A NEW temporary boss for Caerphilly council will not be appointed until July 23 at the earliest.

The position has been advertised for the past week, with interested parties given until tomorrow (Wednesday, July 17) to apply for the role of interim head of paid services.

A special appointments committee will spend Thursday considering applications, before their recommendation for the role is made to full council on Tuesday, July 23.

Last Tuesday the council released a statement saying that former chief executive Stuart Rosser was the preferred choice to stand in as head of paid services.

This was in the wake of the arrest and suspension of chief executive Anthony O’Sullivan and his deputy Nigel Barnett on suspicion of fraud and misconduct in public office.

Council Leader Harry Andrews was quoted recommending his appointment, in a statement issued after a question from the Argus.

He praised the highlyrespected Mr Rosser, who enjoyed a 38-year local government career. Mr Rosser stepped down at Christmas 2010 after being at Caerphilly for 14 years, five of these in the chief executive role.

The same recommendation was included in the agenda for last week’s special council meeting to debate the issue.

It also stated Mr Rosser had agreed to return to the council on a three or 3.5 day working week for six months, at a cost of up to £65,000.

But as councillors arrived at Ty Penallta they were handed a new agenda recommending that the post be advertised.

The reason for this was that after taking further legal advice, the local authority realised it had to follow the due process and advertise the role.

Following the meeting, Cllr Andrews released a statement, saying: “Under the arrangements agreed, I have put in place plans to secure a strong, effective management team.”

Members to vote on six stated priorities

SUPPORTING young children, providing job opportunities and improving homes are three of Caerphilly council’s main priorities over the next year.

The local authority publishes its improvement objectives every year, which the Wales Audit Office then uses to measure its performance.

For the coming year, 2013/14, there are six main objectives, with the report outlining what will be done to achieve them.

More foster carers will be taken on and efforts will be made to increase the number of young people in education, training and employment in an effort to ensure youngsters are fully supported.

The council’s Passport scheme will help create employment opportunities, the Youth Service will be developed to improve school attendance and youngsters gain qualifications while people’s awareness of leisure, community and sporting facilities will be increased as they are encouraged to get active.

There will also be investment in homes to make them of the best quality for tenants and more accommodation will be created in an effort to reduce the numbers of homeless people in the area.