At the 2009 Local Government Managers Australia National Congress in Darwin, Local Government FOCUS invited delegates to nominate individuals or teams from their councils who are
improving operations or enhancing service delivery within their community.
In this edition, we showcase two more of our high achievers for 2009.
Lisa Desmond, Director Organisational Services, Fraser Coast Regional Council, Queensland
After graduating from a Bachelor of Business in Accounting in 1994, Lisa Desmond expected to work in tax firms. However, after handing out resumes with no success, she took a chance and dropped one off at the local council.
“Within a couple of days I was offered a temporary position in Toowoomba City Council’s regulated parking section as a data input operator,” she said. “The rest is history.
“In 1994, accrual accounting hit Local Government and accountants were in demand. I was appointed as a full time junior accountant and spent ten years with Toowoomba before finding I had gone as far as I could.”
Lisa moved on to become Chief Financial Officer at Darwin and Hawkesbury City Councils, before returning to Queensland to take on the Director of Corporate Services role at Hervey Bay City Council. Then, with amalgamations in Queensland in 2008, Lisa was appointed Director Organisational Services of the new Fraser Coast Regional Council, which comprises the former Hervey Bay, Maryborough, Tiaro and Woocoo councils.
In this role, she oversees human resources, IT, records management, finance, customer service, marketing, communications, tourism and governance. Given this broad range of responsibilities, Lisa’s Directorate bore the brunt of the amalgamation workload, with the major challenge for the new organisation being the melding of four different cultures.
Although it has been the biggest challenge she has faced in her career, Lisa Desmond said the amalgamation process has been one of the most rewarding and exciting periods she has experienced in Local Government.
“I remember a colleague saying that amalgamation is not about bringing the four previous councils together to form a new organisation, but rather it’s about building and establishing a new organisation and culture for the Fraser Coast,” Lisa Desmond said.
“In addition to grappling with the people aspects of amalgamation, we had an extraordinary workload placed upon us to be undertaken in a short period.
“This included negotiating a new Enterprise Agreement, consolidation of corporate IT and communication systems, implementing a new organisational structure and rationalisation of rating policies, while ensuring the maintenance of service delivery across the region.
“Eighteen months on, we have made significant progress towards achieving a more harmonious working environment and gaining greater acceptance of the change, but there is still some way to go before all staff and even the community embrace the benefits and opportunities of the change.”
Lisa Desmond said staff at all levels of the organisation rolled up their sleeves and committed significant time and resources to effect a relatively smooth transition.
“I am very fortunate to be working with staff that have embraced the challenges with enthusiasm and drive,” she said. “I have a fantastic team who are dedicated to Council and work with me to deliver outcomes for the organisation.”
Fraser Coast CEO Andrew Brien nominated Lisa to appear in FOCUS. He said her dedication to the task at hand has ensured that the Council has been well placed in terms of progressing the Local Government reforms.
“Throughout the reform process, and now into the shaping of the new organisation, Lisa has been keen to take on further work and has played a role in the development of Enterprise Bargaining Agreements, organisational structure and anything else asked of her in the position,” he said.
“Overall, Lisa’s technical knowledge combined with her dedication to Local Government has proved to be of great benefit to Council and in turn the community.”
Lisa is now working with the Executive team to ensure Council takes full advantage of and complies with amendments to new planning legislation and the Local Government Act in 2010.
Graffiti Management Team, Leichhardt Municipal Council, New South Wales
Since its establishment early this year, Leichhardt Municipal Council’s Graffiti Management Team has played a key role in consulting with and educating the community on graffiti removal and prevention.
The interim team was set up to develop Council’s Graffiti Management Policy following New South Wales Government data showing a steady increase in the reported incidences of graffiti in the Leichhardt Local Government Area (LGA) in the period 2002–2008.
Council’s Manager Social Planning and Community Development , Erla Ronan, initiated the team, which comprises Community Safety Officer (Public Space Focus) Bronwyn Tuohy, Council’s Manager of Works and Waste, Allan Willding, and graffiti removal staff. She said that to quantify the graffiti problem, the team monitored and evaluated interventions, ranging from rapid removal, to landscaping, to art programs.
“A common theme emerged when we workshopped our results with police, artists, young people, and businesses,” she said. “People love good art and want more of it, but they do not like unsightly tagging. As such, Council’s approach is about reinforcing the creative expression of practitioners through our art programs, while at the same time reducing the available canvas for illegal graffiti.”
Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker said that providing opportunities for artists to engage creatively in their community and showcase their skills is effectively reducing the amount of available canvas for acts of illegal graffiti.
“Council recently partnered with Police and Community Youth Clubs (PCYC) Balmain,” he said. “We worked with a group of young people and a professional artist to paint an aerosol mural on a highly tagged wall of the PCYC.
“The program aimed to teach young people about the process involved in producing artwork in a public forum to enhance neighbourhood amenity. This means Council uses its resources more effectively, while addressing a real problem for the community in a collaborative way.”
Bronwyn Tuohy said involving local artists is a pivotal strategy.
“Our LikeArt Street Art initiative encompasses a number of public art projects and competitions that aim to improve the local area and highlight the contribution that artists are making to public spaces,” she said.
“The Wall 2 Wall mural art competition, for example, involves participants designing large scale pieces of public art for walls in the Leichhardt area. Artists of the winning designs receive a cash prize and are asked to reproduce their piece on a selected public wall, with Council covering all material costs.
“Similarly, the Insight/Out of Sight art competition is a partnership program with the RTA, under which local traffic signal boxes are designated for a makeover. In 2009, four of the 12 boxes set aside for the program were earmarked for community cultural development. This enabled schools, community groups and so forth to take part.”
Bronwyn said Council has noticed a reduction in graffiti following the introduction of the public art programs. A Council study, funded by the Attorney Generals Department, showed a 73 per cent reduction in graffiti on an intervention site compared to a control site where no intervention occurred.
Mayor Parker believes the team has been successful in its development of a Graffiti Management Policy as it was written with the input of everyone involved in graffiti management, including the community.
“It is a real group effort,” he said. “With representation from managers, right down to those at the coalface working to remove the graffiti from our buildings and infrastructure, we have been able to pull together and build on what Council has already done, while identifying gaps that could be fixed.
“It has been a very collaborative process and it sets a great example for the community that they need to work together with Council to combat the problem.”
The team is currently working to develop further materials to educate the community.
