A prominent Invercargill resident has criticised the city council's chief executive Clare Hadley for hiring out-of-towners for senior jobs at the council instead of local people.

Sean Bellew said Invercargill was being "run remotely" by outsiders and he was sick of it.

"I want local people to have local jobs."

Hadley has hired six people from outside the region to fill senior positions at the council, saying she needed advisors who were technically experienced.

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They are the chief financial officer from Rotorua, the parks manager from Hawkes Bay, the building services manager from Christchurch, the building control officer from Wellington, the Southland Museum and Art Gallery manager from Gore - who is on a secondment from the Gore District Council - and the returning officer's role which is under contract to a company.

The travel and accommodation costs for the six outsiders in the period between September 17, 2018 and March 20 - which the council was meeting and was additional to their salaries, was $26,437, Hadley said.



Bellew, an Invercargill Licensing Trust board member, Southland Racing Club president and real estate agent, said the city council was not delivering on its social responsibility to the community.

If people living from within the city council area were filling the six senior jobs they would be spending their money in the city and contributing in other ways such as being on school boards and committees, he said.

"The community isn't prospering intellectually and that money is going straight out of town."   

He questioned whether the council had even advertised the senior job roles locally before hiring the out-of-towners.

Hadley, in an emailed response to Stuff questions, said the logic for hiring the six people was different in each case.

"One position was advertised before filling in this way, others were not."

Reasons for this approach included the need to ensure the council met its statutory obligations, to engage people with broad experience and utilise it as an opportunity to effect change, and to provide continuity to positions critical to council services. 

In "one instance" the arrangement was more cost effective than utilising commercial contractors, she said.

Sonja Cowan, Southland area manager for the Onestaff recruiting agency, said there were very few people available in Invercargill for senior roles such as those at the council.

"At this point in time there's very few people available for work ... unless you start poaching."

Hadley said the council wanted to see improved services to the community - whether that was better advice to the elected members of the council's finances, or more efficient processing of building consents. 

"To achieve this will require external assistance from time to time." 

Bellew was correct in that the council had a responsibility to consider the social wellbeing of the city, and the contribution of employees was part of that, she said.

"However, there are other responsibilities that as chief executive, I must ensure council is able to meet.

"In order to do that I need advisors who are technically experienced." 

The building control officer [from Wellington] had worked with Hadley previously, she said. 

Five of the six roles would be advertised in future, but she did not say when.

The returning officer's position would not be advertised in future, with the council having gone through a tender process last year before appointing electionz.com.

More than 90 per cent of local authorities now contracted out the returning officer's role, Hadley said.