A southern council has revealed it spent more than $12,000 recruiting an out-of-town member for its new water committee.
By Matthew Rosenberg of Local Democracy Reporting
On April 14, Nelson-based chartered director Lee Babe was endorsed by Invercargill City Council water committee members for an independent member and deputy chairperson role.
The council used Sheffield to recruit for the position — which three people were interviewed for — and has since revealed it spent $12,267.63.
Council manager governance and legal Michael Morris said recruitment agencies were used when a role was "very specialised".
"Agencies generally have a far greater reach than Council can achieve using only our own website and recruitment platforms, such as Seek," Morris said.
"The recruitment costs in this case, which included advertising for the role, were not out of the ordinary."
Babe will fly from Nelson to Invercargill for meetings, and the committee has already discussed moving its start time back to accommodate day trips.
Meetings have typically been held at 9am, but the earliest Babe could arrive on an Air New Zealand flight was 10.20am under the current schedule.
He is set to be remunerated between $30,000 and $35,000 for the Invercargill role and will likely attend some meetings online.
The amount to recruit Babe was to the end of February and the total cost was yet to be finalised, the council said.
On top of a recent appointment to council controlled organisation Kaikōura Hurunui Water Services Ltd, Babe's five-page CV shows he also holds positions at Parallax, Network Tasman Ltd and Agfirst Consultants Nelson Ltd.
His appointment has been approved at committee level but requires final sign-off from full council next week.
Invercargill City Council's water committee was established in November 2025 and includes deputy mayor and chair Grant Dermody, mayor Tom Campbell, councillor Steve Broad, councillor Alex Crackett, councillor Barry Stewart, and mana whenua representative matua Mike Bain.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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