On April 14, Nelson-based chartered director Lee Babe was endorsed by the Invercargill City Council water committee members for an independent member and deputy chair role.
The council used executive search company Sheffield to recruit for the position — for which three people were interviewed — and has since revealed it spent $12,267.63.
‘‘Agencies generally have a far greater reach than council can achieve using only our own website and recruitment platforms, such as Seek,’’ Mr Morris said.
‘‘The recruitment costs in this case, which included advertising for the role, were not out of the ordinary.’’
Mr Babe will fly from Nelson to Invercargill for meetings and the committee has already discussed moving its start time back to accommodate day trips.
Meetings are typically held at 9am, but the earliest Mr Babe can arrive on a flight is 10.20am.
He is set to be remunerated between $30,000 and $35,000 for the Invercargill role and will likely attend some meetings online.
The amount to recruit Mr Babe was to the end of February, and the total cost was yet to be finalised, the council said.
On top of a recent appointment to council-controlled organisation Kaikōura Hurunui Water Services Ltd, Mr Babe’s five-page CV shows he also holds positions at Parallax, Network Tasman Ltd and Agfirst Consultants Nelson Ltd.
His appointment has been approved at the committee level but requires final sign-off from the full council next week.
• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
