Gore council defends Queenstown spending during CEO recruitment
Saturday, 30 March 2024
The Gore District Council is defending its decision to hold interviews for a new chief executive at the Hilton Queenstown Resort and Spa, as it racked up a bill of more than $57,000 during the recruitment process.
The costs include a $1403 room to conduct interviews for the position, but the council says it was only $186 dearer than the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill.
The chairman of the council’s recruitment panel, Neville Phillips, said he understood that people may be critical of the choice of venue.
“Of course, but I’m not here to rip people off, and people need to understand that.
“It was the most cost effective venue for us, it was close to the airport and it meant that we didn’t have to drive right into Queenstown,’’ he said.
In February, the council announced it had appointed Deborah Lascelles as its new chief executive, following the resignation of Stephen Parry.
In a press release, it said recruitment agency Brannigans and the council’s recruitment panel chose five preferred candidates to be interviewed by councillors. The interviews were held in Queenstown.
“When we compared flights, travel and venue costs between Gore, Invercargill and Queenstown, the latter was considerably cheaper,” Bell said in the statement.
In response to a request from Stuff under the Local Government Official Meetings and Information Act, the council provided a breakdown of costs included in the recruitment process, which totalled $57,267.19 (GST exclusive).
The council paid a fee of $1403, (food included) to hire a room for interviews at the Hilton. The council said in its response that “the hire cost for the Hilton was only $186 more than the Ascot, in Invercargill, food inclusive’’.
Flights for the final five candidates cost $9804.40, and accommodation for candidates cost $1117.87
The council said Queenstown was chosen as the venue for the interviews because the cost of flights and variety of flight times were better than Invercargill, there were no rental car hire costs, which would have been the case if the interviews were held in Gore, and the venue provided better privacy in terms of keeping the candidates separate.
Recruitment agency Brannigans was chosen after a competitive process, and the LGOIMA response shows it charged a fee of $36,000. It also incurred costs of $4198.92 for flights, accommodation, and mileage, which were paid for by the council.
A further fee of $4430 was incurred for candidate assessments and checks.
The response says Brannigans ‘’has successfully taken the council through recruiting and appointing a new CEO under-budget’’.
Bell said the council approved a budget of $70,000 to recruit a new chief executive.
Members of the council’s recruitment panel were Bell, deputy mayor Keith Hovell, Cr Neville Phillips (chair) and Cr Andy Fraser.
Elected members travelled to Queenstown and back in one day to save on accommodation costs.
In 2022, Gore district councillor Bret Highsted boycotted a retreat for councillors and staff Bell held at Cromwell, saying Bell had campaigned on getting back to basics and it was ‘’disrespectful to the community, ratepayers, business people and the Mataura Licencing Trust to hold a retreat outside the district.’’
Invercargill City Council governance and legal manager Michael Morris said interviews associated with the appointment of Michael Day as Invercargill City Council chief executive officer [in 2023] were all held in Invercargill, but not at a council venue.
The total cost of recruitment was $66,774.48 – this did not include time costs for work Council staff may have done during recruitment as this is not itemised or charged.”
A Southland District Council spokesperson said its direct recruitment costs when Cameron McIntosh was appointed as chief executive in 2020 were $52,000, and interviews were held in Invercargill.