A spectre is haunting the Kapiti Coast District Council… the spectre of Efficiency (to re-render Karl Marx)
And so it should: waste, inefficiency and overstaffing has been a huge problem, for the last 12 years particularly. We’ve posted numerous examples of the bureaucratic elite wasting large amounts of Ratepayers’ money on useless staff at the upper levels, a deluge of self-congratulatory publications, external consultants to tell them what to do, huge outside legal fees, over-payments to contractors, not to mention frivolity and ‘white elephants’.
However, there are things that councils need to do, and Ratepayers have every right to expect peak efficiency in the spending of their money in doing it. In fact, the Local Government Act specifically requires it.
But, with the notable exception of David Scott, the existing councilors have shown little or no interest in achieving that. Just this April, noted ‘inefficiency-denier’ Cr Cootes of Otaki was warning in his column in the Otaki Mail about people who say this is a priority: “Don’t accept answers like ‘reduce spending’ — reduce spending from where? Or ‘cutting staff numbers’ — tell me what roles are surplus to requirements?” he said.
We’ve actually dealt with those questions on several occasions, but either Cr Cootes doesn’t read our blog (unless there’s a mention of him) or he doesn’t believe anything that’s been written.
But the KCDC bosses themselves are clearly concerned about seeing all their dutiful ‘rubber stampers’ at the council table being replaced with new councilors that have quite different ideas.
A media release from Guy Burns is below.
Guy Burns, Deputy Chair of the Paraparaumu Raumati Community Board welcomes the news that Kapiti Coast District Council will vote on Thursday to undertake an organisational review, but he is wary of the timing and details.
“I question the timing of such a proposal and wonder who is the driving force behind the idea? The final report will most likely come out well after the October elections. Some may see the timing as an electioneering stunt designed to attract votes for current councillors.
“An organisational review of KCDC is required but I find the proposed review to be too wide-ranging. It encompasses governance, staff satisfaction, stakeholder engagement, cost effectiveness and efficiency. The review should focus primarily on organisational efficiency and cost effectiveness. Nearly half our rates go towards expenditure on staff costs; one of the highest ratios in the lower North Island.
“The background report for Councillors shows that the Chief Executive and staff will be responsible for organising the review–there is a danger that this will compromise the reviewer. I suggest that elected representatives undertake the process of organising and managing the review. This will help promote the independence and neutrality of the reviewer.
“I encourage Councillors to support such a review and hope there will be unanimous support for the proposal.”