Each edition we feature the views of a Local Government Association President. The following is from the Western Australian Municipal Association.*
Governments, at any level, are rarely acknowledged as hard working and progressive. The ‘Yes Minister’ cliche abounds in the public’s perception of the public sector, as does the vision of Council workers leaning on their shovels, when it comes to Local Government.
However, in our experience, the reality is very distant from the popular myth. There are a number of trends and reforms which are reshaping the Local Government landscape and which make today’s Local Government a very different organisation from its stereotype.
Change in the Local Government sector is essentially driven from three sources. It is either:
- imposed from the top down by State Government in its role as regulator of the sector, or;
- sponsored by Federal and State funding initiatives, like the Local Government Development Program or National Competition Policy funds, or;
- initiated from within the sector as organisations adapt to changes in their operating environments.
Recent research across a wide range of WA Local Governments identifies a number of areas in which significant change has taken, or is taking, place. This includes Workplace Change; Performance Contracts; Competitive Tendering; Contracting Out; Regional Cooperation; Resource Sharing; Benchmarking; Customer Service and Asset Management.
By analysing these issues, we can make the following conclusions about what the best performing Local Governments are doing. Leading organisations have put in place Industrial Agreements which link rewards for staff to improved performance.
Their senior management &endash; not just the CEO &endash; will be employed under contracts and those contracts will have links to the Council’s Principal Activity Plan and other Strategic Plans, so that there is an accountability process which ensures implementation of Council strategy.
The cost efficiency of Council services is likely to be tested in the market place via a competitive tendering process by innovative Local Governments. Councils will tend to out source those things that cannot be delivered at the best price and desired quality by internal means.
Regional groups of Councils generally exist to enhance political lobbying power and enable Councils to share resources. This is now a well established and popular approach to solving the basic economic problem of scarce resources versus unlimited needs.
The most innovative of Local Governments will benchmark their service delivery against other organisations to identify best practice and will implement those best practices within their own organisations, as part of a continuous improvement strategy.
Customer service charters, which guarantee service standards, are increasingly being developed across Local Governments in WA. These are being accompanied by a complaints processing mechanism to enable Councils to account for those service standards.
Finally, the importance of better asset management is now recognised. Many Councils are establishing formal asset management plans for all major assets, and they are taking professional advice on how those assets &endash; including their financial assets &endash; should be managed.
*Editor’s Note: Following recent Council elections in Western Australia the position of President of the Western Australian Municipal Association is now vacant. An election to fill this position will take place shortly. In the interim, the above President’s Comment was supplied by WAMA.
