Council boss who was suspended for nine months on full pay leaves
A council boss suspended for nine months on full pay has now left the organisation.
Staffordshire County Council said Jamie MacDonald, who had been the authority’s head of strategic property’ for nine years, was no longer working there.
The council has thanked him for his service and said he had gone on to ‘explore other opportunities’.
Questions have been raised about the £72k-a-year chief after it emerged he was suspended on December 29 last year.
Some criticised the council and branded it a ‘shambles’ over the matter. Mr MacDonald would have picked up around £50,000 while being suspended.
Councillor Sue Woodward, leader of the Labour opposition on the local authority, said lessons needed to be learned.
She said: "It is very welcome as this has been going on for far too long.
"I have pursued the council to ensure this was resolved for everybody's benefit, including the council, the taxpayers and of course Mr MacDonald.
"It is important due process is put in place to be absolutely fair to everyone involved. It is not up to councillors to make a judgement.
"But this has taken an awful long time to gather all of the information needed to make a decision on this, which has been to the detriment of the council and Mr MacDonald."
Councillor Woodward added: "In future in these sort of situations we need absolute assurances of a strict timetable as well as regular and periodic updates as it moves forward.
"It has just taken a ridiculously long time to get through this process and it has not been good for anyone."
Mr MacDonald was also director of the Penda Property Partnership.
The 10-year joint venture between the council, the office of Staffordshire's Police and Crime Commissioner and property group Kier, was announced in 2015 proposing sweeping changes to more than 400 buildings owned by the two public offices.
Philip Atkins, County Council leader, said: “Jamie MacDonald has left Staffordshire County Council after nine years of service as head of strategic property to explore other opportunities.
“We would like to thank Jamie for all that he contributed to the county council and we would like to wish him well and every success for the future.”
A similar furore had initially surrounded the council's former head of HR Lisa Cartwright who was suspended a few weeks before Mr MacDonald, until she resigned in April this year.
