Tararua Council resilience manager Paddy Driver has done 'phenomenal job'

Paddy Driver, the Tararua District Council's resilience manager.

The Tararua District Council received applications from four strong candidates for the district resilience manager's role which will be left vacant when incumbent Paddy Driver retires in December.

"Paddy has done a phenomenal job in our community and he's doing a fantastic job of organising the Woodville charter parade for early December," Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis said.

The charter parade by 1st Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment will be the second in our district and will be part of the Woodville Christmas parade on Saturday, December 8.

And council chief executive Blair King said Driver deserved credit for initiating the digital radio project in the district. While primarily for Civil Defence, it will also be used for council's day-to-day operational use.

"The digital network is a boon for staff safety," King said.

"At the moment we are paying for multiple systems, so to rationalise is great."

The benefits of digital radio include automatic vehicle tracking, phone over radio communications, emergency button monitoring, use of telemetry over radio for remote sites and many other features.

The next phase of the project is to identify types, cost and quantities of hardware needed for the network and Driver is currently working with the Downer communications team on this.