Some 219 staff voluntarily resigned and 29 were laid off from the Far North District Council between October 2022 and June this year. Photo / Peter de Graaf
About half of the Far North District Council’s staff of about 450 have left in the past three years, costing ratepayers $1.27 million.
The figures from a Far North resident’s request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) have been centre-staged by mayoral hopeful and current councillor Ann Court during campaign events.
The LGOIMA response showed from October 1, 2022 (the start of the current council’s term) to June 5 this year, 219 staff voluntarily resigned and 29 were laid off.
Sixteen former staff had taken personal grievance or legal action, with 12 cases settled at a total cost of about $1.27m.
Among them was former chief executive Blair King, who held the role from March 21, 2022, to May 10, 2023, after which the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) found he had been unjustifiably disadvantaged and constructively dismissed.
His departure cost ratepayers $490,825, including a $210,000 court-ordered payment and $220,000 in legal fees.
Court believes the exit rate is unacceptable and that the data “sheds daylight” on what she sees as a “disruptive and costly situation with serious issues around governance, transparency and stability”.
However, FNDC Mayor Moko Tepania pushed back, attributing the turnover to a restructure instigated by King before his exit – an allegation King strongly denied.
King cited data from the council’s August 6, 2025, audit and risk committee agenda, which showed 183 staff left between July 1, 2023, and June 30 this year – the two years after his dismissal.
“This suggests the councillors making the negative statements on my role are ignoring their own statistics, and this doesn’t include the roading staff they disestablished after June 30 this year,” King said.
He said the council had supported him in addressing issues in infrastructure, asset management, regulatory functions and communications that aimed to improve customer service, resilience and value for money.
King said that after input from senior staff he had consulted on and implemented changes to the second tier of staff reporting to him.
Those senior staff were asked in late 2022 and early 2023 to review their teams to improve service delivery and sustainability, as outlined in the Long Term Plan.
King said the staff changes in the LGOIMA response coincided with the current council’s term, which the ERA found had breached employment obligations in his case.
The council agenda also reported the reasons staff gave for leaving in the 2024/25 financial year were similar to those cited in 2023/24: career opportunities, relocation and family commitments.
However, those insights were drawn from exit interviews with just 24 of the 88 staff who left during the year. Of those 24, three cited dissatisfactions with their role, leadership or concerns about safety and wellbeing as contributing factors.
On the recruitment front, the council highlighted a surge in hiring during 2024/25, with 97 roles filled between April and June 2025 alone.
While this suggested the council was actively working to rebuild its workforce, the report also acknowledged ongoing difficulties in attracting qualified candidates – particularly for specialist and senior positions.
Separate exit figures provided by council show 274 staff left between March 2022 and June this year, broken down as:
Court said she wasn’t out to blame individuals, but to highlight the scale of the problem and push for stronger external governance and professional support to prevent future issues, particularly around chief executive appointments, capital works management, and oversight of the council’s $2 billion in assets.
“We’re not HR specialists and we have all seen the consequences of what can happen when the relationship breaks down,” she said.
Tepania acknowledged the turnover but said it had been trending downward, aside from the recent disbanding of the 16-person transportation team.
He said that move was part of a shift to a hybrid model combining internal staff with external expertise.
Tepania supported independent oversight of executive performance, especially around major capital projects.
Māori Ward councillor Penetaui Kleskovic also blamed inherited dysfunction but said the turnover was not a crisis but a necessary step towards restoring accountability and performance.
“$1.2m may sound big, but it’s actually a drop in the bucket compared to the Sweet Water (aquifier) debacle – the fiasco that saw our council waste nigh on $20m of ratepayers’ money because they had absolutely no business and no right managing and building that type of infrastructure.”
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, most of which she spent reporting on the courts in Gisborne and the East Coast.