The former chief executive of Liverpool Council is back in work less than three months after dramatically quitting the Cunard Building.
Tony Reeves has been confirmed as the interim chief executive at Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council following a full meeting of the Royal borough authority last night. Mr Reeves left the top job in Liverpool in July after four years in post.
He takes over Windsor and Maidenhead on an interim basis following the resignation of outgoing chief executive Duncan Sharkey. It is understood Mr Reeves will work three days a week, taking home £1,392 per day including fees.
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Ahead of a damning second report by government appointed commissioners in the summer, Mr Reeves announced he would leave Liverpool, having initially worked for the city on a consultancy basis. Despite initially being lauded as one of those helping to turn the city’s fortunes around by then-Secretary of State Robert Jenrick, the former chief executive was criticised for his role in a number of costly mistakes at the city council, including the £16m energy contract debacle, which is yet to be fully resolved.
The former Bradford Council chief faced calls to step down from his role in Liverpool from angry councillors over the handling of the electricity bill. In their second report, the commissioners criticised Mr Reeves’ perceived failure over the council’s budget setting process.
They said the former senior officer should have led a strategy “to govern all aspects of the strategic planning process especially understanding the capacity and prioritisation issues that would so obviously be a brake on delivery of not only the budget, but the overarching improvement goals.”
It is understood that Mr Reeves’ primary focus in his new role will be leading Windsor and Maidenhead Council through its budget setting process. When his resignation was confirmed in July, hot on the heels of his deputy and chief finance officer Mel Creighton, Mr Reeves said he was sad to be leaving Liverpool Council and it had been “the privilege of a lifetime to have been Chief Executive of an organisation that does so much tremendous work for such a fantastic city and its amazing people.”
He said: “I’m immensely proud of the progress that has been made in Liverpool since I arrived – from reorganising the council and setting out its improvement plan – to the city’s tackling of Covid-19, when we led the country in community testing and piloting events, to establishing the world’s first pandemic institute.
“Throughout this time Liverpool showed its true spirit of togetherness and its ability to innovate and overcome immense difficulties and the city is so much stronger for that experience.”
Former Northamptonshire County Council boss Theresa Grant OBE was confirmed as Mr Reeves’ replacement in August and began work at the city council officially last week for a period of eight months.
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