Geoff Rollinson, Director of Infrastructure Services
Geoff Rollinson uses his background in agriculture to help foster bridges between council and community.
Gannawarra Shire Council is a small rural Victorian municipality, with a population of approximately 10,000 people and a strong agriculture industry. Being situated on a floodplain can prove challenging for the community and the Victorian floods in 2011 left a major impact on the area.
The Shire’s Director of Infrastructure Services, Geoff Rollinson, has been nominated as a High Achiever by Mayor Neville Goulding, who praised Rollinson for his hard work and forward thinking.
Rollinson told Local Government Focus he takes immense pride in his area.
“The community is very resilient. They are very engaged and are generally very supportive of Council, which makes doing my job easier and also more rewarding.”
Until he was 27, Rollinson worked on his family’s 5000-acre wheat and sheep farm, but was eventually forced to look elsewhere for work.
“The rural decline, drought and being the youngest of three sons meant I had a choice of staying in the agricultural industry and being a farm labourer, or to do something else.
“I had worked for eight months during the drought at the local Shire as a concreter in the bridge construction gang. I spoke to the Engineer that hired me about a career in local government. I then decided to study engineering in Bendigo, before joining the Borough of Kerang as a technical officer in 1992. “Over time I moved from being a technical officer to assistant engineer, then to a works engineer and in 2005 I became the Manager of Operational Services. In 2010 I became the Director of Infrastructure Services, which is my current role.”
In this role Rollinson oversees the design and delivery of projects and asset maintenance for the municipality, he uses his background to help negotiate best ways forward with the community.
“I think that one of the main skills that I bring to my role is being able to find a way forward when there appears to be no way forward. This involves negotiation between communities, government agencies and Council.
“I believe that the community often doesn’t understand and gets frustrated with the bureaucratic processes that government departments and agencies have. I also feel that having an agriculture background, as well as a local government background, is a good combination of skills that allows me to bridge the gap between Council and the community, and break down some barriers.”
Currently, some challenges for Rollinson are those presented by rate capping and the declining state and federal government grant funding.
“As a very small Council with a low rate base, maintaining and upgrading infrastructure and assets is a constant challenge.
“Finding innovative solutions to these problems is becoming more and more important. Other challenges include attracting and retaining skilled staff, to ensure we have the expertise needed to deliver on our projects to our community.”
Rollinson said personal highlights in his time at Council have included meeting His Royal Highness Prince William, who visited the area in 2011, following the major flood event, and giving the then Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce a tour of the Shire.
The 2011 floods caused significant damage to the local government area, but Rollinson said the community and Council responded with strength.
“In terms of projects and works, Council’s proactive response to the 2011 floods is something I am very proud of. We delivered $24 million in road works within two years. When we advertised to tender for the road recovery works, our Shire was still in flood.
“But this meant we were on the front foot and were able to move quickly from being ‘flooded’ to the recovery phase. I believe our communities developed a lot of resilience from this event and Council is still approached for advice and expertise in how to respond to flood events.”
