Working around the clock with five small children during a flood has earned Clara Fitzgerald the Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA) Queensland Division’s Award for Excellence in the Above and Beyond category. One of the Central Highlands Regional Council’s Work Place Health and Safety Officers, Clara has received the award for her outstanding efforts in keeping the Council’s website up to date with the latest information about the December 2010 floods.
The award recognises her efforts when she worked around the clock from home uploading the flood related information and briefings to residents onto the website.
Clara Fitzgerald began this work on Christmas Eve, and she worked through Christmas Day and well into the New Year. She had been trained in uploading content onto the websites as part of her job as a Work Place Health and Safety Officer.
“Council sent out a request before Christmas to see who would be available to work during the Christmas break if we needed to get information onto the website,” she said. “I volunteered because I wanted to help.
“I knew that I was not able to come in to work because I had the children at home with me, but I just felt that I was still making a contribution to our community at a time when Council needed all hands on deck.We all worked well as a team and it was a huge effort from everyone involved from the telephones, to the Coordination Centre and the staff out in the field.
“I accepted the award on behalf of all those people in Council – without everyone’s commitment we would not have been able to manage this disaster.”
Mayor Peter Maquire congratulated Clara’s work ethic and commitment to the community.
“Not only was she putting out the information as soon as it was available, but she also provided me with reports on a daily basis with statistics on the website use,” he said. “It certainly showed that people were using the website to keep updated, and that it was a very important communication tool for us. There were over 37,400 visitors to our website in December and January, and they kept coming back to view the website over time, so that told us they found the information useful, and the website informative.
“We have received an enormous amount of positive feedback for our efforts in communication throughout the disaster, and Clara was a vital part of that process for us. There are an awful lot of unsung heroes that really shone for Council and our region during the flood.
“I am very pleased that Clara has been recognised for her work, but I would also like people to know that right across the entire Council area there were staff absolutely committed to serving their community and keeping them fed, safe and informed.”
