Media Release 18 July 2006

Chch City Council announces City Environment management team

Christchurch City Council has finalised its City Environment management team with three of the four new managers internal appointments. Two other internal positions were reconfirmed.

City Environment general manager Jane Parfitt says that all the managerial roles attracted a high calibre of applications.

“The fact that our own staff were so successful in the application process reflects the excellent skill-set of current staff. My management team has many years of management, planning and local government experience plus plenty of institutional knowledge.”

The City Council recently finalised its new long-term community plan. It includes a major programme of new works alongside a commitment to maintaining and in many cases improving service levels. Also included for the first time are a wide range of new and on-going projects and services in the former Banks Peninsula District.

The City Environment Group’s primary aim is to meet these targets and ensure the city’s existing infrastructure is well maintained and regularly renewed and done so that ratepayers and citizens are getting value for money, Mrs Parfitt says.

“I’m sure that the new structure will activate new ways of working across the council, better decision-making and excellent outcomes for our city,” she says.

The new group structure, with a management team of six, is based on the group’s key functions – asset and network planning; the capital programme; transport and greenspace; city water and waste; business support and Civil Defence and Emergency Management and Rural Fire.

The new management team is:

- Terry Howes, manager of Asset and Network Planning, recently moved to New Zealand from Britain where he had more than 32 years experience in relevant work, most of it in operational or asset management/asset planning positions. He headed network and leakage management for Veolia Environment, and before that managed the operational activities providing water to 170,000 customers in the south-east of Kent. He has been with CCC for five months.

- Ross Herrett, the Capital Programme manager, has worked at council for 12 years.
An engineer, Ross headed the transportation effort in City Solutions, with a staff of about 40, and was the central city projects coordinator and heads the Blenheim Road deviation project currently under construction south-west of Hagley Park.

- Sarah Numan, head of the new Business Support team, comes to the Council from managerial roles at Inland Revenue.

- Michael Aitken, manager Transport and Greenspace, had been managing Greenspace after coming to the Council from his position as a general manager at the Canterbury District Health Board.

- Mark Christison, manager City Water and Waste, has an impressive engineering background, internationally and locally, including two stints with French multinational the Suez Group. He came to the Council in 2004 from a position as project director for the $60 million Hutt Valley Wastewater Scheme.

- Murray Sinclair, Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) manager, has been involved with civil defence and emergency management since 1999 as Emergency Management Planner. Last year he was appointed to head the new CDEM unit.

ENDS

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