Security worries staff

Press, 28 June 1989, Page 5

Security worries staff

By

JEREMY KIRK

Local body employees’ concerns that no decision had been made on staffing for the new District Council was expressed at the Banks Peninsula Transitional Committee meeting yesterday.

The Wairewa County Clerk, Mr Kevin Harmer, said staff were concerned about their jobs after amalgamation in October, even though the jobs were guaranteed until March 31, 1990. The committee should not be afraid to make decisions, even if the district council could overrule them later, he said.

The chairman of the Wairewa County Council, Mr Bill Thompson, said the committee was dragging the chain and it should be doing things as fast as possible with less than 16 weeks until district council elections.

A Lyttelton Borough councillor, Cr Mahony May, said change should not be rushed. This could cause costly mistakes. Lyttelton’s Town Cerk, Mr Gary Broker, said officers were working on future staffing structures but plans were still in the conceptual stage.

Many things needed considering. It would be dishonest to tell staff what would happen until the officers knew themselves, he said.

The, Transport Law Reform Bill, which would not become law until September, would have a big impact on staffing levels, particularly in rural council areas. The committee endorsed a report on staffing, prepared by the committee’s officer group made up of county clerks and engineers from the .committee’s four councils. It recommended a middle-of-the-road, staged approach, working through all objectives,

rather than composing a management structure first.

The Akaroa County Council’s engineer, Mr Ken Pauling, said only when this was done would staffing levels be known. Mr Broker said things were well under way and he was confident officers would complete the task by October 14.

The committee’s chairman, Mr David Collins, emphasised that natural attrition, rather than redundancies would be used to make staff cuts. The committee ruled that existing jobs would have to be reapplied for and that existing staff could apply for any vacancies. The committee set up a working party to make recommendations on a united Civil Defence plan. The working party will co-ordinate the merging of the two existing plans of the Wairewa-Akaroa and the Lyttelton-Mount Herbert areas the report back to the committee. One person from each of the four authorities will be nominated for the working party.

The committee will consult with the local iwi authority (Ngai Tahu) to co-ordinate its involvement with the new local government changes. A competition will be held to design a logo for the Banks Peninsula District Council.

After the meeting the acting secretary, Mr Tony Cole, said the committee had received six applications for job descriptions for the position of principal officer for the district.