INVERCLYDE Council will have to re-advertise for a new chief executive after neither of the final two candidates received enough votes from councillors.

A two-thirds majority of councillors attending a special full council meeting was needed.

Only 18 of the 20 councillors were there, so that meant 12 votes were required to get the job.

Nine votes went to the council’s current corporate director, Aubrey Fawcett, and seven to Neil Richardson, who is retiring as deputy chief constable of Police Scotland.

Two councillors abstained from voting.

Mr Fawcett and Mr Richardson were interviewed at the meeting, which was held behind closed doors.

The voting was done by secret ballot, with councillors marking their preference on a slip of paper and putting it in a box.

Neither of the candidates was present when the result was read out to councillors by Gerry Malone, head of legal and property services.

The leaders of Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats all said they were disappointed that no appointment had been made.

Council leader Stephen McCabe said: “It is vital that the successful candidate for this crucial position commands the confidence of a clear majority of the council.

“Every councillor has an equal say in who becomes the new chief executive.

“The council will now examine the position further on June 30.”

SNP leader, Cllr Chris McEleny, says the deadlock highlights a need to change the council’s procedures.

He said: “The next five years of local government are vital.

“It is absolutely paramount that we get a candidate in place that understands the change we need to go through on the journey. 

“Perhaps as a council we need to look at ourselves, and ask if the rules we set ourselves are fit for purpose for Inverclyde and, indeed, Scotland in 2016.

“Both candidates have already been in the press, so I think it is now fair to say that both of them only got to the stage they got to as there was a confidence that they were both capable of carrying out the job.”

He added: “Would the board of a company the size of the council fail to appoint a new leader because they couldn’t unanimously agree upon who was better out of two more than capable candidates?

“I think this is an issue we will need to address.”

LibDem leader, Cllr Ciano Rebecchi, said there was a full and frank discussion among councillors after presentations were made by the candidates.

He declined to confirm or deny that he was one of the two councillors who abstained, saying: “It was a secret ballot. I’m not prepared to say who voted for whom.

“We had two good candidates. There is nothing to stop their names going forward again. We need the best person for the job.”

The Tele understands that Labour and the SNP split along party lines, with all nine Labour councillors going for Mr Fawcett and five of the SNP for Mr Richardson.

The remaining SNP councillor, Jim Grieve, and Tory David Wilson were not at the meeting.

Now current chief executive, John Mundell, who is retiring on September 19, will prepare a report for the full council meeting on June 30 outlining proposals for recruiting a replacement.

The council advertised the job in April, and now faces a race against time to get a new person in place before Mr Mundell goes. later this year.