Cost-cutting challenge for interim boss

Darryl Stephenson was asked by council leader Steve Brady to take on the interim role which starts tomorrow.

It fills a vacuum created by Ms Yates and deputy chief executive Adrienne Kelbie, who is leaving soon for a top civil service job.

As well as getting to grips with savings of £24m the council has to make in the next three years, Mr Stephenson will also be asked to look at sharing senior management roles and services with East Riding Council - where he was chief executive for a decade until retiring in 2005. Previously he was Hull’s chief executive.

Ms Yates left the council at the weekend after relationships broke down with the Labour leadership.

It followed a row within the past fortnight over a new senior management structure. Both unions and councillors had attacked plans to axe jobs as part of plans to save £1m.

Council leader Steve Brady said they’d be asking Mr Stephenson, who will be on a three month contract with a one month notice period on either side, to talk to East Riding Council in an attempt to cut costs.

He said: “This is what the Government is pushing and I think you seriously have to look at that and Darryl is going to have to get into talks with the East Riding.

“The thinking behind it is you have two sets of structures, two sets of back office staff and in this day and age with modern technology we have to seriously look at that. It could very well be sharing some senior management posts, if it’s agreeable to both parties.”

Mr Stephenson, who is clerk to the Humber Bridge Board, is also expected to resolve the thorny issue of terms and conditions - particularly cutting the mileage rates claimed by staff of up to 65p a mile, to 45p across the board, in line with the standard HM Revenue & Customs rate.

Coun Brady said he believed Mr Stephenson - who he said would be on “nowhere near the £800 or £700 a day” which has been reported - “is certainly the man to achieve our savings on that.”

However a source said: “The blockage on sorting out mileage rates wasn’t the chief executive, it was Labour and the unions.

“Labour has replaced one very strong personality who they got rid of because they didn’t like what they were told with another person who will equally tell them the unpalatable truth. If Labour thinks Darryl Stephenson has a magic wand, they are delusional.

“There is a massive blackhole in the council’s budget - it is one of the worst kept secrets in the city.”

Adrian Kennett, Unison branch secretary at Hull Council, said 100 letters recently sent out to staff, including those in lower-grade posts, warning them that their jobs could be at risk, should be rescinded.

He said pooling resources was a “fantastic idea”, adding: “We do feel Hull City Council is top-heavy, when you start getting into grades 14, 15, 16 and above, we do believe there are too many.”

However he said members would be balloted on any changes to terms and conditions - adding that it was “not a race to the bottom”.

Deputy group leader of the Liberal Democrats Coun Mike Ross said: “We have a Labour group who are running out of control. If they carry on like this they will bring the place down.

“They don’t take any regard of anybody who says no, you can’t do this or that. It is a pity it has reached a point where you have to get an external interim in because of personality problems of this nature.”

A member of staff thought most would be “indifferent” about the new appointment - their main concern “will probably be their jobs.”