wednesday to say he had been summoned in from his holiday by the leader and told that he was to be sacked. He was told they had lost confidence in him.”

Mrs Orton said it was only after the association intervened that Mr Hammond, who earns £220,000 a year, was instead put on extended leave. She has now written to the council to complain about its handling of the affair.

She said: “If they have concerns over his performance then there are ways and means to deal with that. This is not the right approach.

"To summon him in and tell him he's being sacked is an outrageous way to treat a chief executive who has been with the county council a long time.

“These things cannot be done on a political whim.”

Coun Goldsmith was unavailable to speak to The Argus yesterday and a spokesman for the county council declined to comment.

Lib Dem leader Morwen Millson said: “I am concerned about the sudden nature of this decision and I am very concerned about the possible cost to the council.

“I agree with ALACE that there are better ways of dealing with situations like this and it does seem strange they weren’t inclined to go down that route.”

Mrs Orton said Mr Hammond, who has been chief executive for seven years, had been left “reeling” from his dispute with the leader and had not yet decided what his next step would be.

She said: “He was absolutely shell-shocked by the way they treated him.

“We have written to the council urgently seeking negotiations. The council has acknowledged our letter but not responded.”