Clonmel BID company CEO would earn between €80,000 and €100,000, Council meeting told

Clonmel’s Business Improvement District company would be led by a CEO paid a salary between €80,000 and €100,000, Tipperary Chamber chief Michelle Aylward confirmed at Tipperary County Council’s July meeting.

She insisted that running a BID company can't be done by volunteers in response to Cllr Niall Dennehy’s assertion a lot of the company's funding would be taken up on staff pay including a €100,000 salaried CEO, and a request by Cllr Kieran Bourke to clarify the issue raised by Cllr Dennehy.

Ms Aylward estimated the CEO’s salary would be between €80,000 and €100,000. She pointed out BID companies in other towns were led by a CEO paid a salary in this range.

“If you don’t pay for the right person, you won’t get the right person for the job,” she said noting the BID company CEO’s responsibilities would include securing matching funding for town projects.

Clonmel Town Team CEO Noel Buckley said the Sligo BID company’s CEO had a background in international business and under her stewardship Sligo’s tourism coach business has increased 25% and she secured €1.5m extra funding for the town.

He echoed Ms Aylward by saying you can have the best staff in a school but the school will fall if you don’t have good leadership.

Tipperary County Council CEO Sinead Carr agreed leading the BID company can’t be done by just anyone and certainly can’t be done voluntarily and noted the CEO’s salary will be agreed by Clonmel’s businesses.

She pledged the Council’s full support for the Clonmel BID proposal and was “very heartened” to hear about the level of support for the initiative from the town’s businesses.