Dumped Librarian Petition Fails

Wednesday, 7 October 2020, 10:02 am
Article: Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter

A 600-strong petition for the reinstatement of Kaikoura's long-serving librarian Cheryl Barker appears to have fallen on deaf ears at the Kaikoura District Council.

Local woman Sharon Rayner presented the petition at the council's monthly meeting last Wednesday.

"Over 600 people have taken the time to read and sign this petition -- many commenting and shocked at this disgraceful decision that has been made by the team who are supposed to manage our community affairs and also represent us," Ms Rayner said.

"What is the most important? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata -- the people, the people the people who live and breathe Kaikoura."

Ms Barker had managed the library on or under-budget for many years; gained a diploma in library studies in her own time and was the only library worker with those qualifications, Ms Rayner said.

Staff hired by the council to help with earthquake recovery had been sent to help in the library and were still there, on similar pay rates to Ms Barker's former "very modest salary".

"How have the council management team come to the conclusion that dismissing the library manager is justifiable? If you were looking to save money why does a council of our size have a CEO, two senior managers and a swag of line managers to follow? This is overkill, and it's killing our pocket and town."

The council had taken on extra staff to cope with the (now completed) earthquake rebuild, but the Government had declined the council's latest request for funding to prop it up, Ms Rayner said.

"We are sinking fast ... we've been here before with a council building the ratepayers didn't want to invest in, KDC went ahead anyway. Is this coming from management or council or both?"

Laying off a lower-paid, long-serving local would do little for the council's financial position, Ms Rayner said.

"I am here today with over 600 supporters asking you to reverse this decision, reinstate Cheryl and then take a good look at the top bracket of staff where savings can really be made. Community are fast losing confidence."

Speaking after the meeting Ms Rayner said she felt she had been listened to but was not confident the council would take any action.

"Councillor Tony Blunt asked if I was aware it was ratepayers who asked for the cuts, and I said yes but we didn't expect them to take out our librarian, who's the longest-serving employee and in the low wage bracket!"

Mayor Craig Mackle could not give her an immediate response, Ms Rayner said.

" If they don't take a good look at what over 600 people are saying, something's gone wrong, and they need to look at why they're sitting there," she said.

Mr Mackle has previously said the redundancies were an operational matter and referred the Kaikoura Star to management for comment.

The library manager's job was one of five positions it has made redundant in a bid to cut costs, saving in total about a $250,000 a year.

Corporate services manager Murray Dickson has questioned the claim that Ms Barker was the only staff member with qualifications to run the library.

The library had five full or part-time staff, whose qualifications included Bachelor's degrees in English, science and education, and a graduate certificate in library and information leadership, he said.

CEO Angela Oosthuizen said the bottom line was that the library was functioning well.

"We are confident that the staff currently directly running the library are more than competent to run the library ... it is one of our top-rated services as per our residents surveys."

There had been no reduction in library services following Ms Barker's departure, she said,

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