9 April 2021
Media: NewsHub radio and NewsTalk ZB
Topic: Freedom campaing rules review
Enquiry
NewsHub radio and NewsTalk ZB sought interviews with Mayor Chadwick (who co-chaired the Responsible Camping Working Group) relating to the freedom camping rules review announced this morning by Minister Nash (see HERE)
Mayor Chadwick had provided comment for an LGNZ release welcoming the review (see HERE)
Response
Key points made by Mayor Chadwick included:
- Review not about banning freedom camping but enabling it in a way that respects our communities and environment.
- Most are responsible campers but regulation is needed to address poor behaviour of some
- Current system means its often ratepayers who carry the cost of dealing with the bad behaviour of the minority
- Consultation on the review is important in setting out the boundaries to address these issues.
- We will be interested in allocation of resource to enforce any new regulations - shouldn't be another burden on ratepayers who see none of the GST or other taxation benefits, but carry the regulatory costs
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Media: Local democracy reporter
Topic: Rotorua Lakes Council redundancies
Enquiry
I have just received the below statements from the PSA. Given the council is familiar with the main points of what is being discussed, I'd like to offer the council a right of reply to this.
Could you please also clarify at which point in the process the attached document [presentation with OCTOBER on front cover] was circulated to affected staff?
[In documentation presented to staff} it states "Covid-19 impact has reduced transaction support and is driving a change in the nature of customers engagement toward online interactions including, for example: FY 30 June 2020 $1.6m reduction in revenue from March - June; Estimated $1m reduction in revenue for FY 2021; payments by direct debits have increased have increased with 1205 customers converted since 26th May 2020" - let me know if there are further comments in relation to this.
PSA National Secretary Erin Polaczuk:
"We strongly opposed the restructure and we remain convinced it was a bad idea. Skilled council workers were made redundant, which is a difficult experience at the best of times, and they took a lot of institutional experience with them on their way out," says PSA National Secretary Erin Polaczuk.
"These were staff who built relationships throughout the community over the years. When ratepayers are in arrears, it's an inherently stressful experience approaching the Council to try and resolve it. Arrears Officers handle these cases with sensitivity and dignity, and received consistently positive feedback for their work. It's very concerning if the Council thinks it can rely on corporate outfits like Baycorp in their place."
"Council staff work hard every day to provide essential community services, and in return they should reasonably expect to feel supported, valued and respected by their employer."
[Excerpt from PSA submission to the council on the restructure, provided to me:]
The skill requirements for the Senior Collections Arrears Officer and the Collections Arrears Officers, have been ignored in the proposal. Presently these Officers are dealing with an average of 4.3 RFS per day requiring various time allocated to engage.
Some of the work these officers do include
Rates refunds
Credit Transfers
Penalty Write offs
Payment plans
Working with the Local Government Rating Act to serve defaults
Demands to banks & Baycorp
Issuing reminders to rate payers and sundry debtors
Monthly reporting
They perform this work whilst working with stressed ratepayers with sensitivity and dignity. Despite of the nature of the work they have very low levels of complaints especially compared to the positive feedback they receive. They are seen as a positive action in a negative mechanism.
By moving this service to the Customer Service Team Council should expect to see an increase in complaints and negative perception of the Council.
This is because the Customer Service Team will not be able to respond to the ratepayer in the manner that is required.
We are also concerned that by escalating to the Debt Collection Agency earlier, that Council will be foregoing a significant amount of revenue. We believe that the debt agency fee is around 12.5% of the debt which we estimate to be around 130,000 - 200,000 quarter (based on a present monthly outstanding). This is a conservative estimate given that it is highly likely that the Customer Service Team will be escalating at a far earlier time than what the Collections Arrears officers do now
This would also be reflected in 12-15% of Sundry debt currently this sets at about $30,000 per month. This debt being transferred for earlier escalation, will also damage our relationship with key stakeholders and local businesses also sensitive areas, which are already struggling.
Sending them to debt collection will have a detrimental effect on the council's reputation in the community.
Again, notwithstanding the cost, we believe that the reputational risk to the Council will be significant given the propensity to use the Debt Collection Agency as an earlier intervention.
Response
The following comment and information was provided:
From Thomas Colle:
We are pleased with the operational changes that were implemented in November and which have seen improvements in the process in general, including improvements in timeliness and debt recovery.
Info:
Re when was document presented to staff: October following consultation process