Otago Polytechnic council members have an unpalatable
decision to make next month - how best to restructure
themselves before the current governing body is dissolved at
the end of April.
Legislation passed by Parliament in December - four months
after it was first proposed - slashes the number of members
on polytechnic councils to eight, from 12 to 20 at present.
Otago's membership will be almost halved.
Four members will be appointed by Tertiary Education Minister
Steven Joyce, while four can be appointed by the present
council or its successor.
Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker urged the present
council to enact statutes as soon as possible, outlining how
the four non-ministerial positions would be filled, and what
the selection criteria should be.
He also urged the present council to appoint all or some of
the non-ministerial positions before May to ensure continuity
between the present body and the next.
"I make this recommendation because I believe the risk . . .
is high that we will lose all of our current expertise and
experience if we rely on the four ministerial appointees, all
of whom may be new, to select the council appointees," he
said at a council meeting on Thursday.
Otago's present council is a mix of people appointed to
represent groups such as academic staff, general staff,
students, trade unions, the Dunedin City Council and
employers.
The local runanga also nominates two people to represent
Maori.
Mr Ker said the council could continue using the
representational method or could switch to seeking council
members fitting a particular skill set yet to be determined.
His recommendation was to adopt a "hybrid" system, with two
or three people appointed using a skills-based system, and
one or two continuing to be nominated by Maori.
He recommended students and staff be represented via
subcommittees rather than formal council members.
Staff and unions have vehemently opposed that idea.
No seat was required for himself, as he "would always be at
the table", he said.
Mr Ker said the four ministerial appointments should be known
next month, and advised the council to have its selection
system and criteria statutes in place quickly so its
appointments could be made as soon as the ministerial
appointments were announced.
A lengthy discussion ensued about what system might be
adopted to achieve the best result for Otago.
Chairman Graham Crombie, a current ministerial appointee,
said he was not sure the new council should be bound to
accept members appointed by a previous body.
However, Mr Ker said any appointments made before May were
only for one year, after which new councillors would be
appointed by the ministerial appointees.
Deputy chairman Mark Ryan, also a current ministerial
appointee, said he was reluctant to fetter the new council
and reluctant for it to be perceived today's council members
were organising "jobs for the boys".
The council made no decisions at the meeting but asked Mr Ker
to set out the skill-set criteria and options for Maori
appointees.
A half-day workshop will be held in private before next
month's council meeting.
Mr Ker said to meet the tight restructuring timeframe,
council members would need to be considering draft statutes
next month "or otherwise there will be delays which might
mean you don't get to control your own destiny at all".
