122 days ago

Council Dilemma of Staffing vs Consultants

Ganga from Ngaruawahia

From what I've observed, the issue of council staffing versus consultant use works a bit like this... Imagine you have a home that needs regular maintenance. You hire one handyman for your main house and another for your garage. Then someone comes along and points out that it’s wasteful since one handyman could easily manage both.

So, to 'fix' the problem, you fire both handymen and decide to use specialist contractors as and when needed. That way, you tell yourself, you’ll only pay for what you need. But before long, the same amount of work starts costing even more than what you paid for having two handymen (even though they were surplus to needs to begin with).

And now, someone else points out that you're paying too much for consultants, and in response, you hire three handymen - because it’s still cheaper than the contractors. And so, the cycle continues.

The real issue therefore, isn’t how much we spend on staff or consultants - it’s how wisely we use them.

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4 days ago

Poll: Are you a Te Huia fan?

Libby Totton Reporter from Waikato Times

All three Hamilton MPs appear to be united behind the retention of the Te Huia passenger rail service between Hamilton and Auckland, as well as potentially expanding it to Tauranga.

But whether Hamilton East’s Ryan Hamilton, Hamilton West’s Tama Potaka and soon-to-be Labour list MP Georgie Dansey have the combined power to shunt transport minister Chris Bishop and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon onto their line of thinking remains to be seen.

Are you a Te Huia fan? Tell us more in the comments (adding NFP if you don't want your words used in print).

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Are you a Te Huia fan?
  • 80% Yes
    80% Complete
  • 20% No
    20% Complete
35 votes
1 day ago

One size fits all rates cap model ‘unworkable’, says Waipā DC

Libby Totton Reporter from Waikato Times

Waipā District Council says the government’s “one size fits all” proposal to cap rate rises could disproportionately harm fast-growing councils such as Waipā.

On Wednesday, Strategic Planning and Policy committee members debated the council’s submission on the proposed rates cap model.

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8 hours ago

Recommendation

John from Flagstaff

Any recommendations please for someone who can knock out a dent in a car bumper.