An open letter to QLDC Staff from election candidate John Glover

No matter how talented or how many God given abilities we might think we have as potential Councillors, the reality is that none of us can achieve anything of note by ourselves. Anyone who describes Council employees as 'town hall bureaucrats" clearly has no sense of either the role or of what is involved in working in the public sector. While acknowledging the requirements of Council staff to display impartiality in dealings with Councillors, as individuals you have a right to vote and this letter sets out my thoughts on issues that affect you, a signicant part of the local electorate. The new Council needs to recognise Staff have been through a torrid restructuring process and there's been an inevitable loss of corporate skills and knowledge. If there wasn't some disenfranchisement and doubt about the ability to get through the work, I'd be surprised.

How crucial then, in the immediate future, for Council to track the ability of the organisation to deliver on the workload and be wholly clear that if anything is dropping off the table why that is. My vision for Council is that it gains a great reputation for making things happen in smart & new ways that rapidly and visibly improve the lot for those of us who are here for the long term.

Council becomes an inspiring place to work. We take pride in improving the District.
We should consider staff turnover rates, absence and sickness levels as barometer indicators of the organisations health, and training, secondment and development opportunities as a measure of our investment.

We play to the strengths of our staff, encourage innovation, feel as good about our jobs as every one of the front line hospitality hosts that pass on their infectious buzz to our visitors.

Council needs to strike the correct balance between taking direction from the community and leading, inspiring and empowering members of the community. The costs of living, some basic services, buying or building a house or doing business in the District are often reported as being too high. Public service is not private business, but it needs to be run in a business like way and as a Council, we need to be sure that our systems aren't unnecessarily adding costs - and by that I mean the policies and processes that Council has adopted.

We should benchmark the cost of some basic services -water, waste, building consents, development contributions etc against other Districts to see how we measure up and use the results to develop a discussion about where the costs are actually coming from.

I look forward, if I'm successful in my election attempt, to joining an organisation that does make a difference and wish you all the best for the future.

Remember, you can ask questions via www.vote.co.nz which you can do so in a less face to face manner than an election meeting and gives all candidates the opportunity to respond. You will be able to nd my stance on the usual range of election topics as they are reported in the media or on my Facebook page. Finally, don't forget to check out my daily "politics 101" tweets @johngqldc

Regards, John Glover Produced and authorised by John Glover 862 Kinloch Road, Glenorchy 9372