A meeting was held in Gore yesterday morning between St John chief executive Jaimes Wood, Southern Region general manager Gary Williams and Te Anau Area committee members Ian Buick and Lloyd Matheson to discuss the appointment, which had been met with some resistance by existing St John volunteers.
Mr Third said the location of Te Anau created some "unique circumstances" for ambulance operations given the long distances officers were sometimes required to travel.
"To improve the service provided by St John in Te Anau and to ensure full-time management, oversight, volunteer training, co-ordination, and to build future resilience, we have moved to recruit a full-time paid team manager-ambulance officer," Mr Third said.
St John had offered to reimburse Te Anau volunteers for lost wages while they were on ambulance callouts, which was a "modification" of the national policy and practice "specifically recognising the unique geographical circumstances of the area".
However, St John was unable to meet their request to also be paid for their on-road hours as there was insufficient funding to pay all volunteers throughout the country, Mr Third said.
Some Te Anau volunteers had resigned or applied for short-term leave of absence following the recruitment advertisement, he said.
Following the meeting, Mr Third said St John recognised the value and "enormous commitment" to communities by people like Mr Buick and Mr Matheson and reaffirmed its commitment to providing Te Anau residents with "the highest possible level of service".
"We understand from our discussions that Mr Buick and Mr Matheson recognise that a paid full-time resource is both needed and inevitable in Te Anau, but that they would prefer this appointment was not made now.
"Our conclusion after the meeting is that there is no compelling reason for us to delay appointing a paid, full-time resource in Te Anau," Mr Third said.
"We believe this is the right thing to do for the community."
