Byline: Andrew Levy
A CONTROVERSIAL council chief oversaw payouts of more than [pounds sterling]500,000 to gag departing staff last year.
Andrea Hill, who is paid a [pounds sterling]218,000 salary, presided over the handouts that ensured former employees would not become whistleblowers.
Forty-one people were paid between [pounds sterling]2,000 and [pounds sterling]60,000, at an average of [pounds sterling]12,714 each.
The monthly cost to taxpayers of such agreements has quadrupled since Mrs Hill, 46, joined Suffolk council in early 2008.
Mrs Hill, who is paid more than [pounds sterling]70,000 more than the Prime Minister, has been embroiled in a series of rows over spending at the council, where she is chief executive.
It is making [pounds sterling]43million cuts to services, but says there are no more management efficiencies to be found.
The council spent thousands on a leadership adviser for Mrs Hill and flattering PR shots of her.
Suffolk's gagging payouts totalled [pounds sterling]521,277 last year. From January 2008 to September 2009, just over [pounds sterling]10,000 a month was paid out. That has now risen to [pounds sterling]43,000 a month.
Kathy Pollard, leader of the Liberal Democrats on the Toryrun council, said: 'There have been quite a few high-profile communications people who have left but that doesn't account for all the staff.
'It's very hard to know what is going on but it is obviously something to do with the culture of the council.' Mrs Hill, a mother of three, who was this month urged to take a pay cut by local government minister Grant Shapps, has been attacked by voters on the internet.
Mrs Pollard posted stinging remarks in a blog, saying Mrs Hill was 'rapidly becoming an object of hate on the streets of Suffolk' and that people who had been 'very annoyed about her salary' were now 'absolutely furious'.
She added: 'The question has to be asked about the sustainability of her position. She has clearly lost the support of the public and the news that the council spent [pounds sterling]520,000 on gagging orders for departing staff last year must mean that all is far from well at the council's HQ. If I were her I'd get out before I was pushed.'
Matters came to a head in a quarterly meeting between the two women last week.
Mrs Pollard said: 'I asked her if she was happy with her press coverage and she said she was not and she was not happy with my blog either. She had a print out of it on her set of papers.
'We had a forthright discussion and I told her that I was only reflecting the views of the people of Suffolk. People keep raising the issue about her wherever I go. I still see her around the council offices and she has not indicated she wants to talk to me.'
The council's Tory group accused Mrs Pollard of 'engaging in political point-scoring in the run-up to local elections'.
The council yesterday refused to say why the payouts had risen so much or who received them.
A spokesman said the gagging orders were not signed off directly by Mrs Hill, adding: 'Such agreements are used sparingly by the council and often include items like pay in lieu of notice.'
THE SPENDING AND THE SPIN
July 2008: Mrs Hill says her pay deal is 'the norm', adding she has a 'high-risk job' that is 'no longer a job for life'.
'October 2008: Council spends [pounds sterling]400,000 on teaching staff to 'adopt a successful mindset'.
'May 2009: Mrs Hill accepts the first of two flights to the U.S. paid for by BT, which has a controversial contract with Suffolk that cost taxpayers [pounds sterling]50million last year. She has accepted hospitality from the firm 14 times.
July 2010: Studio photography session for 'communications' pictures costing taxpayers [pounds sterling]1,474.
February 2011: Suffolk officials remove petition from council's website demanding that Mrs Hill take a pay cut.
March 2011: Mrs Hill is discovered to have had lessons from leadership adviser Sol Davidson at a cost of [pounds sterling]14,000.
CAPTION(S):
Strike a pose: One of Mrs Hill's publicity shots
From Saturday's Mail
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