Chief Executive Blog - August 2014
Hello again,
As I sit writing this the weather has once again become the main topic of discussion with the Council having to take action and evacuate a number of residents due to the tail end of Hurricane Bertha making herself known.
I am once again thankful for the unstinting hard work of so many of you in providing emergency assistance to those who are affected. While not quite finished in Elgin and Forres, it is reassuring to know that the flood defence works did their bit to keep people and their homes safe.
In my last blog I mentioned that once I was back from holiday I would be involved in a number of senior management recruitment exercises.
These have now taken place and I am delighted to welcome three new appointments two of which some of you may have already heard about through the Team Brief that was recently issued.
Rhona Gunn, Head of Legal and Democratic Services will take up the post of Acting Director of Environmental Services from Monday 15 September 2014 and Laurence Findlay, Head of Schools and Curriculum Development will begin as Acting Director of Education & Social Care on Monday 1 September 2014.
Both acting up arrangements are expected to continue until permanent appointments are made and the recruitment and selection process for these has already begun.
The third welcome is to Pamela Gowans to the post of Chief Officer, Health and Social Care Integration.
In a joint post between the Council and NHS Grampian, Pamela will lead the integration of Health and Social Care for Moray which will represent a significant change to the way that these services are delivered to adults in Scotland.
Work on the capital and revenue budgets is also ongoing at the moment as we aim to set out in more detail how the 10 Year Plan will be implemented across the various services of the Council.
There have also been some other exciting developments which you may have heard about; Moray’s bid for a spaceport to be developed at either RAF Lossiemouth or Kinloss Barracks and a £100m Speyside development for a distillery and visitor centre.
Both developments will promote the economic development of Moray whilst also bringing other jobs and ancillary developments to the area and raising Moray’s profile.
During the summer period of recess there have been fewer meetings to attend at a national level in either Edinburgh or Glasgow, however these will begin again soon and once they do I will report the main issues back to you as normal.