Chief Executive Blog - August 2015

Colleagues

The schools are back, the football season has started and summer is coming to an end. I hope you all managed to get some time to yourselves over the past month or two and that the indifferent weather didn’t put too big a dampener on your plans.

Of course council business has continued over the summer, albeit at a less hectic pace what with holidays and the councillors’ recess. However, we are now back in full swing and the corporate management team is continuing its work of how to manage the changes that the council faces in the months and years ahead and in delivering the council’s priorities. We have come a long way but there is still some distance to go and there is no questioning that challenging times lie ahead. I know that is something you will have heard many times before but it is no less true now.

The council’s best value audit report is due for publication in the autumn and the auditors from Audit Scotland paid what should be a final visit ahead of the completion of their report. I have also met over the past few weeks with Police Scotland’s new division commander for Aberdeenshire and Moray, Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson, who hails from Lossiemouth and knows the area and its issues intimately.

Moray has been a hive of activity this summer with a number of major events, several of which I had the pleasure of visiting. Among them were Seafest at Lossiemouth and the ever-popular Speyfest at Fochabers. During my ‘staycation’ I also made a last minute decision to attend a concert in St Giles Church by seven German classical musicians who are part of an orchestra based in Cologne. They were on a tour of Scotland and Northern Ireland and the concert was absolutely wonderful.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our many young people, and also to their parents and carers, who did themselves proud with the excellent exam results which they achieved. Whether they are continuing with their studies or going into the world of employment, I wish them well for the future.

I am looking forward to the resumption of the monthly service learning visits which are put on hold during the summer and to the first of this year’s three staff conferences in early September when I hope to have a chance to chat to as many as possible of the delegates present.

Away from work I am also looking forward to Elgin City continuing their good early season form which has seen them occupy top spot in the Scottish Third Division table and to completing my grand tour of Highland League grounds in Moray by attending Keith’s game against Fraserburgh at Kynoch Park this Saturday.

And still on a sporting theme, I am delighted to see the council’s cricket team doing so well once again in the local Black Dog Financial Service league where they are top despite losing their first match of the season.