NSW acknowledges management excellence

The innovative capacity of Local Government to achieve greater efficiency and provide better service delivery to their communities has been acknowledged by the 1998 NSW Institute of Municipal Management and Sydney Morning Herald Management Excellence Awards. Local Government demonstrated once again that it is capable of finding creative solutions to manage the range of functions and services that come under its auspices. This year 49 entries were received across the four Award categories. The Awards recognise this innovative capacity and encourage further innovation through this acknowledgement and communication of good ideas.

Focusing on customer service

Commenting on their Gold Award in the Management Team category, General Manager of Hurstville City Council, Howard Wallace, said it would not have been possible to achieve the winning standard had it not been for the commitment of staff.

Council won the award for its ‘Focusing on Customer Service’ campaign. Howard said the award was recognition of a team effort by all staff in providing the people of Hurstville with a customer driven organisation.

“Customers generally do not see the Mayor or the General Manager,” he said. “They see staff members as ‘The Council’ forming their opinions about Council through that contact.

“All staff at Hurstville, no matter what role they have, whether it be cleaner, engineer or rates officer, are educated and constantly reminded about the importance of customer service and where that responsibility lies.

“I believe another secret of our success is that we are constantly looking at ways of improving the level of service provided.

“We are not happy to rest on our laurels and staff are encouraged to think of ways of doing the job better.”

Mayor Peter Olah concurred with the General Manager noting there has been 100 percent support for this process evidenced throughout the organisation.

For further information contact Howard Wallace, telephone (02) 9330 6222.

Community pride

“When people participate, everything is possible,” said Mayor Charlie Lowles from Blacktown City Council.

Facilitating community participation in projects to improve their environment and take pride in their achievements under the Community Pride Movement won the Gold Award in the Management Innovation category for Blacktown.

Under the program local residents, ranging from children through to older people, and including local businesses, have been encouraged to tackle aspects of the local community where they would like to make a difference. These include clean up days, attending to the needs of elderly or sick residents, landscaping and improving water quality in local creeks.

“From clean up days to tree and shrub planting, from painting murals on underpasses to recreation areas, the local community right across the Local Government area have been supportive of these programs,” the Mayor said.

“Moreover, individuals have been given the ‘know how’ to solve some problems previously thought beyond their reach.” Councillor Lowles said that as well as being a community program, many Council staff have contributed to the success of the City’s Community Pride Movement.

“Without such dedicated and innovative staff, Blacktown City Council would not enjoy such an excellent reputation for innovation, shown in our winning Gold two years in a row at these Awards,” he said.

For further information contact Mayor Charlie Lowles, telephone (02) 9839 6000.

Across the board training

Placing a high value on training, for both the organisation and the individual, through a comprehensive training program has resulted in South Sydney Council winning the Gold Award for Progress in Staff Development. South Sydney’s Training Unit, which is accredited as a private provider, has trained over 1,800 staff from South Sydney and other Councils to upgrade their skills, achieve improved competencies and meet new challenges in their workplace.

On the job training sees staff from depot workers to managers striving to improve skills and achieve greater efficiencies. This provides improved service for the community and greater job satisfaction.

Training Director, Don Mould, said that the comprehensive training program not only better equips staff to do their job, it gives them the capacity to embrace change, work better in a team and have more promotional opportunities.

Indirectly, it gives people better job satisfaction and hence improved self esteem. With increased job skills, staff are also better placed to cope with the many changes that are taking place in Local Government and workplaces in general. Mayor Vic Smith said Council’s goal is to respond to changing professional needs to continue to meet the changing needs of the South Sydney community.

For further information contact Don Mould, telephone (02) 9300 4000.

Integrated budget reporting

By breaking away from the traditional budgeting format used in Local Government, Burwood City Council earned itself the Gold Award for Finance Professionals. With the support of the NSW Department of Local Government, Burwood has moved away from traditional budgeting which looked in detail at available working funds as the measure of its financial position.

Instead it has embraced the concept of overall funds management and the use of suitable performance measures as the appropriate indicators of Council’s financial performance. Mayor Bruce Elliott said Councils are often criticised for wasting money but with this system Burwood has found a way to save it. Its approach helps overcome the situation confronting many Councils where their fund Budget shows a surplus and their Operating Statement could show a deficit.

“This has completely changed our way of thinking because Local Government’s accounting principles are now required to take a commercial outlook,” said Michael Tse, Executive Manager Finance. “We have established a number of financial performance indicators which are in line with measures generally accepted in commerce. Our new system is modern, the preparation of balance sheets is sensible and what we have introduced is widely accepted by the commerce industry. It is also more automated saving time and money.”

For further information contact Michael Tse, telephone (02) 9911 9911.

Integrated budget reporting

By breaking away from the traditional budgeting format used in Local Government, Burwood City Council earned itself the Gold Award for Finance Professionals. With the support of the NSW Department of Local Government, Burwood has moved away from traditional budgeting which looked in detail at available working funds as the measure of its financial position.

Instead it has embraced the concept of overall funds management and the use of suitable performance measures as the appropriate indicators of Council¹s financial performance. Mayor Bruce Elliott said Councils are often criticised for wasting money but with this system Burwood has found a way to save it.

Its approach helps overcome the situation confronting many Councils where their fund Budget shows a surplus and their Operating Statement could show a deficit.

³This has completely changed our way of thinking because Local Government¹s accounting principles are now required to take a commercial outlook,² said Michael Tse, Executive Manager Finance. ³We have established a number of financial performance indicators which are in line with measures generally accepted in commerce.

³Our new system is modern, the preparation of balance sheets is sensible and what we have introduced is widely accepted by the commerce industry. It is also more automated saving time and money.²

For further information contact Michael Tse, telephone (02) 9911 9911.

Merit Awards

Finance Professionals	Wollongong City, ‘Full Activity Costing to Services’
Management Innovation	Rockdale City, ‘Tucker Team’
Management Team	Parramatta City, ‘A Restructure to Meet the Challenge: A Participative Approach’
Progress in Staff Development	Gosford City, ‘Skills Passport for Water and Sewerage Staff’