Jobs go in shire shake-up
By Brad Lester
FIVE senior positions at South Gippsland Shire Council are likely to be made redundant as part of a proposed major restructure of the organisation.
Two directors and three managerial roles will go in the second overhaul of the council in 19 months.
The plan, overseen by new chief executive officer Tim Tamlin, will be finalised this Friday. Affected staff were last week told they would be out of work.
Mr Tamlin did not wish to disclose the redundant positions to protect the privacy of staff, but said none of them had worked with the council for more than three years.
“There have been a few people (to whom) we’ve had to say ‘Sorry, you’re not going to have a job anymore’,” he said.
“It’s been a tough time in the last week but we have got to do it for the future.”
The CEO said the new structure would result in greater efficiencies and customer service.
“I’m not doing this as a cost cutting exercise. I’m doing this for the benefit of the community,” he said.
The current management structure was imposed by former CEO Paul Bawden in January 2009 and the council has had five CEOs in seven years.
Asked whether the frequency of changes within council was of concern, Mr Tamlin said he was unable to comment.
“I believe it is very beneficial in the long term because it makes us more efficient at delivering customer service and meeting our community’s needs,” he said.
And the CEO did not rule out further organisational changes.
“I don’t think change will ever stop, because when you stop changing is the day you stop being flexible and stop delivering the best outcome for your community,” Mr Tamlin said.
“At the end of the day, we have to provide a service and if we are not doing that, the community will say ‘What are you doing here?’”
Under the draft proposal, council will have four directors instead of the current three.
Those positions will be directors of: engineering services; community services; corporate services; and development services.
Council is now served by director of sustainability, Andrew McEwen; director of infrastructure, Anthony Seabrook; and director of corporate and community services, Dirk Holwerda.
Further changes will be made within the management teams reporting to these directors.
Council now has managers of social and economic development, planning, environment and community safety, infrastructure maintenance, engineering, family services, finance and information services.
“As we will have more directors, we will be able to offer opportunities for flatter structures that will allow more communication between departments.” Mr Tamlin said.
“We will be able to provide better customer service at less cost. People will see better services and better output. We will do more work for the same costs.”
Mr Tamlim said staff have been consulted about the changes over the past four weeks and contributed to the new arrangements.
Council’s proposal to employ 12.8 additional staff – as listed in the 2010-11 budget – will be part of the changes.
Three additional staff will be employed in the works depot, plus an assets manager, integrated community planner, network administrator (information technology systems) and a volunteer co-ordinator.
Mayor Cr Jim Fawcett confirmed the review was underway but said the issue was “purely on the operational side” and a matter for the CEO to determine.
Cr David Lewis said the restructure was “fairly logical”.
“It’s always something that can be improved, how things are structured. It’s a job never completely finished because you can never get anything right, but it’s a step in the right direction,” he said.
“Each CEO has their own personal style and the way he has restructured reflects Tim Tamlin’s personal style and personally, I see nothing wrong with what he’s doing.”
But Cr Lewis was the only councillor to vote against this year’s budget, asking for the number of additional staff to be halved, saving $500,000.
He said ratepayers would then have had a rate rise of 4.8 per cent, instead of 6.5 per cent.
The new directors’ positions will be advertised widely and existing directors will be encouraged to apply.
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