Council works through restructure

Napier City Council chief executive Wayne Jack.

July will usher in a new-look Napier council with the local authority currently working through a strategic restructure.

Council spokeswoman Robyn McLean said they were strategically realigning council to ensure it was structured appropriately and in a way that ensures we can best serve our community and meet their expectations.

"The process is about creating the best council we can," she said. "We will look to streamline levels of management and be more integrated in the way council plans projects as well as the way we implement them."

Led by the chief executive Wayne Jack and the senior leadership team, Ms McLean said the process of realignment would see an extended period of consultation, which would occur in the coming months.

"There has been a need to look at realigning certain areas of council for a while, however, we were unable to do any major changes until we knew the amalgamation result," she said.

"Now we know the council will continue as Napier City Council, it has been decided the time is right to look at the functionality of what we do and how we can optimise our functionality.

"At this stage, the new restructure will be in place on July 1."

The council has 532 staff, including part-time staff - which equates to 431 fulltime roles.

She said it was too early to say how many of them would be affected by the changes at this stage.

"We have held meetings with all staff to let them know a process is being started.

"It's important to note, this has not been started as a cost-saving measure - it is a way to realign everything we do to ensure we move with the times and adapt to changes."

Ms McLean said the realignment would occur across the whole council, including council-owned facilities.

"Once we've got a proposed structure in place, we will look at what positions fit where in more detail," she said.

"We are not at that stage yet."