REDUNDANCIES: The Rotorua District Council says it tried to retain staff where possible. PHOTO/FILE
Thirty staff at the Rotorua District Council have been made redundant after a major reshuffle of the organisation to cut costs.
Overall, council staff numbers have dropped 66 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, saving the council $3.5 million a year.
Staff numbers have dropped from 580 at July 1 last year to 514.
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick said the restructure was aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness to support the new direction set by councillors.
She said while it had not been a painless process, the council was now "tailored and strengthened for the future, to support the Rotorua 2030 vision".
"This work started during last year's election and has added quite a bit of pressure on the organisation and the staff.
"It's exciting to see the organisation now on a new course, but we also acknowledge that some staff are moving on.
"Some have given great service to our community and we thank them for that and wish them the best.
"We will start to see the benefits of the realignment flowing into the community across the next two years," Mrs Chadwick said.
Council chief executive Geoff Williams said the organisation had done its best to honour the new direction required while retaining employees where possible.
"The new council is looking to work in a different way to achieve its vision for Rotorua so things had to change within the organisation," he said.
"By freezing vacancies last year we were able to make changes internally to reduce the FTE numbers and we have also reduced our management tiers.
"If we hadn't done this, I believe we would have had a much larger number of staff and roles affected by the changes we needed to make."
Mr Williams said he was confident a leaner, more efficient and effective organisation, which would be more proactive and responsive to community needs, had emerged.
Six levels of management have been reduced to four and staff will now work in project teams rather than in isolation on different parts of projects. He said the redesign of the organisation began late last year.
Appointments:
Stavros Michael: Transport Solutions director - former director of infrastructure at Wellington City Council
Rob Pitkethley: Sport and Recreation manager - former Eastern Region Fish and Game manager
Jason Ward: Planning lead - formerly of Cheal Consultants
Richard Bird: People and Capability manager - formerly of Waiariki Institute of Technology
Michael Hewerdine: Property and Investment manager - internal appointment
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