At the 2003 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Adelaide, FOCUS invited delegates to nominate an individual and team from their Council who are excelling in their field and promoting the organisation’s corporate goals. In this edition we showcase the final two of our competition winners for 2003.
Individual Winner – David Tuxford, Manager Corporate Services, Liverpool City Council, New South Wales
Hawkesbury City Council’s former Manager of Administration, David Tuxford, has taken on a challenging new position as Liverpool City Council’s Manager of Corporate Services. David has enjoyed five years at Hawkesbury, a semi-rural Council at the foothills of the Blue Mountains that is home to some 65,000 residents. He is moving to a Council more than double that size, where some 163,500 live in south west Sydney.
“Liverpool is a huge Council,” he said. It’s one of the big growth areas in New South Wales.” David has taken on the additional role of Public Officer, appointed by the General Manager to investigate any complaints about Council operations and officers. His new role will also include marketing and promotion, and risk management.
David would not comment on the recent controversy at Liverpool, simply saying, “I go in there with my eyes wide open”.
He was Manager of Administration Services at Hawkesbury for the past two years, after three years as Manager of Financial Planning. During this time, he introduced a purchasing card for goods and services, instead of Council raising orders in the traditional way. He also set up a database of 400 home based businesses, publicising their services and linking them with the Hawkesbury Chamber of Commerce.
“Home based businesses are a huge area for growth in Hawkesbury because of the limited infrastructure for people to get into the city to work,” David Tuxford said. “There are about 2,000 home based business people who enjoy the benefits of living in Hawkesbury without commuting into the city rat race.”
David was also the Executive Officer of Council’s Economic Development Advisory Committee, which includes representatives of the University of Western Sydney, the Richmond RAAF base, Tourism Hawkesbury Inc., the Chamber of Commerce, and local farmers.
He was heavily involved in the Hawkesbury Agricultural Retention Through Diversification and Clustering project.
Funded through the NSW Regional Assistance Program and the Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board, the project is aimed at improving local growing techniques by clustering similar crops on suitable soil.
“No matter how big Sydney gets, its people still have to be fed,” he said. “Hawkesbury is one of the major food bowls for Sydney.”
David was also responsible for governance, FoI, and Hawkesbury Council’s property portfolio, which includes four regional shopping centres and several residential developments.
“We recognised that the only way some of the outer lying areas of Hawkesbury could have access to retail facilities was to go out there and build the shops and lease them out ourselves.”
He will miss his Hawkesbury colleagues but is looking forward to the new role at Liverpool. “Hawkesbury is a great place to work,” he said. “They’re just a great bunch of people and that’s the hardest thing to leave.”
Team Winner – Chittering Landcare Team, Shire of Chittering, Western Australia
A team of highly dedicated Landcare officers and volunteers from the Chittering Valley Landcare Group run the Chittering Landcare Centre at Muchea in Western Australia. The Centre opened in May 1999 to address land and water degradation issues affecting the Shire of Chittering’s major natural features – the Brockman River and Chittering Valley.
The Brockman River Catchment and Ellen Brook Catchment cover 95 per cent of the Shire. Chittering’s Landcare Centre is a joint project, involving the three spheres of government, the community and the private sector. The Shire provides administrative support and vehicles to the Landcare Centre, which is owned by a titanium minerals mining company, Tiwest Joint Venture.
The centre is on 25 hectares inside the buffer zone of the company’s synthetic rutile and titanium processing plant. Tiwest renovated an old farmhouse on the site, adding a small conference room, catering facilities, a resource centre, a nursery and four offices, to create the Landcare Centre.
Since it opened, 850,000 trees have been planted, 70 kilometres of waterways have been fenced, ten kilometres of river reaches restored and 200 hectares of remnant vegetation protected.
From 1999 to 2003, Council allocated $1.8 million to local landcare initiatives.
Senior Natural Resource Management Officer, Rosanna Hindmarsh, has worked at the Landcare Centre since August 1999. Her position is funded by the Commonwealth Natural Heritage Trust, and the WA Department of Environment provides administrative support.
Rosanna Hindmarsh is also the Catchment Coordinator for the Brockman River Catchment, which covers more than half of the Shire. Through community consultation, she has assessed the physical, environmental and social issues in the catchment and prepared a management plan that was adopted by the Shire and launched by the WA Environment Minister on 22 November.
“The management plan sets out to address declining water quality, land degradation and loss of biodiversity,” Rosanna said.“The community is kept informed and engaged in natural resource management to help landholders to address the degradation issues. Councillors and planners usually consult officers from the Landcare Centre about environmental matters in the planning proposals they are considering.”
Rosanna also has an executive role in the Chittering Valley Landcare Group and the Wannamal Lake Catchment Group, both based in the Shire.
Catchment Coordinator for the Ellen Brook Catchment, Dallas Lynch, started working at the Landcare Centre in January. His position is funded through the WA Government’s Swan River Trust and the Swan Canning Cleanup program.
A draft Management Plan has been prepared for the Ellen Brook Catchment, which is the biggest contributor of nutrients and algal blooms in the Swan River – Perth’s major waterway. Dallas is involved in sourcing external landcare funding, engaging landholders in remediation works and advising the Shire on the environmental impact of planning decisions.
He is also executive officer of the Ellen Brockman Integrated Management Group.
Project Officer, Renae Thorpe, joined the team in March 2001 as a landcare trainee, then stepped into the role of Landcare Coordinator for Chittering and North Swan. Her position is funded by the Natural Heritage Trust, through the Swan Catchment Council.
Renae supports the Chittering and North Swan landcare groups by helping landholders plan remediation works and sourcing external funding. Her position also involves community and school education, workshops, property planning and water monitoring. Renae also assists the Shire’s road maintenance and open space programs with conservation and weed mapping.
Katerina Jedla is the newest member of the Landcare Centre team, having just started in November. She will manage the Centre’s small nursery, and provide administrative and project support to the three other officers.
