Livingstone Shire has triumphed again in the Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) Rural Management Challenge held recently at Rockhampton in Central Queensland. Livingstone Shire also won the inaugural event 14 months ago. Stiffer competition this year, against eight other teams, makes its back to back win even more impressive.
The team from Fitzroy Shire was awarded a commendation for its efforts in placing second, narrowly behind the winner.
“The Rural Management Challenge is based on the concept of the LGMA Australasian Management Challenge, but is specifically designed for smaller rural Councils that would not normally be able to compete in the Australasian Challenge,” said Branch President Andrea Moran. “With smaller teams and rural oriented Challenge tasks, the event is much more attractive to rural Councils. The considerably lower entry fee and the fact that it is held within the region are also important factors.”
Andrea Moran also acknowledged the sponsors of the event; LGMA (National), LGMA (Qld) and Queensland Treasury Corporation.
“The support of these sponsors is invaluable and makes it possible for an event like this to be presented at such an affordable cost,” she said.
Event organiser, Gary Stevenson, also praised the teams and in particular commented on the range of entries.
“Teams travelled from across Central Queensland with the furthest having to drive over five hours,” Gary Stevenson said. “We also had a diverse range of teams with the smallest Council team serving a population of only 620 and the largest 60,000 residents. It was great to see two teams were composite teams each made up officers from two separate Councils. Both of these teams did exceptionally well and in one team’s case the participants had not met each other until the day before the event.”
The 12 tasks designed by Gary Stevenson included a dramatic experience with an aggressive media representative. Teams handled the probing questions well. Other tasks included real life problems faced by rural Councils with declining populations, limited budgets, yet increasing social, environmental and regulatory demands.
The participants viewed the day as a huge success with positive responses in their assessment surveysThis event will be held again next year and Gary Stephenson encourages other regions around Australia to facilitate the Rural Management Challenge.
“It is invaluable for the rural Councils to have access to training events such as this that Councils in metropolitan areas might enjoy as a matter of course,” he said. “For so many rural Councils the much need training opportunities are just too expensive or too far away.”
For further information contact, Gary Stevenson, CEO at Rockhampton City Council on 0419 643 177.
