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Recognising Council high achievers

At the 2004 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Melbourne FOCUS invited delegates to nominate an individual or team from their Council who has excelled in meeting their Council’s and community’s needs. In this edition we showcase the last two of our winners for 2004.

Ian Brown, Project Manager, Derwent Valley Council, Tasmania

When Ian Brown began his role as Project Manager for Valley Vision in 2001, Tasmania’s Derwent Valley region certainly needed shot in the arm. With a population of 9,000 that was relying on industries such as hops, paper mills, hydropower and mental heath care, the region was not preforming well.

The Council seized on the closure of the Royal Derwent Hospital and Willow Court complex as an opportunity to boost the economy. What could have been a tragedy for the region with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs was the impetus to create a revived commercial zone.

Facing an uncertain future, similar to many other rural and regional centres, Derwent Valley Council was approached by local business to redevelop the site in partnership with private enterprise. This involved setting up a commercial partnership to manage the site.

Derwent Council and local businesses formed the Derwent Valley Investments Pty Ltd to redevelop the 780 acres and 100 buildings for the social and economic benefit of the region. While there was always great potential in the project, equally the potential for things to go awry was present.

With a high level of community consultation, the project has involved a delicate act of balancing business and community needs.

Ian Brown was well placed for his role as Project Manager having previously worked and for the Federal Government on project developments. The site has its own set of challenges with some of the buildings having enormous historical importance, such as the barracks which date back to the 1830s.

Ian Brown said this makes the buildings older than Port Arthur and there is real potential for tourism as an additional tourist attraction.

“Our plan is to integrate the buildings back into the town with many of the buildings being used as community facilities and services. Ten of the buildings have now been sold and some will be leased back to the community.”

General Manager, Steve Mackey, said Ian’s work on the project has been excellent in drawing together the various players involved in the area.

“Nothing really seems to phase him,” he said. “Like everyone else in Local Government, he is involved in the project all the time. Ian Brown put a new focus on the project and allowed it to move ahead. The project has been of huge economic benefit for the region and it is to his credit. People are coming back into the town and the economy is climbing back. Some of this is due to Australia’s and Tasmania’s improving economy, but this project has played an important part in the Derwent Valley.”

Outside Works Crew, Wagin Shire Council, Western Australia

When Chief Executive Officer, Ian Fitzgerald, started his job at Wagin Council in Western Australia, he had no works manager. So working with the outside works crew directly, he took on the role of manager.

Ian said he was not expert in the field as his background was mainly in administration, but he had been in or around Local Government long enough to give it a go. He said the works crew really made it work well, resulting in him nominating them as High Achievers.

“I nominated the unit for their fine work in a host of areas, but it was mainly for the standard of support during a testing time,” Ian Fitzgerald said. “The unit really did some great work, in particular the resealing of the town’s roads which now look just fantastic.

Wagin has a population of 2,000 and is mainly an agricultural area located 220 kilometres south of Perth. It is famous for its giant ram which is known locally as Bart.

Plant operator, Murray Foale, has been with the team for 27 years, and he says that the last year has been just great with a lot of improvements.

“We are now multiskilled and have to learn a lot of different ways to work,” he said. “The new approach is not to tell us what to do, but to work with us. Like all teams, we have our issues, but we now sit down at the end of the day and try to work them out.”

The outdoor works crew spends much of its time grading dirt in the Shire. With 630kms of unsealed roads, there is a lot of work to be done each day. Most roads needed to be graded twice a year, although heavily used roads can be graded more often.

“The crew must also clean up the edges of the sealed roads,” Murray Foale said.

Aside from the unmade roads, the crew were also involved in resheeting and rebuilding the streets around town.

The recent arrival of a works manager has taken the load off the CEO’s shoulders, but the work of the unit goes from strength to strength.

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