A senior Fife politician has admitted Fife Council could do better to communicate with staff in light of fears a flagship HQ was being run down.
Councillor Joe Rosiejak, the chairman of the City of Dunfermline area committee, pledged the local authority would now be “stepping up a gear” to keep worried employees informed over changes.
The flak started when insiders voiced fears to The Courier that the council was running down the flagship New City House in Dunfermline.
Those claims were denied by the council and Alan Paul, the council’s property services senior manager, said: “As part of the office rationalisation programme approved by Fife Council last year, which identified that more than 60 buildings would be closed within five years, it was acknowledged that New City House would remain as one of the key offices for the council moving into the future.”
When it opened seven years ago in what was formerly part of the old Dunfermline and West Fife hospital, New City House was hailed as the council’s main office in the town.
Funded by selling off old council property, it brought together staff from 11 different sites and was part of the council’s attempts to introduce a more efficient and cost effective service.
A concerned member of staff revealed there had been “a steady stream” of staff leaving to go to other offices while two services facilities and development services have moved out completely and housing have staff based at building services in Dunfermline, which he described as ludicrous as their team manager was at New City House.
“The council has a long-term contract for this building which will need to be honoured and it seems strange to use alternative office space when they are paying for New City House regardless,” he said.Slow goingAnother source said the main issue was that staff were not being kept up to date with changes, which in themselves were taking far too long to implement.
He told The Courier: “The story here isn’t the changes it is the time taken by officers to implement it. It is a real indication of the lack of information to the workforce and the public.
“The council’s process is far too slow.”
Now, in a surprising admission, Mr Rosiejak has accepted the criticism, but pledged the situation will improve in weeks to come.
“The Dunfermline HQ is a key building in terms of council infrastructure. It was only opened in 2004, but it is true that some departments and staff have moved out of the building.
“However, this is no indication that the building is run down. It is still very much a big part of the council’s plans for the area.”
The Lib Dem councillor added: “I do accept some of the criticism in The Courier article, but I have pushed for officers to keep councillors better informed of changes in structure, and as such there will be a meeting today between councillors and officers so that we may be fully aware of the situation going forward.45-year lease”Hopefully, we will be able to avoid similar issues with other buildings in the future. It would be impractical for us to leave the building anytime soon particularly as the previous administration signed a 45-year lease on the building, despite it not being owned by the council.”
Mr Rosiejak said he had assurances bosses would hold regular staff briefings.
“I have to accept the comments in the paper. It would have been nice if the people had come to me so I could give them reassurances but I believe in democracy and it is their right to speak out.”
He said staff were “the number one priority.”
“And so it has not been fair that often they have felt that they have been the last to know about changes. I want to emphasise we are stepping up a gear with information coming to staff.”
To that end, he added, there will be a workshop after the next City of Dunfermline committee to inform members on proposals to relocate the new area service network office in the City Chambers.
“I am delighted at that because it is bringing civic pride back to Dunfermline there isn’t a better place for this office than the City Chambers.
“But that’s not to say we are running down New City House. We will be relocating a lot of offices to New City House which will save us money.
“It has just been a little slow in implementation.”