Eden looks set to share a chief executive with Carlisle City Council on an interim basis until the end of May, next year.
The district authority’s human resources and appeals committee today voted in favour of an option which would see Dr Jason Gooding take over from Rose Rouse, who left her post as Eden chief executive at the end of August.
The option, which is set to cost Eden £33,500, was moved by Mary Robinson, the district council’s deputy leader, and now needs to be rubber-stamped at a meeting of the full council.
Mrs Robinson said it was the “most logical and cost effective solution” and added that the committee should recommend to full council that a deputy chief executive be appointed as well.
Council leader Virgina Taylor, who seconded Mrs Robinson’s motion, said: “The sharing of a chief executive with another district or borough always has to have a fire wall for that person — there are absolutely the chief executive for the one, and the other when they are with the other — and I have absolute confidence that would be the situation with Carlisle.”
It had previously been agreed that the appointment of an acting chief executive for Eden Council would be on an interim basis until the end of May, 2021.
Dr Gooding joined Carlisle City Council in 2003 and has been chief executive since 2011.
Prior to joining the city council, Dr Gooding worked for Cumbria Constabulary as director of corporate services and for the Metropolitan Police as a scientific officer. He has a PhD in Biochemistry from Sussex University
Born in Sussex and now living outside Penrith, Dr Gooding makes the most of Cumbria’s great natural scenery with mountain biking and bird watching on the fells. He has also taken part in several triathlons with his wife, Helen.
