At the 2004 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Melbourne FOCUS invited delegates to nominate an individual or team from their Council who has excelled in meeting their Council’s and community’s needs. In this edition we showcase the first two of our competition winners for 2004.
Sue Smith, Manager Arts Services , Rockhampton City Council, Queensland
It has been a busy year for Sue Smith. In the last 12 months, the Arts Services Manager at Rockhampton Council in Queensland has exhibited a major impressionist painting, sourced a important painting for the Rockhampton Gallery and overseen the production of an artists book that won the national 2004 Museums Australia Book Design Award.
Sue Smith was nominated as a high achiever by the Rockhampton Director Community and Cultural Development, Tom Upton, who said she had significantly increased the art gallery program, culminating in a number of major awards.
“Within the limitations of the tight budget, Sue has delivered a large range of initiatives of very high quality,” he said.
Her work in Arts Services requires administering the Regional Arts Development Fund and coordinating the Walter Reid Centre which houses a broad range of artistic and musical community groups.
“She has recently been involved in the refurbishment of the centre which is now an important part of the community,” Tom Upton said. “Aside from these duties, Sue operates the gallery’s trust fund. She’s an inclusive leader who involves her staff and she also inspires and supports a range of volunteers.”
Sue has spent about three years at Rockhampton Council and she believes it has been a team effort that helped the unit succeed to such an extent.
“I am fortunate to work with an energetic and supportive group of people, including the wider Rockhampton City Council structure, my own staff, volunteers, Gallery trustees, sponsors and various artists and community groups to whom I pay tribute for their commitment and whole hearted support,” Sue Smith said. “Some of the key things we have been able to achieve together over the past few years include a major fund raising effort for the Gallery Art Acquisition Fund which has raised about $180,000.
There have been gifts of art works valued at around $500,000, including a major painting by William Robinson, Four cows, one bulling (1980) which is worth $200,000 alone.
Rockhampton Art Gallery also received two major awards at the fourth Annual Museums Australia National Conference held in Melbourne earlier this year. The Museums Australia Publication Design Awards 2004 for overall best publication in the show (joint award), and best book by a small museum, were awarded for Rockhampton Art Gallery’s recent publication, Diversity Along the Line: a collaborative portfolio by Capricorn artists.
Rockhampton City Council Mayor, Margaret Strelow, said these awards were national recognition for the Rockhampton Art Gallery’s standard of excellence in fine art representation.
Rockhampton Art Gallery’s book was selected joint winner of the best museum publication for 2004 from 122 short listed entries submitted by 52 organisations, including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Queensland Art Gallery. The book is totally Central Queensland produced – the artists are Central Queensland artists, and the book was written, created, compiled and printed in Rockhampton and central Queensland.
Sue Smith said that she was proud for the gallery to be recognised by such a prestigious museum organisation.
“The success of the project stems from its being a model partnership between artists, a cultural institution, and the local private business – City Printing Works – who printed text pages and bound the books,” Sue Smith said.
The Rockhampton Art Gallery secured a national art treasure to celebrate the Centenary of Rockhampton and the 20th anniversary of the National Gallery of Australia. The National Gallery of Australia entrusted Rockhampton with one of its most renowned and iconic works of art in the exhibition – Haystacks, Midday by Claude Monet.
Team Winner – the Bulk Refuse Crew at Gosnells City Council, Western Australia
Gosnells is the fourth largest Council in Western Australia. With close to 90,000 residents, the City is growing by almost 100 houses every month. It is expected Gosnells will have almost 100,000 residents by the end of this year. Located 17 kilometres south east of Perth’s CBD, Gosnells has 11 suburbs and a total area of 127 square kilometres.
Council’s Bulk Refuse Crew services every residence. They travel the length and breadth of the City during the course of the year providing two green waste collections and one hard rubbish or junk collection for each household. The crew was nominated by Gosnells’ Mayor, Councillor Pat Morris.
Mayor Morris said she has received many complimentary comments about the work of the Bulk Refuse Crew.
“The pick ups are efficient with the verges left clean and the paths swept,” she said. “I can endorse these comments as a ratepayer myself. I am very proud of their dedication to providing an extremely efficient operation.”
Ted Costello has worked for Gosnells for 26 years and has been supervisor of the crew for the past 18 month.
The crew, comprising leading hand, Adrian Reilly, and workers Gary Barrett, David Halls, Peter Houston and Conan Prince, work across the City using two trucks and a bobcat. They pick up an astonishing 1,834 tonnes of discarded goods each year, along with 1,500 tonnes of green waste.
At present, the team does only one hard waste collection a year, but there are hopes it can be extended to two collections.
“The five member crew can all interchange roles as drivers and loaders,” said David Denton, Manager Engineering Operations. This multi skilling increases the efficiency of the service.”
He said that the team aims to leave the verges in the same condition they were in prior to the materials being put out for collection.
“Green waste is the main problem, so the crew is meticulous about the verges being raked and all debris swept up and taken away,” David Denton said. “They have also introduced the use of a wide wheeled loader to protect lawns during the collection. Untidy verges was the main complaint from householders while service was contracted to a private operator. It is clear that Council staff are doing a much better job in this regard.”
Supervisor, Ted Costello, said that the bulk refuse service is a relatively new service. “It is hoped that when the initial junk collections are completed, the amount of rubbish will diminish and we will be able to move around the municipality quicker to make two collections per year,” he said.
The crew does as much recycling as possible, currently separating metals at the collection point. Nearly 200 tonnes of steel has been recycled, and plans are being made to also include timber in this separation process. In addition, 500 tonnes of green waste from each pick up is being recycled into mulch.
