Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Best practice in the West

Leadership, extensive community consultation, excellent organisational management and documented benchmarking were key to the recent success of the City of Gosnells in Western Australia. Gosnells took out the 2004 Alcoa Leadership Award, recognised as the leading Local Government in Western Australia at the Local Government Best Practice Awards in November.The Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) started the Best Practice Awards in 1998. They are held annually to promote and foster continuous improvement within the sector.

WALGA President, Councillor Bill Mitchell, congratulated all Councils who entered the awards for their outstanding work and Gosnells in particular.

“The City impressed with their focus and clear sense of purpose and unity between Council, staff and community,” he said. “The City’s determination and tenacity in overcoming some major hurdles in the past few years truly demonstrated what can be achieved on behalf of the community through a clear vision, strong leadership, a cohesive council and the full commitment of staff.”

Awards were also presented for customer service, innovation and effective communication. The City of Stirling received the Customer Service Award for its Customer Contact Centre which handles more than 200,000 telephone enquiries each year and was the first of its type in Western Australia.

Stirling also took out the award for Effective Communication for its Clubs Forever initiative. This was launched in 2003 to confront the increasing challenges facing volunteer based support and recreation clubs. Stirling’s long term mission is to provide volunteers with an innovative, ongoing support program aimed at efficient self management and sustainability. Sport and recreation groups are an essential part of a healthy, vibrant community, as are the volunteers that devote so much time and energy to build and sustain their clubs.

The Innovation Award went to the City of Mandurah for its Billy Dower Youth Centre.

“Situated on a main bus link, the Billy Dower Youth Centre enables youth to participate in a wide variety of art, technology, lifestyle learning and sporting activities in both structured and ‘drop in’ capacities,” Councillor Mitchell said.

The following Councils were also acknowledged for achieving best practice in their respective categories.

• Customer Service Awards – Shire of Irwin, City of Joondalup, City of Rockingham and City of Wanneroo
• Innovation Awards – City of Bayswater, City of Belmont, City of Canning, City of Mundaring, City of Rockingham and City of Stirling
• Effective Communication Awards – Shire of Broome, City of Armadale, City of Belmont, City of Mandurah, City of Rockingham and City of South Perth.

The following articles are also included in this edition or go BACK to the main page: