Assurances were sought and given in Orkney’s council chamber yesterday over delegated powers being given to council officers to negotiate commercial contracts potentially worth millions.
The islands council is making plans for Crown Estate Scotland to announce the preferred developers for its ScotWind leasing programme towards the end of next month.
After the announcement, Orkney Council is expecting to be approached by developers who want to use facilities at the Scapa Deep Water Quay, Hatston Pier, Scapa Flow and Lyness.
As such, yesterday’s special meeting of the local authority’s policy and resources committee viewed a report which recommended setting up a negotiating team.
The report also said delegated powers should be given to the chief executive’s office to sign-off commercial agreements after speaking with the council leader, depute leader and chair and vice-chair of the development and infrastructure committee.
Quarry fiasco leaves councillors with concerns over delegating responsibilities
The negotiating team would include the council’s interim chief executive, interim director of finance, heads of legal, finance and marine services, and others.
However, recent experiences with council officers’ spending powers have left councillors feeling cautious.
Councillor Steven Heddle said: “We’re talking an unprecedented amount of delegation being presented here.
“We would be entering into agreements that will be binding on the council without knowing what they are. It would appear we could be entering into agreements that are limitless, financially.
“I find this at odds with the situation we went through with the quarries and our vision for the scheme of delegation, which has explicitly sought to put limits on the degree of financial delegation that is given to officers.
“I ask all the councillors here, are you comfortable with this?
“For me, the buck stops with the council. If anything is going to be taken back to the council we should have our say.
“Are the agreements going to be made without the council knowing what they are or what they entail? That’s certainly the direct implication.
“What are the limits on the financial obligations that can be entered into on our behalf? What checks and balances are we going to on this process?”
The local authority’s interim chief executive John Mundell said he understood the concern. He said the proposals had been put forward so the council can promptly respond to the nearing negotiations.
Officers’ spending powers have been ‘dramatically reduced’
Mr Mundell also said that the officers’ spending limits have been “dramatically reduced following the episode of the quarry.”
He said dealing with any figures above these levels are by default brought back to the council.
Any commercial agreements would also have to come back to the council.
While Mr Heddle said he was happy with the assurances, councillors did not agree on the recommendations.
Instead, the decision will come back to a meeting of Orkney’s full council on Thursday.