Warkworth council service centre on chopping block

The remoteness of Auckland Council from its rural residents and ratepayers will be amplified when it closes its service centres in Warkworth and Orewa later this year.

The Warkworth centre, in Baxter Street, employs three long-serving staff who are unsure about their future at this stage.

Auckland Council says a consultation process with staff at the six service centres earmarked for closure is currently being undertaken, with a final decision on the proposal to be made next month.

Digital and customer services general manager Jon Andrews says the decision to close the centres is based on the fact that more and more people are using council’s online services, which means less in-person demand at many of the existing service centres.

“To respond to the changing needs and create a more sustainable model of service delivery, a work programme was undertaken in 2020 which saw 18 of our 24 service centres across Auckland successfully integrated into community hubs at Auckland libraries,” Andrews says. “This move supported council’s drive to enable connected communities, where people can come together in one place to interact, socialise and access all the services they need including free wifi and computer access.”

Andrews says Warkworth will continue to have access to the same services it receives through the service centre, but the location of those services will shift from a standalone service centre to a community hub within a library.

“The annual budget 2023/24 consultation document detailed further integration of service centres as part of council’s cost reductions to mitigate budget challenges.

“Council is now proposing to integrate Ōrewa, Warkworth, Bledisloe House, Waiheke, Henderson, and Manukau service centres into respective community hubs, to be located within the local library.”

Early last month, the Rodney Local Board opened an office in Elizabeth Street after a refit costing $1.5 million. Later, during a visit to Warkworth, Mayor Wayne Brown criticised the move, asking why the board had not instead refitted the councilowned property in Baxter Street rather than moving to a building where it will be paying a commercial rental.

Andrews says council will be assessing the interior changes at the Baxter Street site that will be required to ensure the customer experience is well managed with the additional services being delivered in the libraries.

However, he did not respond to questions about Warkworth Library’s ability to absorb the work currently done by the service centre or whether or not the town would get a new “fit-for-purpose” library that does not leak.

“Our aim with integrating more of our services is to improve the convenience for our customers and deliver cost savings. This also allows for greater flexibility in the way we deploy resources to serve the needs of Aucklanders.”

See We Say, page 6