SWAN Hill Rural City Council will slash jobs across its primary departments as part of a major cost-saving reshuffle.
Of the current 18 third-tier management positions, seven will be cut next month.
In a speech at last week’s Rotary Club meeting, council CEO Dean Miller said more than a third of the middle-management roles would be cut in the June budget.
Mr Miller said he had been hired to make difficult cost-saving decisions.
There are currently four department heads who will remain in their positions — director of infrastructure David Leahy, director of development and planning Brett Luxford, director of community and cultural services Bruce Myers and director of corporate services David Lenton.
Mr Miller said this was a “traditional” council staffing set-up and would not be altered. However, the arrangement within each department would see some significant changes from next month.
“There are currently 18 people employed at the third level of management. I’m going to reduce that to 10,” Mr Miller told the Rotary meeting.
When questioned by The Guardian yesterday, he clarified seven positions would be cut.
Of the 18 roles, six are employed within the Infrastructure Department, three in Development and Planning, four in Community and Cultural Services and five as part of Corporate Services.
Mr Miller said he wanted to make significant cuts to council expenditure and prioritise its “core purposes”, such as roads and rubbish. He said the job cuts would save council $1 million a year.
Some staff will have the option to move to other positions with council.
“Anyone who is made redundant… it is absolutely not a reflection on their performance in the job,” Mr Miller said. ” We’ve got some very good staff at council. It’s about reducing the size of the administration to make it more efficient.”
