A shake-up of Moray Council’s management structure will be discussed next week.
The cash-strapped local authority hired an outside consultant to look at how efficiently the organisation is run and what changes could be made to make it work better.
Now, following a question about how the council is governed during an audit committee meeting yesterday, it was confirmed that the management review was “on schedule” to be published and discussed before summer recess.
Speyside Glenlivet councillor Derek Ross wanted to clarify how “the external review of council management structures” was getting on, for the benefit of the members of public who were interested to see what suggestions would be made about potentially streamlining the local authority.
He said: “Can the chief executive let the public know where we are with that review and how it is going to be progressed.
“I believe that we are almost at the end of the process, it’s important that the members of the public are kept up to date.”
Roddy Burns, chief executive of Moray Council, moved to reassure councillors and Moray people that the review would be available as soon as possible.
He said: “The consultant is still on schedule to report to the full council on June 27 about the outcome of the management review and that is the timetable we are working to at the moment.”
The potential shake-up was agreed in April in order for the local authority to ensure it can meet a predicted £10million savings target for next year.
Fears were previously raised by senior officers that “short term and temporary” management structures currently in place are making it harder for them to deal with on-going financial challenges.
An outside consultant was hired to spearhead the “improvement and modernisation” of the authority with the latest results due to be discussed on Thursday June 27 before the council breaks for the summer.