Perth council job for ex-councillor Hunter

Oct 10 2008 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A ONE-TIME housing and health convener with Perth and Kinross Council has landed a post within the local authority’s housing department.

Ex-councillor Gordon Hunter is taking-up a role as a housing resettlement officer in the Fair City, covering maternity leave.

In an unusual move, the PA understands concerned serving councillors have been re-assured by chief executive Bernadette Malone that the appointment was made after standard procedures had been followed and that Mr Hunter secured the post on merit.

But one of his one-time council colleagues said: “It’s highly unusual to find a former convener going on to work for the department he was heading-up. Is this the proverbial poacher turned gamekeeper, or maybe vice-versa?

“Councillors don’t select staff and I assume he has the necessary qualifications. But what sort of message does it send out to our staff? Was there no one in-house suitably qualified to take on this post?”

Yesterday, a spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council stressed: “There is no reason at all why this should have been an in-house appointment.”

The local authority spokesman also emphasised that the current housing and health committee convener, Councillor Peter Barrett – a close friend of Mr Hunter – had nothing to do with the appointment.

The spokesman stressed: “Councillor Peter Barrett had absolutely no involvement in the recruitment process for this post. The appointment was made by council officers who made the decision, through our fair selection process, on who was the best candidate for the job.

“The process was open and transparent – many other people were interviewed for the post. The process undertaken for this appointment was no different from any other.

“Any former councillor who has been out of office for over 12 months can apply for a job at the local authority.

“Any suggestions of impropriety in this matter are wholly wrong and without substance.”

Long-serving SNP member Mr Hunter lost his Muirton seat at the last elections.

In a letter to the PA in May last year, Mr Hunter indicated he had no intention of returning to politics.

He regretted the timing of a court case which had grabbed headlines locally and nationally in advance of the polls.

He had denied a charge of shouting and swearing at the North Muirton home of his ex-wife. Mr Hunter was formally acquitted after a trial collapsed in June last year, with a Perth sheriff agreeing with his defence agent that there was no case to answer.

After being cleared, Mr Hunter said: “With the conclusion of the court case, in my favour, I hope that will be the end of things. Now I am no longer in the public eye, I want to be allowed to get on with my life.”

Mr Hunter’s final term as a councillor had been dogged by controversy, with a police inquiry at the local authority’s Pullar House headquarters following the disappearance of benefits claims paperwork.

The probe - which Tayside Police confirmed did not result in criminal charges - followed allegations highlighted in a national newspaper that he had handed back more than £1000 two years previously after being overpaid in housing benefit.

In his letter to the PA last year, Mr Hunter thanked fellow SNP and opposition councillors for their “support and understanding,” including current Lib-Dem housing and health committee convener, Councillor Peter Barrett, Labour Group leader Councillor Archie MacLellan and Tory leader Councillor Alexander Stewart.