IT IS LOOKING unlikely that Bryn Parry Jones will be able to survive as the chief executive of Pembrokeshire County Council after he overwhelmingly lost a vote of no confidence this morning (Sept 12).

Having survived his own vote of no confidence, council leader Jamie Adams refused to back the chief, and 46 councillors including senior cabinet then voted to say they had no confidence in Mr Parry-Jones.

The Chief Executive who is currently working from home having returned back to work following three weeks on ‘gardening leave’ was not present at the meeting.

Last month, County Council union members and members of the public protested outside County Hall about the way the authority stumbling crisis to crisis. Many said that they wanted the Chief Executive to be suspended.

A few weeks ago The Herald reported that Mr Parry-Jones angrily confronted two members of the Independent Plus Group – Cllrs Mark Edwards and Peter Morgan – in what was described as a ‘tirade of abuse’ when they failed to support him in a vote.

That revelation brought things to a head and led to the council boss being placed on leave while councillors considered the next steps.

Councillors  are now in private session discussing the way forward in terms of potential investigations and disciplinary proceedings against the chief.

Cllr Brian Hall, Cllr John Allen-Mirehouse, and Cllr Owen James supported Mr Parry-Jones in the vote.

Mr Parry-Jones has been the chief of Pembrokeshire County Council since the authority was being formed in 1995.

How could the council get rid of Bryn?

The Herald understands that at the meeting held has night at the request of council leader Jamie Adams, employment specialist Eversheds, whom the Herald believes were instructed by the Welsh Local Government Association, met councillors in a meeting scheduled for one hour, which went on for considerably longer. The key advice given by Eversheds was that if the council wished to commence disciplinary proceedings against Bryn Parry-Jones it could do so on fairly narrow specified grounds. One of those grounds would be if the continuation of the CEO in post would be “reputational damage to the Authority as a whole”

In addition, advice from Eversheds has torpedoed claims made that getting rid of Mr Parry-Jones would cost the council hundreds of thousands of pounds settlement. Eversheds said that this was wrong.  The legal firm also told councillors that in the event that the relationship between Mr Parry Jones had lost the mutual trust and confidence necessary to underpin a relationship between the Head of Paid Service and staff, and the Head of Paid Service and councillors, he could be dismissed on three months’ notice.

The Herald also understands that councillors were advised that as Mr Parry-Jones opted out of the Local Government Pension Scheme – if he lost his post, he would have to wait for his pension payout instead of receiving it automatically.