Chief Officer and Responsible Financial Officer

Salary : Payscale to be confirmed dependent on experienceClosing date for applications : 14 February 2025.Interviews : Will be held week commencing 3 March 2025About the Parish : Gnosall Parish in the Borough of Stafford and the County of Staffordshire covers 3 wards, Gnosall, Moreton and Knightley, with approximately 5500 residents. Gnosall has a close-knit community and community events and activities are an essential part of village life. Regular events, such as Gnosall Festival (GFest) and a Canal Festival (CFest) along with other smaller events held at a number of village venues, help foster a strong sense of community. The Parish Council is key to the management of many of these activities.The village is well served with shops, a primary school, nurseries, a health centre, post office, pubs and other amenities. There are many community groups including a first responder team, and a community fire station as well as youth clubs, recreation classes, a community library and a best kept village working group. The Parish Council owns and manages a number of open areas, including a Site of Biological Interest, The Acres, and The Grosvenor Centre, a highly-successful village venue.About the Role : The Chief Officer (CO) will be the Proper Officer of the Council and as such is under a statutory duty to carry out all the functions required by law of a local authority’s Proper Officer.The CO will be responsible for ensuring that the instructions of the Council are carried out and will be expected to advise the Council on making effective decisions and to implement constructively all decisions. The CO will assist in the formation of policies to be followed in respect of the council’s activities.The CO will be the Responsible Financial Officer and accountable to the Council for the effective management of all its resources and will report to them as and when required. There will be a responsibility for annual budget preparation, VAT claims, preparing information for audits as well as managing all financial records.About the Person : Experience or an understanding of Local Government would be highly desirable. The successful candidate will ideally be CiLCA qualified or be prepared to become qualified within 6 months.The ideal candidate will be resourceful, proactive and an excellent communicator and above all a team player.Excellent IT capabilities are a must as are strong administration, organisational and management skills.The role is predominantly public facing, involving managing issues arising from emails, telephone calls from parishioners, contractors and other service providers; therefore, the ability to multitask, manage an ever-changing workload and ability to prioritise is required. Familiarity with the Parish would be an advantage but is not essential.The parish is constantly evolving and there are several exciting new projects that the Chief Officer will be involved with.The post is based in the Parish Office in the Centre of the village of Gnosall. It requires a flexible approach and will include attendance at evening meetings.Salary will be dependent on qualifications and experience.The appointee will be eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme.For an application form please contact the Chief Officer.#J-18808-Ljbffr