At the 2003 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Adelaide, FOCUS invited delegates to nominate an individual and team from their Council who are excelling in their field and promoting the organisation’s corporate goals. In this edition we showcase two more of our competition winners.
Individual Winner – John Dangerfield,
Depot Manager at the City of Tea Tree Gully, South Australia
The City of Tea Tree Gully – 12 km from Adelaide – employed Waste and Civil Works Manager, John Dangerfield, in January last year to overhaul its waste and recycling systems.With new State legislation placing pressure on Council to reduce landfill to zero, John Dangerfield was head hunted from his job as Manager of Cleansing at the City of Adelaide.
He joined Tea Tree Gully under a five year contract and within six months had presented Council with a new waste management strategy.
John was nominated in our competition by Councillor Vicki Hudson. General Manager City Works, John Jenkins, describes him as ‘methodical, forthright, very effective and a man of high integrity’.
“We head hunted him because he had a very good reputation around Adelaide and he had experience in the public and private sectors,” John Jenkins said. “He put together a complete waste management strategy in a very short period of time. Three months after he’d arrived here, he knew as much about the issues as anyone had ever known. John has a warm, persuasive style, which means people have great confidence in him. He’s got great intuition but he backs everything up with statistical data.”
John Dangerfield’s department comprises 50 to 70 people, depending on current projects, and has an annual budget of $3.7 million for waste and $7.8 million for civil works.Since his appointment, waste going to landfill has dropped from an average of 2,500 to 1,450 tonnes a month, recyclable materials have increased from 380 to nearly 600 tonnes a month and Council is now collecting 400 tonnes of green waste.
“We will be one of the first Councils to insert a chip inside the bins that will reduce the weight of the green organics by up to 50 per cent through aeration,” John Dangerfield said. “It starts the composting process inside the bin, which cuts processing costs substantially because they charge by weight.”
Team Winner – the Management Team at Northern Midlands Council, Tasmania
One of Tasmania’s newest and largest Local Governments, Northern Midlands Council has 12,000 residents and covers 5,130 square kilometres. It was created ten years ago by the amalgamation of Longford, Evandale, Campbell Town, Ross and part of the Fingal Council. In that time, its management team has wiped out the debt accumulated by these former Councils, increased capital works and provided a range of new services for residents.
A recent Local Government Board of Tasmania review concluded that ‘the Northern Midlands Council can be regarded as one of the best run Councils in Tasmania’.
General Manager, Gerald Monson, nominated his management team for their achievements to be recognised in FOCUS.
“Each of them brings a variety of talents to the decision making process and their local knowledge and community participation outside working hours has been of great benefit to Council,” Gerald Monson said.
Council’s four Department Managers have a combined Local Government experience of 86 years, two Masters degrees, four post graduate degrees, and three Bachelor degrees, and they are all local residents.
Economic and Community Development Manager, Lorraine Green, joined Council in November 2001 to fill a newly created portfolio covering issues ranging “from dogs, dams and disability to tourism, tots and telecommunications”.
She has obtained more than $700,000 in external funding for Council’s economic and community development program in the first 18 months. This funding was used to employ a Product Development Officer at the local tourism association and a full time Business Adviser to provide free advice, referrals and support for small businesses in Central Tasmania. The funding also helped Council expand mobile phone coverage in the area and set up a rural health teaching site.
Corporate Services Manager, Maree Bricknell, is responsible for financial management, information management and customer service. Since Council’s creation a decade ago, its debt of $3.175 million has been abolished and a reserve fund of $13 million set up, while rates have increased by less than half the CPI.
“Over recent years we’ve proved we have the ability to handle all the pressure and responsibility that is directed to us,” Maree Bricknell said. “The team has gained the confidence of Councillors, staff and the community due to our professionalism and ability to get things done. Our wonderful staff are very supportive, and we always try to pass the success of the Council on to them.”
Perhaps the most pressing social issue facing her department is water quality, with a $9.4 million water treatment plant due to be completed to provide fully treated water to Longford, Perth and Evandale.
Works Manager, Wayne Chellis, oversees the construction and maintenance of Council infrastructure, including roads, bridges, water reticulation, sewer reticulation and parks and reserves. During his ten years on Council, more than 25 bridges have been replaced with concrete bridges. Wayne has rationalised plant and equipment and worked with employees to improve work practices.
Technical Services Manager, Harry Galea, runs a small, multidisciplinary department comprising eight people.
“I’m not their boss, but another department person with different responsibilities,” he said. “I support frequent meetings of both the department team and the management team.”
In 1997, Council won the State Award for Excellence for waste management initiatives, which included closing all landfill sites and setting up waste transfer stations, revamping kerbside collection, and establishing a kerbside recycling program and a ‘tip shop’ for recycled goods. Also under Harry’s guidance, Council’s BushWeb project won a State Landcare Award for Nature Conservation in 2001 and went on to win the National Award last year. In his ‘spare’ time, he is President of the Tasmanian branch of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia and the Launceston College Council, and Chairman of the Northern Natural Resource Management Committee.
Gerald Monson said Council’s Management Team was currently involved in several major projects, including the $9.4 water treatment scheme, a $1.1 million levee to flood proof Longford, a 15,000 megalitre reservoir, an extension to the Mobile Child Care service and streetscape improvements at Longford, Evandale and Ross. He said staff had also tendered successfully for several Council projects in recent years, demonstrating the efficiency of their operations.
