The LTP needs to be part of the induction process for newly elected councillors, Josh Chandulal-Mackay says. Photo / NZME
The LTP needs to be part of the induction process for newly elected councillors, Josh Chandulal-Mackay says. Photo / NZME
Staff dealt with a scale of the work “unlike any other” while completing Whanganui District Council’s latest 10-year plan.
A report from council policy manager Elise Broadbent said staff were stretched while attempting to complete a large amount of extra work on top of already busy workloads. It comes on the heels of an announcement that the council will cut 31 jobs – mostly management roles – and replace them with 10.
Chief executive David Langford introduced a new process for the latest 10-year Long-Term Plan (LTP) for 2024-34, with staff required to submit reports for projects to be considered.
He told the Chronicle that staff worked “really damn hard”. “We do stretch ourselves because we want to do a good job for the community, and we do it in a way that means we don’t have to pump up rates by bringing extra people on board.
“Long-term plans are very busy, demanding pieces of work and we do need to keep our eye out that we are managing workloads on staff. We are a learning organisation and we always want to do better.”
The latest LTP was a significant improvement on previous processes and a success overall but there were always areas for improvement, he said.
Broadbent’s report said staff had four working days between completing audits and launching the LTP for public consultation, seven working days between the closure of consultation and public hearings, and 12 working days between hearings and council deliberations.
“In addition, the scale of the work was unlike any other LTP experienced before. Paired with the compressed timeframes, this led to significant resourcing strains.”
She told the council’s strategy and policy committee that the LTP had been lost in the community because a couple of big issues overwhelmed the majority of the work.
The Whanganui East Pool and its potential closure was a major issue in the council's LTP. Photo / NZME
Broadbent’s report said a communications lead would be appointed early in the next LTP cycle. She told the committee there was no overarching strategy in place before the process started.
The council had been working on a replacement for its Leading Edge Strategy in May 2023 but that was put on hold the following March because of the volume of work and complexity of the LTP. “Having that cohesive strategy from the start and focusing on the 10-year timeframe – what’s happening over 10 years – will assist us,” Broadbent said.
Her report said training opportunities were needed for councillors so they understood key decisions and had a view of the full LTP process. Internally, there was a breakdown in communication in some cases, making it difficult to work on delivering “the big picture of what the plan aimed to achieve”.
Councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay said that, for newly elected members, including Mayor Andrew Tripe, the LTP had been “a hell of a baptism of fire”.
“My belief is that the Long-Term Plan and the process around how it works needs to be an absolutely critical part of the induction.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
