PSA highly critical of 'tone-deaf' restructure at Timaru District Council

Thursday, 21 September 2023

A restructure at Timaru’s council has been described as “tone-deaf” by the Public Service Association (PSA), with organisers questioning the intentions of the soon-to-depart chief executive, and taking a shot at his use of consultants.

Timaru District Council chief executive Bede Carran, who will leave the position in December, confirmed the restructure proposal on Tuesday and said those affected had been notified on Monday.

PSA organiser Adrian Mealing said they were only informed of the proposal to restructure roles the day after employees.

“Due to the lack of advanced notice or an invitation to schedule attendance, the PSA organiser was unable to attend.

“Although the number of employees directly impacted is relatively low, the ripple effects of redistributed work and reporting lines can be far-reaching.”

Mealing said Carran had “failed again to be a constructive partner” with the PSA, and they were “disappointed that he doesn’t seem to value meaningful engagement with us”.

“The timing of this proposal during New Zealand’s Mental Health Awareness Week has employees questioning the outgoing CE’s intentions, it smacks of being tone-deaf in our view.”

When asked why he was undertaking a restructure now, and whether he thought it was appropriate given he had just three months left in the role, Carran said: “These are challenging times for everyone, and as a council we are under no illusion that we have to ensure every cent we spend provides value to ratepayers.”

Carran would not be drawn on which departments were affected, or how many roles were likely to be impacted, but singled out customer service, financial responsibility and the importance of engaging the district’s diverse communities.

“This is a very sensitive time for people involved, and it would not be appropriate for us to make any further comments about the proposal at this time.”

“However, I also believe that providing high quality customer service, giving everyone the opportunity to participate and properly engaging our diverse communities is the foundation of strong local government.

“We’ve made huge strides in embedding a culture of improvement in these key areas, and I feel these changes will help ensure we can continue to improve our community focus in a financially responsible way.”

In an email to all staff on Tuesday, Carran said the purpose of the proposal was to “outline cost-saving initiatives that would streamline and align services across the council” and they were “undertaking consultation and seeking feedback”.

He said it recommended the disestablishment of some roles and the creation of more “focussed and streamlined” roles.

Mealing said the proposal aimed to “retrieve funds from an already overburdened group of directly employed individuals, all the while disregarding critical matters”.

“One clear issue with TDC’s finances is its heavy dependence on costly contractors to undertake work that could be done by employees.

“This budget is separate from the wage budget and seems to be unfairly manipulated, negatively affecting employees and ratepayers.

“We recognise that certain roles may be more difficult to fill, but it should not be the default employment practice.”

The proposal was the fifth restructure carried out by Carran since he started in the role in December 2016.

In July 2021, it was revealed council staff were “stressed” by the third restructure undertaken during Carran’s tenure. At the time, PSA organiser Ian Gordon said “we have seen a trend of regular restructuring at Timaru District Council which takes a toll on members through stress and uncertainty in the workplace”.

There had been an increase in union membership at the council, Gordon said at the time.

Another restructure followed in 2021, the fourth reshuffle in five years, which brought in significant changes to the council’s senior management team.

On Thursday, Mealing said union membership had continued to steadily increase at the council “especially after a challenging round of bargaining”, and the PSA was ready to assist any employees seeking guidance or representation.

Council finances under spotlight

In March, mayor Nigel Bowen asked councillors to support him in working with Carran to conduct an urgent review of his council’s spending on contractors and consultants amid “massive escalations”.

In August 2022, The Timaru Herald asked the council to release information on its use of consultants over the five years to 2022. According to figures released at the time, the total spend was just below $34m, steadily climbing each year from $3.43m in 2018 to $10.37m in 2021, before dropping slightly to $10.2m in 2022.

On August 25, the council was asked to provide updated information on its use of consultants over the past year. That information was yet to be provided.

However, the council’s group manager commercial and strategy, Trudie Hurst, provided an update on Wednesday informing it would not be able to meet its statutory requirement under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act to provide a response within 20 working days.

“We have decided to grant your request. However, it will take us some time to prepare the information for release. We will send you the information by Friday 29 September 2023.

“We require additional time to produce this information as Audit NZ are currently on site,” Hurst said.

Draft figures delivered during a workshop to bring councillors up to speed on the council’s use of consultants showed it was on track to spend more than $9.7m in 2023.

On Monday, Carran confirmed Hurst was one of two senior leadership team staff who had resigned from their positions.

Hurst was appointed commercial and strategy group manager in April, resigning after just five months in the role. Recreation and cultural services group manager Nigel Ingram had also resigned and would leave in November, a year after he was appointed.