Auditor General eyes council restructure

Northland Regional Council chief executive Malcolm Nicolson

Northland Regional Council's proposed staff restructure is of interest and an auditor will discuss the associated costs with the council, said the Auditor General's office.

Council chief executive Malcolm Nicolson announced plans for a massive restructure that would disestablish 11 jobs but create 18 more.

Mr Nicolson said, should it go ahead, the proposal would be completed and new appointments made by June 22.

The restructure - which could have financial implications in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, including redundancy payments - was not included in the draft Long Term Plan (LTP) recently signed off by the council and submitted to the Auditor General's office.

Mr Nicolson has been on leave since March 27 and NRC chairman Bill Shepherd had not answered the Advocate's questions, saying staffing matters were not the business of the elected council.

Mr Nicolson replied to questions on Thursday regarding the LTP and audit process, saying the full costs or savings with the proposed change were not yet known.

"Therefore, they could not have been included in the draft LTP. Moreover, a restructuring of staff is not an appropriate matter for consultation with the public in the LTP consultation process," Mr Nicolson said.

"Any staff restructuring is not a community outcome nor an activity of the council."

However, Mr Nicolson said any restructuring would be in response to the council's directive that the organisation was "fit for purpose".

"I cannot predict what, if any, redundancies may occur, or who may be involved; so I cannot predict their cost," Mr Nicolson said.

"Similarly, I do not know to what extent there may be recruitment, retraining, or reallocation of roles. Whether there will be legal fees depends largely on whether anyone brings any legal action; and the forum chosen."

But the Auditor General's office told the Northern Advocate it was interested in the restructuring and would discuss the potential costs with the council.

Meanwhile, an employment advocate believes the council's proposal is flawed and open to legal challenges.

Auckland-based employment advocate, Danny Gelb, said the document put to staff lacked a fundamental component of any redundancy proposal.

"There is nothing that I can see in the restructure document that mentions the reduction of any roles, duties or tasks," Mr Gelb said.

"On this basis alone, there is no justification for any of the 11 to lose their jobs as the tasks that they are now doing will not be disappearing."

Mr Gelb said based, on the justification in the staff document, and comments from Mr Nicolson, change management was the correct process.

Mr Nicolson has stated the existing staff do not have the skillset to carry out the NRC's new direction but Mr Gelb said, if that were the case, "change management" would be appropriate.

Change management gave staff equal opportunity to "step up and take part in a change for the good of all, as opposed to a ridiculous redundancy situation whereby many people will be too scared to speak out as those tall poppies may get cut down, resulting in good people with plenty of local knowledge potentially being lost."

The 11 roles targeted in the proposal include senior management staff. Whether the jobs go, will be known on May 4, after staff consultation.