Management changes at the council follows review

Orkney Islands Council is looking to appoint a new head of service, following a management structure review carried out last year.

According to the authority, the review highlighted a need for additional management capacity within its development and infrastructure service.

The new post is head of roads and environmental services and will be advertised this week.

The person appointed will have responsibility for Orkney’s road network and the council’s waste management services, as well as its quarries, cemeteries and fleet of roads support and refuse vehicles.

A council statement on Wednesday said that building more management capacity into the service “enables the re-profiling” of another of the posts in the development and infrastructure service – Brian Archibald, who was head of transportation and amenities at the OIC, will become head of marine services, engineering and transportation, all of which were included in his previous area of responsibility.

There have also been several changes at OIC marine services, where Mr Archibald has been named harbour master.

According to the OIC, harbour authorities, like the council, are required to have a statutory harbour master. This role is included in the responsibilities of the head of marine services, engineering and transportation.

The council added: “To provide greater resilience, the statutory harbour master will be supported by two senior members of the marine services management team, who will also serve as harbour master on a duty roster.”

Former OIC marine services senior manager and harbour master David Sawkins has now become strategy and support manager, however the council says that he will also continue to serve as duty harbour master.

In another change, Captain Abul Alam left marine services earlier this month to pursue career opportunities elsewhere. The council will be advertising for a full time, permanent port operations manager as replacement for Captain Alam as soon as possible. The new port operations manager will also serve as a duty harbour master.

The council’s 2011 restructure saw the number of senior management posts at OIC reduced from 34 to 18. As part of the exercise, councillors agreed that the revised structure would be reviewed after a reasonable period of time. This review – which included a survey of the OIC’s senior and middle management – has now been carried out.

Over recent months there has been criticism from several councillors in the council chamber over the lack of progress on many major council projects. The issue caused concern among a growing number of elected members of the OIC, most notably at a meeting of the policy and resources committee back in September.

Those concerns related to works on the roads, including the road at Graemeshall, in Holm, which has recently suffered further severe damage, to ongoing issues with footpaths, flood prevention measures, and the lack of maintenance work on cemeteries.

Referring to the capital projects back then, chief executive Alistair Buchan described the situation as “not satisfactory” and added that there was usually a number of factors involved.

Speaking this week about the management moves, Mr Buchan said: “We have a strong, dynamic team in place, which is taking forward the work of the council at a time when we face considerable service and financial pressures.

“With any major change, it makes good sense to take stock of the situation after a time, to assess whether further adjustments need to be made.

“The conclusion we’ve reached is that the remit of our development and infrastructure service is so broad – everything from roads and refuse to planning and harbours – that more management capacity is required.

“As a result, we’ve followed up with a ‘mini-restructure’ within the development and infrastructure team. Brian Archibald will focus on transportation, engineering and marine services – everything from engineering, ports and harbours, ferries, air services to boosting our links with the cruise ship, marine renewables and other development opportunities in the marine sector.

“The brief for the new head of service will be roads, waste management and other related functions, adding strength to an already strong team, which has responsibility for some of the council’s most important, demanding and high-profile services.”