Officers leave following procurement inquiry

17 October 2007

Two council officers involved in a procurement investigation into a coastal road scheme have received pay-offs totalling more than £100,000.

Chief financial officer, Paul Wilkinson, will take early retirement payments totalling £86,000, while Derek Rowell, strategic director for economic development and regeneration, will get £21,834 in lieu of notice, following his resignation.

Both men worked for Isle of Wight Council and were suspended after the publication of an independent report into the awarding of a £13M contract to engineering consultant High Point Rendel for the Undercliff Drive project in Ventnor.

In February 2007, the council set up a special investigatory and disciplinary committee to look into serious failures in the council’s procurement processes for contractors for the project.

Chief executive, Joe Duckworth, suspended a number of officers, pending investigation into their roles in the issue.

Stewart Dobson, the ‘designated independent person’ for the case, thought Wilkinson guilty of ‘a serious error of judgment’ in failing to take any action to rectify a procurement issue, and ensure there was a written contract in place, or to notify elected members of the problems as soon as he became aware of them.

Dobson concluded that this ‘serious error of judgment’ amounted to misconduct, and deserved a written warning. The council’s investigatory and disciplinary committee considered this as being serious misconduct and did not want Wilkinson to return to his position, but had to accept Dobson’s ruling. Wilkinson, however, agreed to retire early, as long as his pension was released early.

Rowell was signed off sick for a considerable period of time and has been judged to be too ill to participate properly in a disciplinary hearing. Rather than continue to pay him a full salary for an indeterminate period – to which he is entitled by law – the committee agreed to accept his notice of resignation with effect from 31 August.

The investigation into other officers continues.

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Officers leave following procurement inquiry

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