It’s with utter amazement that we’ve just learnt that Joe Duckworth is to be leaving the Island in the summer, being that he only joined in 2006.
We watched him in the council chamber last night and he couldn’t have looked happier, grinning away during certain parts of the evening.
Given the timing of the announcement we figure that it’s highly likely that he’s been wanting or planning to leave for a while, but held back until after the school reform debate yesterday – leaving before would have caused too many waves.
Commenting on this and while ensuring that the pesky media don’t try and link his leaving with the school reforms, Joe said, “I wholeheartedly endorse the decision taken by the full council last night to re-organise the Island’s education structure. I am sure this step will achieve the aims of raising education standards on the Island and giving youngsters here the best possible start in life.”
Explaining his brief history at the council, ‘When I joined the council in 2006 I saw it as my job to make necessary and radical changes to the way the council operated. These changes included embedding strong governance, putting in place proper financial controls and creating a clear vision of the future. They are now in place and the next stage of improvement for the authority will require turning that vision into the reality of a sustainable future for the Island.’
This was backed up by words from David Pugh, Leader of the Council, ‘Joe has driven forward some very necessary improvements to the way the council operates which we will all benefit from far into the future. Joe has been a great chief executive with enormous energy and enthusiasm for doing the very best for the Island and its residents. I would like to place on record the authority’s appreciation for all he has achieved.
Eco Island
As far as we understand, Joe’s been the driving force behind the Eco-Island initiative which, perhaps by no co-incidence what so ever, was voted through with a £400,000 budget in the full council meeting last night. His comment: “I am immensely proud that I can leave the Island and the council having played my part in developing the exciting Eco Island vision.”
What next Joe?
Joe’s most recent past has been London-based, with senior posts at Surrey County Council, the London Borough of Hackney and the City of Westminster – where he was deputy Chief Exec.
When he leaves the Island, he’s off to be Le Grand Fromage at Newham.
Joe was formally appointed to the council in April 2006 following a high-profile national recruitment campaign, coming to the Island on 6 June 2006 – making 21 months in the job.
The council is now on the lookout for someone to take Joe’s role, but will slot in Dave Burbage, Director of Finance as interim Chief Executive, if no one is found before Joe leaved in the summer.
Chief Execs on the Isle of Wight appear to be in a revolving door. To the best of our knowledge, before Joe Duckworth’s arrival, there had been five of them in the last seven years.
Joe’s Blog
We loved it when Joe started his own blog on the council site, natch and popped along to do a little interview with him.
Back on 24 Oct last year he wrote on his blog
Mark Twain said “the report of my death was an exaggeration.”
Similarly, the report of me applying for other jobs isn’t true. I don’t know why these rumours start or for what motivation, but why should I?
Perhaps he wasn’t looking himself, but thinking about leaving … or indeed writing the blog piece got him thinking about it.
Give us a break Joe!
We wish that Joe had held on a little longer, as frankly we (and from the chats we were having with the other Island media last night) are pretty knacked and could have done with a slow news day. This has been a massive week for news on the Island; the sad loss of Anthony Minghella, the controversial School Reforms vote last night and now the Chief Exec leaving.
Being that he has a house in Ventnor, besides him clearly having really good taste, let’s hope he keeps hold of it.
