The chairman of a southern regional council says he is surprised by the number of available vacancies following a recent restructure.
Environment Southland disestablished 51 roles and created 56 new ones in a shake-up which impacted almost a quarter of staff this year.
When the proposal went live in February, a source told Local Democracy Reporting there were “lots of tears”.
It has now been revealed 48 roles were yet to be filled, with the council indicating there was no rush for some.
Council chairman Nicol Horrell said he was under the impression the figure was in the 20s, but didn’t think the vacancies were impacting the day-to-day running of the council.
“When you go through a restructure, there’s always a wee bit of settling in. A lot of people have changed jobs, and that takes probably a little bit of time to settle down,” he said.
“But overall, no, I don’t have any great concerns.”
Horrell said there were some positions the council wasn’t rushing to fill, and less people doing the work was positive from a ratepayer’s standpoint.
Environment Southland said in April it was creating 58 new roles as part of the restructure but has since changed that figure to 56.
As of today, there were three positions advertised on its website.
Council general manager people and governance Amy Kubrycht said some of the vacancies were being recruited under priority while others would be phased in under the long-term plan.
The council was using contractors, third party suppliers and secondments to help in areas where there were vacancies, Kubrycht said.
“Our people are continuing to deliver their work programmes and have been doing a great job as we transition to the new structure.”
The council previously said it would undertake a contestable selection and expression of interest process with open recruitment for unfilled positions.
If employees were unable to secure new roles within the restructure, they would be made redundant and receive a payout in accordance with employment agreements.
A proposal document from February showed there were 212 roles at the organisation.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
