We must connect better with you, says new KCC boss
19th July 2010
Source: Your Canterbury
Kent County Council needs to improve its relationship with the people it serves, admits the authority’s new group managing director.
Katherine Kerswell, who succeeds former chief executive Peter Gilroy, officially joined County Hall last week and has already identified a key area in which the council could do better.
“I think Kent connects well with its residents in some aspects but there’s always more we can do,” said the 47-year-old former Northants County Council chief.
“I want people to feel like we’re on their side and I would like the public to be in a position where they give us the benefit of the doubt.
“No council will ever make everyone happy but actually Kent is trying really hard to do just that.
“Take the pothole situation for instance. There’s been some really significant investment in fixing the problem but I’m sure there are still lots of people out there who think the council is doing nothing.
“But we can’t receive that benefit of the doubt just by switching it on. We have to build that relationship up, and I don’t think that’s ever really been tried before in Kent.”
KOS Media revealed in March how Mrs Kerswell had been criticised by Northants councillors for delivering a confusing motivational speech in which she advised staff to “taste the strawberry” as a metaphor for customer culture.
And while she has no plans to bring the slogan to Kent, Mrs Kerswell warned residents to expect a great deal of other changes in the near future as the authority tackles a £200 million funding shortfall.
“These are very challenging times for public services in general,” she said.
“But it’s important that when you’re tackling these issues you don’t just flitter around the edges, because if you do that then you risk making things worse.
“Now is the opportunity to take some real bold steps regarding what public services could look like in the future, and I’m concentrating on three main questions to get us through the next five years.
“First is, how do we grow the economy of Kent and bring more jobs into the county, second is how do we deliver public services in a way that enables citizens to take control of what they want, and third is how do we tackle the social divides that currently exist here?
“We don’t yet know the full extent of the funding cuts we will have to deal with but we are working on ways to become more efficient.
“We will know in the autumn where the Government thinks the cuts should happen, and that’s when we will start talking to residents and asking for their opinions on how things should be done.”
Before to her time in Northants, Mrs Kerswell also worked as chief executive of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, and Redditch Borough Council in Worcestershire.
She is currently a non-executive director of the Department of Education, as well as the president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace).
Mrs Kerswell will earn £197,000 a year in the job, which is the same as the wage she earned from her previous employer.
“I didn’t come here for the salary,” she said. “KCC has been one of the leading lights in local government and I’ve been impressed with its organisation for many years.
“When this job came up it was such an exciting feeling. I knew it was a chance to be involved with something really amazing.”
