A meeting yesterday heard while it was important to locate staff throughout the region, those working in places such as Queenstown did not live there as it was too expensive.
Keeping the majority of staff at a new headquarters in Dunedin - rather than Central Otago - made sense, ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead said, as figures showed most of the sort of incidents staff attended were in the coastal Otago area, centred around Dunedin.
The finance and corporate committee yesterday discussed a report on the distribution and location of staff across the region.
The council has 182 full-time-equivalent staff, 144 located at its headquarters in Stafford St, Dunedin, and 38 spread across the region, the majority in Alexandra, Cromwell, Balclutha and on the Taieri. The Stafford St building was full to capacity.
The report said new roles could be located anywhere in the region, but such roles had so far not attracted suitable applicants.
Affordability and liveability were important for new staff, and Dunedin was generally more attractive in those terms than Central Otago or Queenstown Lakes.
The balance between staff in Dunedin and the wider region was "largely correct", the report said.
In the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes area, staff worked in Roxburgh, Cromwell, Alexandra, Wanaka and Queenstown.
"It is possible we do not need such a locational spread and we could develop more centralised operations in a location such as Cromwell that would serve both Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes."
ORC chief executive Sarah Gardner said those views in the report were hers.
The ORC could consolidate staff in some areas.
There was an office in Oamaru, for instance, but "most of the time there's no-one there".
Balclutha staff often worked in the Taieri area.
There was a logic about moving to Cromwell, as it was central, she said.
Staff often did not live where they worked and travelled to their workplace.
"I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone who works in Queenstown actually lives in Queenstown."
Cr Michael Deaker supported the idea, and urged the council to develop a new building for staff in the "1950s-design" Stafford St building.
Cr Graeme Bell suggested the meeting not discount Alexandra as a site for staff.
The report was noted, and the committee called for further work on options for staff locations.
