With over 1,000 delegates gathering in Penrith for the 1998 IMEA NSW Division Annual Conference, President Chris Watson and Executive Director Don Sheffield agreed it was an outstanding success. A further 6,000 people attended the two day Field Days, where some 300 exhibitors made the most of the indoor and outdoor facilities. Chris Watson said numbers have been growing largely due to many more Works Officers joining the IMEA.
“These officers actually construct the projects engineers design and can offer a great deal of insight into the role and future of Local Government engineering,” he said.
A feature of this year’s Conference was an afternoon devoted to matters of particular interest to Works staff. Speakers addressed a number of issues including training, environmental responsibilities under new legislation to be in force later in the year, and a discussion of the process of competitive tendering as it had been experienced in Victoria. Both potential pitfalls and positive gains to be made from competition were covered.
“We aim to embrace all the people who are likely to be working in the area of provision of engineering services,” Don Sheffield said. “All our members are experts. This is an incredible resource. The role of IMEA is one of finding how best to bring that collective knowledge together to foster Local Government.
“This is a new direction for the Institute as we move towards being a more inclusive organisation aiming to have all people involved.”
With the slogan Public Works ‘Delivery with Reform’, a recurring theme during the Conference was the need to think and act in more efficient ways to continue to deliver services people require from Local Government, while accommodating reform measures which require greater streamlining in operations.
Keynote speaker Catherine de Vrye told delegates seven words, ‘we have always done it this way’ should not be allowed to halt the reform process. She said that such an attitude closed off opportunities to improve the ways we do business.
“Competition is coming and is going to effect everyone in Local Government,” Chris Watson said. “We are positioning ourselves and our members to make the most of it. Even if we do not have compulsory competitive tendering, in the manner of Victoria, the discipline of best practice and other reform measures is good for the industry.”
He said the Awards for Excellence presented at the Conference Dinner are one of the key ways the Institute has to promote and publicise best practice. Including a specific award for environmental initiatives was a sign of the changing directions of Local Government engineering. He said Local Government is becoming broader in its focus. Issues such as the environment and road safety are being approached in a proactive rather than reactive way by engineers.
“The switch in emphasis to considering the environment when designing roadworks or other traditional engineering projects, along with schemes which are specifically initiated to deal with environmental problems, shows that the profession is responding to what people require,” he said.
