ADVERTS have been placed in the national media in an attempt to find a new chief executive for Powys County Council (PCC).

Whoever takes over the hot seat will be paid just over £138,000.

This is over £60,000 less than the last chief executive, Jeremy Patterson received as an annual salary.

PCC is now able to find a new permanent chief after  Mr Patterson officially left his post at the end of September.

At the moment leadership of the workforce is in the hands of former Denbighshire County Council chief executive, Dr Mohammed Mehmet, who is the authority's acting chief executive.

His role is to provide a strategic plan for authority to follow as it looks to dig itself out of the crisis following the publication of a damning report by the CSSIW (Children's Social services Inspectorate Wales now known as the Care inspectorate Wales - CIW) into PCC's Children's Services nearly a year ago.

Dr Mehmet was given a nine-month contract when he took over the role in April, but is expected to stay in post until a successor is found.

Deputy chief Executive David Powell - runs the day to day business of the Council and took over as interim chief executive for a time.

The furore that surrounded the Children's Services report saw calls made for Mr Patterson to resign, and a few days later he was signed off as unfit to work.

In April "as a sign off  for goodwill" it was agreed that the period of full sick pay would be extended.

In July, Councillors met behind closed doors and agreed a deal worth just under £181, 500 with a compensatory lump sum worth £116, 915 to "mutually terminate" Mr Patterson's contract on September 30.

A spokesman for PCC said:  "The advert had been placed with the Guardian Jobs website, Municipal Journal, which is standard in these cases as well as our own website, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The advert for the Job reads:

"The Chief Executive is the Council’s Head of Paid Service.

"Working closely with the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive will set the strategic direction of Powys County Council, and lead on integrating the internal resources and utilising external partner relationships.

"The post holder will be accountable for the delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan and long term business benefits which will have a significant impact on the lives of people living in, visiting and working in Powys.

"The post holder will oversee that within each specialist area of the Council all relevant statutory duties and legislative obligations are met."

Closing date for applications is October 26.