Unrest continues around some staff employment procedures at a Nelson City Council-owned maintenance firm.
Nelmac headquarters in Nelson Photo: RNZ/Tracy Neal
RNZ reported in May that a union was surprised about the employment of three members of one family at Nelmac, which repairs parks and reserves among other services, including private sector contracts.
Chief executive Jane Sheard confirmed in May her daughter had been hired by Nelmac months after she started in the top role, and then her partner, but on a fixed term.
"The other person that has a link to me is actually not permanently employed. They're here to help us with one of our contracts, and they're on a fixed term which ends shortly," she said.
RNZ has been shown a staff newsletter that showed Sheard's partner, Ivan Ashby, has now been hired fulltime.
Sheard confirmed that Ashby was appointed permanently to the role of Contracts Manager Tasman, in September, following a rigorous recruitment process.
In a statement Sheard said: "Yes, Ivan Ashby has been appointed to the permanent role of contracts manager.
"This position was openly advertised internally and externally on Seek. The recruitment process included shortlisting of preferred candidates, and consultation with the Nelmac Board, which has oversight of all senior leadership team roles at Nelmac/Kumanu.
"There were also final interviews performed by management and the board, prior to the appointment of Ivan Ashby.
"At the end of this process, which followed the usual Nelmac procedures, Ivan Ashby was announced as the successful candidate in September.
"It is important to note that Ivan has considerable and valuable experience in the facilities management contracting business on a large scale.
"Ivan was first engaged by Nelmac during the period of tendering for and successfully re-winning the Tasman District Council reserves and facilities contract 2020, and he also led the Nelmac key accounts team during the challenging Covid-19 shutdown period."
Amalgamated Workers Union regional secretary Robert Popata said it raised the matter of Ivan's appointment to the permanent role with the senior HR manager at the time, but he had now left the company
"We got told on very short notice that he'd left... resigned from his position."
Popata said the union was not involved.
"No we weren't. We had a very good working relationship with the head of that department so we were quite shocked, knowing how he'd... how he'd always conducted himself in business, so we were quite shocked he had moved on."
Sheard confirmed she was now in charge of the department, pending a restructure.
"The HR team is currently being led by a human resources business partner with the required expertise. This business partner temporarily reports to me as the CEO (as the Head of People Development and Safety would ordinarily do).
"We are currently working through the process of replacing this senior role."
Sheard said the restructure was being considered to allow more investment in front line support.
Popata still believed it was not a good look.
"Well, when you're aligned with ratepayers' money you've got to be held to a higher accountable standard. It's just the way that councils are - they pride themselves on being transparent."
Nelmac board chair Rob Gunn has stood by Sheard and said additional scrutiny was applied in the hiring of Ashby, knowing that he is the chief executive's partner.
"We take the openness and transparency of all appointments at Nelmac/Kumanu very seriously.
"Given the fact that Mr Ashby is the partner of CEO Jane Sheard an additional layer of scrutiny was applied to his appointment. This involved two Nelmac Board directors interviewing the preferred candidates. The Board fully supports his appointment, given Mr Ashby was the strongest candidate.
"Nelmac CEO Jane Sheard shows great integrity and competence in her leadership of Nelmac/Kumanu, and was not involved in the recruitment for this position.
"We are fully supportive of the culture Jane enables at Nelmac/Kumanu and the values that she and the team demonstrate on a daily basis."
Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said she was not close enough to operational matters to comment, but no governance issues had been raised with her.
