I am extremely disappointed with the process of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council “evaluation” of the Tourism and Economic Development portfolios. Council’s press release of 27/3/12 mentions “an intent to merge the economic development and tourism teams under one management structure”.
What the press release does not mention is that the Management positions of these two teams have been made redundant. What gets up my nose is that this decision to merge the two portfolios and make these two positions redundant has been made prior to the evaluation- is that cart possibly before the horse?
Both of these departments, under their current managers- Linda Hall heads the Tourism team and Trevor Sargeant is the Economic Development manager- have overachieved considerably:- National recognition and awards, booming tourist numbers, a growing events calendar and successful business programs,etc,etc. Tourism continues to grow while many of our neighbours experience a downturn, jobs growth in our Council area is 1.6x population growth and we read regularly in the press of the successes of both of these departments and their vital financial contribution to the area- in press releases from the Council that has now decided to make the positions of the leaders of these teams redundant! Council’s GM, Tony Hayward says “These services need to be delivered in the best way possible…” Isn’t that what they have been doing? The runs are on the board.
Council has said the evaluation is expected to take three to four months- that means a result in June or July. I believe the redundancies take effect on June 30. In September we will have a new Council. Am I silly to suggest that a decision of this importance could be delayed “till the new Council is in place? I probably am- it seems the big decisions have already been made, now comes the evaluation.
We are all aware of Council’s financial situation, the merging of these two areas will no doubt will save $$, but to lose two extremely successful and competent managers and the breakup of the very effective teams who have performed “above and beyond the call” may prove to be a very costly exercise in the long term.
Shane Stelzer
