Leadership team at Whanganui District Council revamped

Kym Fell has made changes to the leadership team at Whanganui District Council. Photo / Bevan Conley

A revamped executive leadership team at Whanganui District Council will enable more areas of council business to be represented when decisions are made, chief executive Kym Fell says.

The team has been expanded to nine, with a new general manager role in people and performance bringing the number of general managers reporting to the chief executive to three. Fell has also added three group manager roles.

The change follows a major council restructure by Fell in 2016, and he said he aims for continuous improvement.

"I am not shy when it comes to organisational change. We need to remain relevant and consistently deliver the best organisational outcomes for our community."

The change doesn't increase wage costs for the council, and it also reduces the number of people reporting to both the chief executive and chief operating officer (COO), freeing them up for wider concerns.

The team includes Bryan Nicholson, whose role as COO will be replaced like-for-like when he leaves at the end of October, chief financial officer Mike Fermor, infrastructure general manager Mark Hughes, and property and projects general manager Leighton Toy. They are joined by Catherine Dutton as general manager people and performance.

Catherine Dutton's is one of the new faces in Whanganui District Council's nine-member executive leadership team. Photo / supplied

The three new group manager roles, which report to the COO, give emerging leaders a chance to step up.

Stephanie Macdonald-Rose is corporate group manager, in charge of communications, marketing, legal matters, strategy, policy, corporate planning, IT and the Safer and Welcoming Communities groups.

Venues and events, customer services, libraries, galleries and Mainstreet will be the concern of customer experience group manager Marianne Cavanagh.

And Hamish Lampp is now regulatory and planning group manager, involved with planning, building and compliance.

The nine will meet weekly for about 90 minutes, Fell said, to discuss matters of importance.

"This change enables a stronger departmental representation around the executive table. The benefits in doing so being collective decision making, the removal of silos, and a 'no-surprises' approach."