Call made to get rid of board

There has been a call for the board of Christian Social Services Wanganui to be cleaned out and replaced.

It comes from Evan Jones who was at the meeting as a support person when the board told staff of radical changes it was proposing.

Mr Jones said he was "disgusted" with the way things transpired.

"The smug way one of the board members just sat there when a so-called adviser handed out the letter to staff was disgraceful," he said.

He said the board had no understanding of the work the City Mission did and had done nothing to help.

"What this board doesn't understand is that the City Mission stands when government agencies fail," Mr Jones said.

He said it was obvious the staff had no confidence in the board and it was also obvious no information was being fed back from the board to those churches supporting the mission.

"They simply don't know how to handle staff.

"On what I've seen and heard I think many of the staff would have very strong grounds for taking personal grievances against this board but they won't because there aren't the funds in reserve to pay them," he said.

He said the board was acting in a heavy-handed manner.

"What needs to happen is for this board to be cleaned out and replaced by people who are supportive of the work the mission is doing.

"The work of the mission is growing, yet this board is solely intent on making money out of everything the mission does. But you can't profit from the poor," Mr Jones said.

He said he was aware of people and organisations in the city who were withholding financial contributions to the City Mission until the board was replaced.