At the 2006 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Perth, FOCUS invited delegates to nominate individuals or teams from their Council who are improving their Council’s operations and meeting community needs. In this edition, we showcase two of our high achievers for 2006.
Kim Wiggins, Corporate Accountant, Glenorchy City Council, Tasmania
Glenorchy City Council is located seven kilometres north of Hobart CBD on the Derwent River. Covering 110 square kilometres and comprising 15 suburbs, the city has a population of approximately 43,800 people. Home of Australian icon, Blundstone Boots, and the Cadbury Chocolate Factory among other attractions, Glenorchy has a total expenditure of $54 million per year.
As Council’s Corporate Accountant, Kim Wiggins’ primary role is to ensure this budget is spread fairly across all departments. When he joined Council two and a half years ago, Kim’s position was set up to provide the freedom to tackle project work and the big issues, such as creating financial policies, redeveloping the organisation’s budget process and implementing new accounting standards.
“My position is unique within Council as it deals with and supports all facets of the organisation,” Kim Wiggins said. “The goals of each department generally rely on budgets, so as a corporate accountant, you need to see yourself as a support system to assist in making these goals a reality.”
Glenorchy General Manager, Frank Pearce, nominated Kim to appear in FOCUS for the impact he has made on changes to Council’s strategic management, financial planning and budgeting systems.
“Kim has played a significant role in developing an asset management framework, identifying accurate asset valuations, modelling asset replacement, and building these elements into our 20 year financial model,” Frank Pearce said. “He has developed a new set of financial policies for the organisation and made a lot of recommendations that are a big ask of one person. He has done a great job in pointing Council in the right direction.”
Kim Wiggins believes a key factor in implementing change is physically visiting every department and interacting with staff.
“It is crucial to establish excellent relationships with staff at all levels, from all departments,” he said.
“With a background in the private sector, a major challenge I encountered when joining Council was coordinating the needs of management, Aldermen and the community in long term planning.
“I was faced with the challenge of assisting stakeholders to move their budget thinking from the next 12 months to the next five, ten and 20 years, but was finding it difficult to ascertain everyone’s views.”
Glenorchy’s recent introduction of Council workshops provided Kim with an ideal forum to seek Aldermen’s opinions. The informal and relaxed setting allows greater interaction with Aldermen and generates an improved exchange of views and ideas.
Kim Wiggins said the process has worked far better than the formal question and answer format of Council meetings.
“Informal interaction is pivotal to getting Council to understand the big issues and increasing awareness of financial issues within the organisation,” he said. “We needed to work together to develop a long term strategy and to communicate more information on the needs of the organisation. Workshops have been extremely successful in achieving this.”
Kim Wiggins believes that the biggest issue currently facing Local Government is the funding gap within infrastructure expenditure and doing more with less due to cost shifting.
“We need to think and act for the long term,” Kim Wiggins said. “Engineers, accountants and planners throughout Australia have provided Local Government with unprecedented amounts of information, making us better able to predict future needs. The next challenge is to use this information in making informed and strategic decisions for the long term.”
Kim identified a $4 million per year funding gap between what Glenorchy currently spends on infrastructure and what it needs to be spending. To address this, he developed new financial policies, aiming to gradually close the gap.
“Our new financial policies address debt, cash and infrastructure funding shortfalls for the next five years, and ways to find funds to address this shortfall,” he said. “Increasing rates is seen as a last resort as ratepayers already carry a large burden. Our new policies ensure that we look at where Council can save money and also at other sources of funding.”
Team Winner – Library Services Team, Whitsunday Shire Council, Queensland
Located in tropical North Queensland, Whitsunday Shire Council is approximately 1,100 kilometres north of Brisbane. The Shire encompasses the rural town of Proserpine, the coastal settlements of Cannonvale, Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour, and 74 resort and national park Whitsunday Islands. Covering 2,650 square kilometres, Whitsunday Shire has a population of 18,200 people. The region has a full range of services and facilities, with many new families moving to the region.
This growth has led to the need for a new, larger library to service the fast growing Airlie Beach and Cannonvale area. Due to open in September, the library will be located in a new shopping centre. It will replace an existing Cannonvale library, which is currently shared with a local TAFE, and will complement an existing library located in Proserpine.
Library Services Manager, Anna Derham, said over the past couple of years, membership between the two libraries has increased from 43 per cent of residents to 60 per cent.
“We expect this to grow even further with the opening of the new library,” she said. “The new Cannonvale Library, or Beach Library as it will be called, will have an emphasis on space. The existing library has enough room for book storage only. The Beach Library will create spaces for activities and library run programs to be held in house.”
One program that the library runs is ‘Switched on Seniors’. Residents over 55 can access free internet while learning basic computer skills.
CEO, Tony Hayward, said Council’s Library Service Team provides a high level of library services to a diverse community.
“They deliver excellent outcomes for the community and Council constantly receives great feedback about their service,” he said. “This was reflected in their excellent consultation with the community on the location and needs of the new library.”
Anna Derham said the team’s ability to work well together has led to its good reputation in the community.
“We all have our own roles within the library, but we work as a team and consult with each other about everything,” she said. “We always have open communication and know what’s happening in all parts of the libraries, not just in our own roles.”
The team comprises nine staff spread across the two library facilities. The entire team was involved in the planning process for the new library.
“Not only does this create ownership of the library, it allows staff to feel valued and a part of the project,” Anna Derham said.
In working through projects and issues, the Library Services team uses Edward De Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’ approach. This method is about improving communication and decision making in groups. Six coloured hats are passed around the group, with participants changing colour every 15 to 20 minutes.
“The six ‘thinking hats’ are different ways of looking at an issue that has to be decided,” Anna Derham said. “The speaker wearing a white hat presents the facts; the red hat says how they feel about an issue; the black hat looks at the negative effects of a decision; the yellow hat looks at the positive effects of a decision; the green hat thinks of alternatives; and the blue hat clarifies which kind of thinking is going on. The method allows us to share information, while having a laugh and a good time.”
