Several top-level managers at the New Plymouth District Council may lose their jobs in a restructure.
Chief executive Barbara McKerrow is axing five of the six roles in her leadership team and replacing them with three new positions.
Mrs McKerrow said on Friday the move is not in response to council calls for savings, but about meeting new challenges facing local goverment, and it was too early to say whether the affected managers would be offered redundancy.
New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd said the elected members and council staff support the changes.