Rotorua Lakes Council nursery on Queen's Drive.
Rotorua Lakes Council’s chief executive has defended the process behind scaling back its nursery operations after two councillors questioned the timing and handling of the decision.
The council announced last month it would close the retail arm of its inner-city nursery as part of its restructure of the parks and open spaces team.
Nineteen roles were being disestablished, six of which were vacant, and 15 new roles were being created with redeployment opportunities available for impacted staff.
The decision followed a review that found the nursery’s retail activities were not financially sustainable.
The nursery review was part of a wider process to reintegrate InfraCore services back into council, which began in November 2024 under the direction of elected members.
According to information released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, investigations into the nursery’s viability began in February 2025 as part of this work.
External supply options were explored in March and July, while financial analysis took place in June and July.
A change proposal was presented to staff on August 12, with feedback requested by August 27.
Due to the amount of feedback, the decision was delayed from September 9 to September 18–19, when the outcome was confirmed, and staff were informed.
Despite this lengthy process, councillor Don Paterson was surprised to learn of the nursery decision via social media.
He said he supported bringing InfraCore’s functions back in-house for better financial control, but as a city asset, he had expected a proposal about the nursery’s future to be “presented for deliberation before any steps were taken.”
He also questioned a recent decision to trial a shift of Rotorua’s night market to Kuirau Park and raised concerns as to why both decisions could not have waited for the new council.
Councillor Conan O’Brien had no issue with the decision itself but questioned the timing. He believed the council should follow the same conventions as central government during election periods.
“If there’s a general election, the public service does not make any major decisions or any policy change or direction change. They play things very neutral,” he said.
“I personally believe that’s something we should be looking at.”
O’Brien said the nursery matter should have either been brought to councillors prior to the election period or should have waited for the new council.
He said if a new council reversed the decision, “we’ve put all those people through a lot of unnecessary stress”.
Council chief executive Andrew Moraes told Local Democracy Reporting that “decisions about staffing and organisational structure are operational” and are therefore management’s ultimate responsibility, under the Local Government Act.
“Elected members have a governance role and set the direction, and the chief executive ensures the organisation is fit-for-purpose to deliver on this.”
He said councillors were aware of the broader process to reintegrate services previously delivered by InfraCore, but the detailed staffing decisions were a management matter.
“As directed by elected members, we have been identifying efficiencies across the organisation,” Moraes said.
“We have reported to elected members on the progress of the reintegration of services that InfraCore provided. When it comes to employment matters, we must always ensure due and fair process and working with and supporting affected staff before decisions and announcements are made is the priority.”
Moraes said reviewing and refining programmes was an ongoing requirement.
“Our organisation needs to remain flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of our communities and deliver on the direction set by elected members.”
Moraes said while the reduction in nursery operations would affect retail and external supply, bedding plant production for the council’s own parks would continue.
A full closure of the nursery facility itself would be a matter for the newly elected council to consider as part of an upcoming facilities strategy.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.