Some Ōpōtiki District Council staff members have turned to their union to represent their interests in regard to long-term plan discussions.

Public sector union PSA has written to Ōpōtiki’s mayor and councillors on behalf of members who are Ōpōtiki District Council staff.

PSA organiser Peter Robertshaw says he had written the letter, dated March 18, “at the request of delegates, given that the council had been planning to cut roles at the library and reduce hours there, which was where some of the members worked”.

He says by the date the letter was sent, he’d already been informed that the council had taken a different direction, so he had made the letter “more generalised”.

“I was keen to remind them that they are there to represent everybody in the district and not just the ratepayers.”

The letter said members had raised concerns with their union about “the current conversation being held by council relating to the formulation of the long-term plan”.

“Councils and central government have, for a number of years, tended to underfund or delay projects and services, in effect, kicking the can down the road for others to deal with at a later time. This not only does not provide the services expected by residents but increases the costs of doing things many-fold in the future.

“That time has now come to roost for a few organisations and kicking the can further down the road, whilst expedient and no doubt attractive to elected members, will no longer deal with the myriad expectations of the residents.”

Robertshaw says he's pretty sure some of his colleagues had sent letters out to other councils who were either anticipating large rates increases or looking at cutting services where members worked.

Ōpōtiki Mayor David Moore says while he's aware of other council’s “kicking cans down the road,” he feels the Ōpōtiki council has a good record on that score.

“Previous councils have invested heavily in three waters. One thing you can’t accuse Ōpōtiki of is kicking cans down the road,” he says.

He acknowledges that times are tough at the moment and the council is looking for ways to economise but says the council has never had a plan to cut hours at the library.

“Not one single councillor ever mentioned cutting hours back to 20 hours a week. Yes, it was in the documents because we asked staff to look at ways to cut costs.”

He says he thinks there is a place for volunteers to help with library services.

“Every organisation in this town has volunteers. There’s no council staff at the museum, there’s no council staff at the fire service, no council staff at the ambulance service. You name it, everything is done by volunteers.”

“If you can find me a council in the country that’s not looking to have cuts in different areas, I’ll be pretty impressed. We’ve got to be careful. Everyone’s in a tight situation.”

He says only “a handful of people” at the council are members of PSA.

“So, it’s not all the staff here.”

He says he has an open-door policy with both staff members and the community.

“Staff are allowed to raise concerns through their union, but they could have always just knocked on the door and raised them with me if they wished,” he says.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.