Based at the foothills of the picturesque Dandenong Ranges, the City of Knox has set its sights on becoming Victoria’s premier community. Combining a strong economic base with large tracts of open space, the City is a well serviced community with many sought after business and residential addresses.
“Part of our strategy is to build on our successful mix of industry, environment and community involvement,” said Knox City Council’s Chief Executive Terry Maher. “Knox residents are proud of their City and people move here for the high quality of human services.” Currently, some 135,000 people reside in the Municipality and over 4,200 businesses are registered in Knox.
“Although the Municipality was established in the early 60s, the City is still experiencing strong residential and economic growth, particularly in the southern suburbs of the City,” he said.
The partnership of business and environment in Knox has been further strengthened by the operation of two community committees that advise Council, the Knox Environment Advisory Committee and the Knox Economic Development Advisory Committee. These committees have a wide cross-section of community representation in addition to Councillors and Council officers. Knox City Council is also keeping up with the demands of a growing City.
“Council has restructured itself over the last two years, developing contract-based service teams, implementing a computerised customer service tracking system and building a culture of innovation,” Terry Maher said. “The result is a very focused Council organisation. The organisation is very efficient, operating with a minimum of hierarchy. We have moved to team-based operations, and our management arrangements have been changed to allow front-line staff to make as many operational decisions as possible.”
The Municipality’s new promotional message is ‘Spread Your Wings in Knox’, and Knox City Council has just released its latest economic video with that title. The slogan sums up what Knox is about, a place of opportunity, growth and inspiration.
