Short termism

One of Plaid’s councillors in Carmarthenshire has expressed his concern over what he described as a ‘very short term view’ being taken over staffing in a vital department. Cllr David Jenkins was responding to information that the Procurement section has been undermanned for at least 9 months.

Cllr Jenkins said, “The procurement section has done a superb job over the past few years in reducing the council’s costs, and has beaten the target which was set for it. But we were told recently that savings had been made by keeping one post unfilled for 9 months and another filled on only a part time basis for three months. Whilst it is true that leaving these posts unfilled does save the council some money in the short term, a properly staffed section can save the council even more in the longer term. I believe that it is short-sighted in the extreme not to fully staff this department in order to ensure larger and more genuine savings for the council over the longer term.”