Rotorua Lakes Council has had an executive team restructure. Photo / Laura Smith
An executive team shake-up at Rotorua Lakes Council was not driven by cost-savings or community criticism, the council says.
The council has answered further questions about the shake-up, revealed by Mayor Tania Tapsell in August, that saw the council’s remaining six controversial deputy chief executive roles revert to a group manager format, similar to what it was two years ago.
A seventh deputy role had earlier been disestablished.
Tapsell previously said the council would have two group managers, one for each of the council’s committees. A third group manager would focus on council services.
They would be joined by two executive directors, one responsible for the Te Arawa partnership and the other for governance, corporate planning, engagement and marketing and communications.
Tapsell said the duties of the community wellbeing deputy chief executive would be consolidated among the managers.
More details of the restructure have been provided by people and organisational development director Clint Brickhill.
His role is not new but is now in the executive team.
He said the changes were not driven by criticism or costs but were made to ensure the organisation was efficient and effective to support the delivery of services and to focus its leaders on the council’s priorities.
The restructuring began in early July, after the Annual Plan process when the proposal was presented to the executive team for consultation.
A structure was finalised on August 28 but some reporting lines could be further changed.
The executive team has the same number of roles as before.
“These changes have not been recommended with the purpose of driving cost out of the organisation but to ensure that our executive team are not utilising resources that would better be used in directly serving our community. Some further realignment is required for existing roles that report to the new executive team so any salary savings can’t be confirmed at this stage,” Brickhill said.
Asked to explain the comment about resources in more detail, he said: “The changes were not cost-driven, they were made to ensure the organisation is efficient and effective to support the delivery of services and to focus leaders in our organisation on council priorities.”
Brickhill said the restructure was expected to cost about $10,000. The previous one, which resulted in the seven deputy chief executives, cost about $50,000 and resulted in two pay rises. It attracted criticism such as calls for an independent review of the decision.
Asked how the community wellbeing deputy chief executive role would be shared, Brickhill said the active and engaged communities portfolios, including sport, would report to the infrastructure and environmental solutions group manager.
Rotorua Library - Te Aka Mauri and community safety would join the community and district development group, which he said recognised the importance of having a strategic focus to address community issues.
He said this was shown by the recent announcement of an inner-city community safety hub.
“The hub will form part of the inner-city revitalisation programme and it is envisaged that other community support services including customer service, crime prevention and public information could be provided from [it].”
Tapsell said in August the restructure followed direction from elected members to find cost efficiencies, as well as a result of “strong feedback” in the Annual Plan process from members of the public wanting a structural “refresh”.
She also said changes were being made to align with council and committee priorities.
Asked about the council’s comments, she said the restructure was part of the “transformational changes that this council is wanting to do”.
“We were also wanting to ensure this organisation was aligned to deliver on our new priorities, and that we were operating in a way that was efficient.”
“So that we can guarantee that any dollar we spend in any area of council will deliver a return and value for the ratepayers, and achieve outcomes they want too.”
She said Brickhill would now report to the chief executive rather than a group manager, “bumping” the numbers up in that team.
Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.
- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air