WAGGA City Council will open an office in Sydney to help fix its ongoing struggle to fill vacant positions.
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The council will lease an office space in the next six weeks near Hyde Park, giving new council employees in the engineering and design fields an option to keep living their metropolitan lifestyle.
The council's general manager Peter Thompson said the Sydney office will remove "the all-or-nothing" choice that has deterred people from accepting regional jobs in the past.
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Although the plan will have some of the council's employees based out of Sydney, Mr Thompson said the end goal is to see them relocate to Wagga in due course.
"What we are finding is that it's very challenging to attract the right staff to Wagga. We know they are in Sydney and we know they are not going to leave," Mr Thompson said.
"Unless someone has experience with a regional centre, it can be quite intimidating for a person that in order to accept a job they have to leave everything they have known behind."
The procurement of engineering and design staff will be the initial focus, with a great need for these skill sets to get projects moving forward.
However, Mr Thompson said the council might look into other roles down the track.
"The Wagga community are saying the council needs to roll out projects much quicker than what we are and the development sector has also said they would really love to see more forward planning in how Wagga is going to grow," he said.
Mr Thompson said the council is signing a one-year lease to trial the Sydney office, costing $135,000 each year.
"It is a leap of faith for the council to embrace it," he said. "Worse case scenario is for the council to deliver more work to the community in construction, roads and design work for the city's growth.
"The best case is that it is a cracking success and a new way to introduce Sydney people to relocating to regional areas that is not as threatening."
Mr Thompson said the office space will be shared by six other councils, including the Tamworth, Hilltops and Snowy Valleys councils, as well as the state government's special activation precinct group.
Committee 4 Wagga chairman Michael Quirk said he can only see value in the council's outside-the-box approach to finding the right specialist staff for its vacant positions.
Mr Quick said the idea was likely to secure employment for people, who might not be ready to make the move to a regional city, but will eventually once they are confident in the decision.
"The move from Sydney to Wagga is a big step for people - and this could be a way to attract talent to Wagga who might not be ready relocate in one go," he said.
"This day and age we have the technology to allow us to work from anywhere. If this helps attract the right people who can get projects moving forward then that is a positive for the city.