Management of Roading Assets moves 'in house'

Big changes to the way Wairoa District Council manages its roading assets will have major benefits for ratepayers including overall cost saving and the benefit of professional expertise on staff.

Day-to-day network management functions will be carried out by a newly established ‘in-house’ team under the engineering department from July 1.

This is a return to how the network used to be serviced until about 13 years ago, when a decision was made to out-source technical support largely due to staffing difficulties.

Now, due to changes in circumstance, it has been deemed appropriate to return to traditional ‘in-sourcing’.

Chief executive Peter Freeman said the change was a positive move with the potential for wide-reaching benefits.

“This is an exciting return to direct management of this function and something we are looking forward to as we believe it will offer significant additional benefits to ratepayers,” he said.

“Not only will the overall budget for this area improve, but we will also have a level of expertise in the organisation that far exceeds anything we’ve ever had before.”

External consultants would still play a role in specialised design work, for example bridge repairs and major flood damage work.

The major change was triggered by the recent tender process to provide out-sourced professional services to manage roading assets.

Opus International Consultants Ltd, which has held the contract for the past ten years, put forward the sole tender for the contract.

While Mr Freeman acknowledged the decade of high quality service from Opus, he said changes in the availability of qualified local staff meant council was able to look at alternative options.

As a result, it was recommended that council investigate the re-establishment of ‘in-house’ services, rather than retaining external consultants.

Mayor Les Probert and councillors unanimously endorsed this approach in a confidential meeting last week, and approval has been provided by the NZTA.

Many of the finer points are yet to be worked through, but council is expected to provide details of the new team over the coming months.