The CCC organisation has been operating with 21 people reporting to the head of staff and Dr McTurk earlier said that she did not believe it to be a recipe for successful management. She had also said she wanted to use the reorganisation at senior management level to better set up the City Council to meet the challenges of the Local Government Act 2002.

Prior to the decision, Dr McTurk released to staff a draft proposal and asked for feedback. She received more than 100 responses and incorporated a number of those suggestions in the final structure.

All of the staff whose positions are being disestablished have been encouraged to apply for any of the newly created positions. As a result, Dr McTurk said at the time of the decision, she was not yet able to say how many people might be made redundant. The possibility of redundancies, however, could not be ruled out.

“This is largely an internal staff matter, but I understand that Christchurch people are interested in what their Council is doing,” Dr McTurk said. “What I’d like the people of Christchurch to know is that this is not a cost-saving exercise and it is not about individual performance.

“My vision with this reorganisation is to build leadership capability and develop an organisation which is driven by performance and fully accountable to both the city’s elected members and the citizens of Christchurch. “The new Local Government Act says that councils now have a greater responsibility to listen to their communities and respond to what is wanted. To do that, and for our elected members to be able to set the broad strategies, the council needs reliable information, strong systems for communicating with the people of the city, and clear internal systems to deliver, plan and monitor progress.

“In general, Christchurch City Council is in good shape and I have inherited an organisation whose staff members are rightly proud of the city’s facilities and the work and services they provide,” she said. “But we need better ways of listening and responding to people’s concerns and we need to know and show that what we’re doing is what’s wanted and that it is being done efficiently and well.”