Extension to OIC chief executive’s absence cover proposed

The absence of OIC chief executive, Alistair Buchan may be extended to March 2020, it was revealed at a meeting of the council’s monitoring and audit committee on Thursday.

The move was detailed in an external audit report, which suggested an extension of interim chief executive John Mundell’s tenure had been agreed by the council. Mr Mundell has been covering Mr Buchan’s sickness absence since June — for what was supposed to be a four-month period. It is now proposed that he remain in-post until March 31, 2010.

This came as a surprise to some councillors, who said they were unaware of such an agreement.

Asked to clarify the matter, following the meeting, a council spokeswoman said: “A process is currently underway to extend the interim Chief Executive arrangements until March 2020.

“There’s one more step we are taking, which will be finalised shortly.

“Therefore the report will be amended to reflect that we haven’t quite finalised the arrangements yet”