Mayor John Dal Broi
GRIFFITH mayor John Dal Broi has warned more jobs could be axed from Griffith City Council as part of a sweeping review into operations.
Fifteen staff lost their jobs in a dramatic reshuffle in March 2012 as council hunted for a way out of its ailing financial situation.
General manager Brett Stonestreet had made it clear from the beginning of his tenure in August 2011 he intended to cut costs throughout the organisation and when mayor John Dal Broi was elected last September, he advocated “cutting the fat” at council.
Cr Dal Broi’s opportunity will come next month, when councillors will be asked to decide whether to conduct a full-scale review of the staff structure. Under local government legislation, all councils must examine their staff structure within 12 months of a general election.
Mr Stonestreet said he would not recommend “sweeping changes” but the decision on the intensity of the review would be in the hands of councillors.
“I certainly don’t want to turn the organisation upsidedown,” Mr Stonestreet said.
“We have had a root-and-branch review in the past 18 months and the changes that came out of that are now bedded down.
“Having said that, there is always room for investigating efficiency improvements and anything we can do in that sense is always a possibility.”
After determining how comprehensive the review will be, councillors can choose to conduct the evaluation themselves or commission an external consultant.
Cr Dal Broi has already asked Mr Stonestreet to contact several consultancy firms to give councillors all the information they need to make a decision.
“In the private sector we have to live within our means so council has to be realistic,” Cr Dal Broi said.
“There are some areas in council where staff numbers have gone up astronomically, while others have remained static.
“We need to look at whether everyone is doing their job properly and, if they are, then there is no issue. We also have to look to see if we are overservicing some areas.”
Council has only begun to see a dip in its bottom line from the 2012 restructure, with the cost of redundancies of long-term staff offsetting the initial savings.
Mr Stonestreet said the merger of the economic development and tourism departments had been one of the greatest successes of the reshuffle as well as an improved focus on planning, which had boosted the relationship between council and developers.