Councillor Alan Hunter’s suggestion for a rate freeze in Byron Shire is a good one. Mr Hunter also suggests looking at the process that is in place in Byron Shire Council (BSC) to see if it is effective for ratepayers, this suggestion is also a good one.
Under the previous General Manager (GM), there has been a disproportionate increase in indoor staff compared to outdoor staff. This continues under the current GM.
How is the Council’s infrastructure supposed to be maintained when you don’t have the outdoor staff on the ground to do it?
There have been indoor positions advertised regularly on the Council website and it seems that BSC is returning to the pre-1993 Local Government restructure, which had identified that local councils had far too many [administrative] forms and levels of management positions.
The 1993 Local Government restructure addressed this, but it seems BSC has regressed to the pre-1993 structure. Mr Hunter should be asking ‘Is this cost-effective for the ratepayer?’
Mr Hunter should ask for the number of indoor positions advertised and created compared to the number of outdoor positions created and advertised over the last six years.
Mr Hunter could then supply [to ratepayers and residents] the number of permanent indoor staff compared to the number of permanent outdoor staff currently employed on Byron Shire Council.
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