Tasmanian councils awarded for excellence
Brighton, Clarence City and Kingborough Councils have all been recognised at the 2009 Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT) Excellence Awards.
Announced at the LGAT Annual Conference dinner on 11 June, the awards recognise excellence in Local Government for the benefit of Tasmanians. They celebrate outstanding efforts and promote the sharing of good management practices and effective responses to community needs.
This year, 13 councils submitted 22 entries across the following four awards categories:
- Delivering Excellence for our Communities
- Delivering Excellence for our People (not awarded)
- Delivering Excellence in Natural and Built Environments
- Demonstrating Operational Excellence.
Brighton Council (just north of Hobart) took out the Delivering Excellence for our Communities category with its Brighton Alive project.
The project has provided Council’s 15,000 residents with more than 50 events, including a range of social, educational and sporting programs over the past three years. The Brighton Alive website also keeps the community informed about news and upcoming events.
The Delivering Excellence in Natural and Built Environments category award went to Clarence City Council. Council’s Climate Change Impacts on Clarence Coastal Areas Report not only focuses on the impacts climate change might have in Tasmania, but is a nation leading blueprint for all coastal councils in Australia.
The report encourages innovative and flexible responses to setting new development planning guidelines, in keeping with the highest range sea level rise estimates for 2100. It is now among the leading resources for climate change mitigation in Tasmania and is an important contributor to planning schemes at a local and State level.
Kingborough Council took out the Demonstrating Operational Excellence category with its Paperless Building Application Processing. Council implemented a cost efficient system by electronically processing, storing and retrieving building and plumbing permit documentation.
The tool addresses an increase in applications and application sizes, turning a mundane task into a simple automated process.
Not only is the result cost effective, but it saves time and is environmentally friendly, saving masses of trees.
In response to council feedback, no overall award was presented this year.
For further information on the awards and winners visit www.lgat.tas.gov.au
