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Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 415, 3 December 1991, Page 1 (Supplement)

A SYMPATHETIC and understanding voice is often ali that callers to the Ruapehu District Councii are after and they certainly find that when they get Jill Broderson on the other end. "The customer always comes first as far as i'm concerned," said Jill last week. The Council's general clerktelephonist/cashier is often the first port of call for irate ratepayers across the District and is always willing to lend a sympathetic air if the person the ratepayer should be taiking to is not available. "My first aim is to help the customer -find out the reasons for their complaint and help as much as I can," she said. It was this steadying, cairn manner which proved so valuable to the Councii in recent months. Two major issues stand out for Jill. The first was during the winter when snow covered the roads, the Desert Rd and the state highways. The pressure from callers was immense says Jill and all she could do was assure them that the Councii was on its way to clear the road. The second came when Taumarunui's water supply got an over-injection of allum and the phones were literally running red hot. Jill opted to stay back till 6.30pm answering residents' complaints and then when she finally was able to get home -she received more calls there. "I had to do that -we just couldn't leave our customers high and dry not knowing what was going on." Her familiar Canadian twang has greeted callers at the Councii since pre-amalgamation days. Born and1 educated in PeterBorough, Ontario in Canada. she came to New Zealand in

the 1960's leaving a position in her home country as secretary/treasurer of an insurance and real estate agency. "What was intended as a holiday, turned out to be a lifetime one, I loved the country and friendly people of New Zealand, so stayed." She met husband Des (Hammer) Broderson in Mt Maunganui in 1971 through mutual friends lan and Kit Goodman. The Goodman's had become Jill's adopted family in New Zealand. Jill and Des married in 1972 and settled in Taumarunui -Jill leaving her job as an insurance underwriter for South British. When she arrived in the town, she took up part-time employment with the Taumarunui Gazette and later joined the staff at the Taumarunui Borough Councii. In 1974 her parents Gladys and Les Groombridge emigrated to New Zealand joining their daughter in Taumarunui. The couple passed away in Taumarunui and Jill and Des travelled to Canada with the ashes. In 1976 she acted as the State Insurance Agency for Leo Menefy. By this time she had two sons, Robert and Geoffrey, and turned her talents to the Taumarunui Arts Councii where she represented the Spinners and Weavers Guild. She is also secretary of the Taumarunui BMX Club. She rejoined local government in 1987 with the Taumarunui County Councii as general clerk -telephonist/cashier -a position she retained when the county merged with the Borough and Waimarino District Councii in 1989. Contd on page 3

Contd from page 1 "I enjoy local government with the challenges presently taking place, especially meeting people and endeavouring to be of assistance to our customers and being part of a dedicated team of workers." Jill says she loves living in Taumarunui and has many good friends in the community. As a guide, Jill processes anything up to 1500 calls in a 10-day period and this tends to double when rate demands have been sent out. She describes the two-year old telephone system at the Council as 'state of the art' but already out-of-date ~so quickly has the telecommunications industry advanced.