‘Following a period of illness Gareth Davies has left Berwick Town Council,’ according to a statement issued by Berwick Town Councillors today.
‘The Council would like to thank Gareth for his seven years’ service to the Town and wish him every success in his next adventure,’ the statement concluded.
A new era now beckons for Berwick with town-council staffing restructured to include the new role of Operations Manager. The post has gone to Mr Stephen Robinson who lives in Berwick and who will start in post on 26 August.
‘He [Stephen] has a good background for the position and expresses his excitement to be in a position to work for the community of Berwick,’ said Laura Hawken, Chair of the Staffing Committee and co-opted Town Councillor for Upper Spittal.
‘The Council is equally excited to have him in assisting us in our role to promote economic growth and maintain the environment of Berwick, Tweedmouth and Spittal.
‘Stephen will be engaged on LC2 Substantive (spinal column points 24-28) [salary point],’ added Ms Hawken. ‘Our HR adviser advises that I am not at liberty to specify which specific point he will be starting on.’
It is understood that the Operations Manager role will be in addition to the post of Town Clerk. Details on the next steps of the replacement process were not available when going to press
The former Town Clerk’s exit follows a period of scrutiny by The Bridge over the past twelve months which revealed questionable decision-making by the Town Council under the Town Clerk’s leadership.
This ranged from giving just two days’ notice for the 2023 Annual Town Meeting (a public meeting which is required by law) to questions over last year’s audit and subsequent delays in publishing the external auditor’s report.
The town council’s own Procurement Regulations, drawn up by the former Town Clerk, were ignored to purchase an electric vehicle for £34,000 all while bypassing the tendering process. Residents were shocked when the Tourism Reserves were reallocated to refurbish a staff study space. Queries were also raised over the decision to spend nearly quarter of a million pounds in cash on Spittal Play Park in 2022 when the Town Clerk had previously informed the public he planned to take out a loan.
No explanation was ever given publicly by the Town Clerk as to why he chose to use the town’s cash reserves to pay for this work rather than going through formal borrowing, a process which entails approval from Central Government. Questions from The Bridge on this, as with several other matters, were met with evasive responses from the former Town Clerk.
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