This article is from page 18 of the 2009-01-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
CLARE County Manager Alec Fleming is set to retire from his post in April and spark a race amongst senior council executives to succeed him.
The 54-year old Nenagh man’s seven year contract expires in April and it is expected that he will not be seeking an extension and retire from his €151,000 post.
Mr Fleming refused to be drawn on his future when asked, stating that he will be briefing the council before making any public statements.
However, accoding to two separate council sources, it is understood that Mr Fleming will be stepping down later this year. His decision will have senior council executives jockeying for position to take over the top job. However when he was appointed in 2002, the Local Appointments Com- mission opted for an external can- didate over the claims of the local senior staff.
The lead runners in Clare for his post are expected to be the Council’s Director for the Environment, Ger Dollard and Director for Community and Enterprise, Tom Coughlan.
Both are long serving officials with the Council with Mr Dollard serv- ing across a variety of sectors and is credited with delivering the €32 million Cliffs of Moher visitor cen- tre against the odds. He has served
as Director of Finance and has also served as Director of Planning for a number of years before taking over the Council’s Environment directo- eel en
Mr Dollard also serves as Shannon Town Manager and led the Council’s response to the ending of the Shan- non Heathrow route in 2007.
Mr Coughlan serves as Manager of Ennis Town Council and presid- ed over the council success in the Tidy Towns Competition in recent years. He has also served as Direc- tor for Housing overseeing advances in the Traveller Accommodation Programme and more recently, has
worked in the more low-profile Com- munity and Enterprise Directorate.
Director of Finance, Noeleen Fit- zgerald impressed in the council’s recent budgetary process, but her relative lack of experience may count against her if she chooses to throw her hat into the ring.
Mr Fleming was an unknown in Clare when he was appointed in 2002 and it may transpire that an official not known outside local government circles will get the plum job when the appointment is made later this year.