Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

There's been a lot of talk in the community on whether council should fix or replace its mouldy office buildings.

Elected members are considering lots of different ideas and approaches, by a range of developers, for accommodating council's staff.

There are also other options to consider, such as work-from-home options and having council offices spread throughout the suburbs.

Having staff work from home could be a reality in the long-term future when council has caught up with the latest technology. However, the growth of co-working spaces in the city show people generally prefer to collaborate with others in person, rather than from home.

The Papamoa Ratepayers Association presented council with an interesting idea. Council should allocate its staff to each suburb so residents can build relationships with those dedicated to their suburb.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council use this approach, as their staff are located across their large areas according to local issues – and it works well.

But I'm cautious Tauranga is one of the smallest councils in NZ – geographically speaking. Providing dedicated staff for key services like parks, transport, consents, and planning for each of the suburbs is likely to duplicate a lot of unnecessary overheads. It may also make the council less resilient, as we would rely heavily on individual staff relationships with communities.

TCC is partly heading towards this direction as we agreed for our libraries to evolve into community hubs.

I hope this ensures local library front desks provide the same all-round council customer services as we do at the head office. This way local people could pop into their closest library for information or to apply for a permit.

As the city's population and area grows, we can look further into this model.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 0276989548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice