CEO Najserak is going.   How did he get the job here in the first place, given his behaviour in Bolton where he was formerly employed?   Julian Bell announced his arrival in April 2016 with more enthusiasm than John the Baptist announced the coming of the Saviour of the World.    "I am delighted that we have been able to attract someone of Paul’s calibre to Ealing. …Paul has an excellent record of achievement in local government and I am confident he will be an excellent chief executive for Ealing. His drive and enthusiasm stood out in an impressive field of candidates for the role and I very much look forward to working with him." On July the First, Najserak’s smirking face was on the front pages of the national press, exhibited as an icon of senior-officer greed.  An embarrassment for the Council if it were capable of embarrassment.   It chose to make no response to the news even when asked to do so. The story came out of Najserak’s behaviour in Bolton.   After only a few months there, he decided he preferred to run Bolton from way down south.  It is a natural assumption that a CEO will live in or near the place over which he is employed to preside.  Najserak got out of that by saying it was not in his contract that he had to live in Bolton.  Devious, I thought – and untenable.  The terms of a contract are not only determined by what is written in a contract but also words spoken at interview.  The Bolton Council Leader stated: “At the selection process we asked the question and he said he would definitely be moving up to the area.” Why did Bolton not sack him? The people of Bolton were incensed and asked about the financial settlement he had received.  It was resisted because he had a confidentiality clause in his contract.  Why would any decent person need a confidentiality clause in his contract unless he was intending, for instance, to lie to residents (There is a Formal Compaint outstanding against him which alleges that he lied in the exercise of one of his contractual obligations here in Ealing.) The settlement came out when Bolton published its accounts. He received a one-off severance payment of £55,192 - negotiated down from a sum of £83,000 that he was entitled to based on his age and years of service. He also received a payment in lieu of notice amounting to £34,808 for an 11-week notice period that he did not work - resulting in a total settlement of £90,000, funded by Bolton taxpayers. In lieu of notice! One would have thought that a man of any decency who was behaving in such an unreasonable way would himself have given notice, not forced his employer to give him notice.    Perhaps the people of Bolton thought that was a small price to pay to get rid of him. He had not been popular while he was there.  The branch secretary of Bolton Unison said she felt Mr Najsarek appeared to lack the passion required for such an important role. She said: "It was not really a surprise to us, we never felt Mr Najsarek showed the level of interest in the council or the town that he should have done … He has had a good share of that £160,000 salary while workers have lost their jobs and I'm afraid he did not demonstrate anything to make us disappointing that he has left." Unison and GMB registered a vote of no confidence in Mr Najsarek. This raises a question.   What kind of reference did the Bolton give him?  Were they compelled to hide the truth because of that confidentiality clause?  We in Ealing may feel Bolton sold us the CEO version of a “dodgy motor”. Najserak is a classic example of a CEO leaping from one appointment to another with his reputation collapsing behind him. So how did he manage to get employed by Ealing Council?  It has been suggested that he had friends on Ealing Council.  The more significant problem is that the appointment process is secret.  (That needs to change.)  I asked Julian Bell repeatedly whether, when Najserak was being appointed, he knew anything of Najserak’s behaviour in Bolton.  Yes or no?  It is a question he could have answered without breaking the confidentiality of the appointment process.  He refused to answer.  A lie by omission.   So, for the last six years Ealing has been stuck with a fish that rots from both of its heads: the Najzabell.  No doubt Bell and Najserak got on very well.  We may not like that.  In the words of Shakespeare: “Filths savour but themselves” . WHO WILL TAKE HIS PLACE? No doubt, the new Leader of the Council will have a hand in that.  The old leader, Bell, was bad but he was shamelessly what he was. We knew him to his backbone and loathed him. New Leader Mason comes glozed with hypocrisy.  He may contrive to select a man or woman of his own character. Mason has promised transparency in the Council’s conduct. Can we hope that he will set aside the requirement of secrecy in the appointment process and make us party to all that is involved:  applicants’ names and references, You Tube broadcasts of interviews and council deliberations. I doubt it. Peter Mason is not a man of his word. I believe the people of Ealing, the customers of the Council, should write their  testimonial for Najserak and make sure his behaviour  in Bolton and here in Ealing follows him for the rest of his  life.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Paul Najsarek resigns	11/11/21 14:32:00	N V Brooks
Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	11/11/21 15:17:00	Rosco White
Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	11/11/21 16:32:00	Martin Cain
Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	11/11/21 17:38:00	Raymond Havelock
Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	12/11/21 12:38:00	Keith Iddon
Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	12/11/21 14:13:00	Nicolas Ozegovic
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	13/11/21 12:20:00	PETRONA BONNICK
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	13/11/21 13:19:00	peter king
Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	12/11/21 14:52:00	P Taylor
Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	12/11/21 15:26:00	Rosco White
Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	13/11/21 07:51:00	Andrew Farmer
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	13/11/21 15:08:00	Rosco White
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	13/11/21 17:07:00	Raymond Havelock
Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	15/11/21 13:12:00	Tony Heath
Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	15/11/21 15:11:00	Rosco White
Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	19/11/21 09:54:00	Andrew Farmer
Re:Re:Re:Re:Paul Najsarek resigns	19/11/21 13:03:00	Rosco White

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