Recognising LG’s high achievers
At the National General Assembly of Local Government held in Canberra, Local Government FOCUS invited delegates to nominate individuals or teams from their councils who are improving operations or enhancing service delivery for their local community.
In this edition, we showcase two more of our high achievers for 2011.
 Back Row (l – r): Accountant Steve Broad, Admin Supervisor Peta Leiper: Director of Finance and Administrative Services Garry Bird; and Records Officer/Customer Service Officer Charmaine Shelley. Middle Row (l – r): Customer Service Officer (Front Counter) Carli Martinovich; Rates Clerk Erica Sayer; and Creditors and Debtors Jason Young. Bottom Row (l – r): Technical Customer Service Officer Ruth Hall; Technical Customer Service Officer Kevina Richardson; Customer Service Officer (Front Counter); Cheralynne Clarke, Payroll Marcia Chamberlain, and Records Officer Jen Langridge. |
Finance and Administration Team, Denmark Shire Council, Western Australia
For the Finance and Administration Team at the Shire of Denmark, commitment and dedication to their local community goes above and beyond. The Shire of Denmark, a community of just over 5,000, is located on the south coast of Western Australia about 50 kilometres west of Albany and 400 kilometres south of Perth.
The team’s commitment to implementing the Shire of Denmark’s Customer Service Charter is reflected in the Finance and Administration Team being considered one of the best customer service units in Local Government in Western Australia.
CEO Dale Stewart nominated the team for its sustained improvement in customer service over the past two years.
It is not just a matter of idle speculation; the team has recently scored highly in two separate surveys about its work. The first survey, a part of the Local Government Customer Service Benchmarking Project, was based on ten ‘mystery shoppers’ who rang Denmark Shire Council on various issues.
The calls can be about any aspect of Council’s operations and the team was marked on the time it took to respond to the call and various facets in how they handled queries.
Dale Stewart said the Finance and Administration Team finished in the top percentile for all facets of customer service in the survey.
"This was a benchmark survey which measured the team’s performance against other Local Governments and it came out in the top group," he said.
The results of the survey were backed up with Denmark’s own bi annual customer satisfaction survey, which showed strong progress from the previous survey.
The team of ten fulltime staff has two people on the front counter, and eight others behind the scenes.
All Administration staff have core positions, but all have been open to gaining skills and experience that allows for crossover into most other administration fields when staff are away. This allows for a greater flow of core business that is not individual staff based.
Administration Supervisor Peta Leiper said the team was highly focused on customer service. They have a high commitment to making the day to day business of the Denmark community as easy as possible.
All of the Administration staff are sincere in their approach to customer service training with a broad reference such as mental health, physical and intellectual disability and indigenous and cutlural awareness, and take those into account when dealing with customers.
The staff often handle up to 70 queries a day covering anything from stray dogs, all vehicle, driving and firearm licensing, streetlighting, rubbish collection, bookings for civic buildings, through to taking fire and weather event emergency calls from community members.
Rates and accounts payable, payroll and records management and a large internal customer base, means that the Finance and Administration Team have a broad knowledge of the inner workings of Council.
Due to willingness of the front counter staff to undertake extra responsibilities with the Department of Transport licensing, the young people of Denmark are now able to obtain their licences at the Council office and avoid the potential for multiple 100 kilometre roundtrips to Albany.
Finance and Administration Director Garry Bird believes that one of the reasons for the success of the team has been the family friendly atmosphere created at the workplace.
"Children can come here before and after school," he said. "We also have flexibility in working hours and this helps some of the working mums on staff. The working environment has meant that staff turnover is much lower and the Shire is now seen as a more attractive employer by the community."
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Tony Lickiss, Manager Engineering Services, Cook Shire Council
Tony Lickiss’s career is one disaster after another. As Manager Engineering Services at Cook Shire Council, he has faced a Category 2 cyclone every three years and monsoons each and every year. Such destruction would make most engineers pale with fright, but it is all in a day’s work for Tony.
Cook Shire Council in far north Queensland covers an area the size of Victoria and has a population of 5000 people.
During the wet season, much of its area is inaccessible. With a budget of only $20 million, the Shire must wrestle with a large amount of road and other damage each year caused during the wet season.
Mayor Peter Scott nominated Tony Lickiss because of his astonishing commitment and hard work over the past three years in keeping Cook Shire’s roads running well.
"Whilst delivering Natural Disaster Restoration works valued at more than $150 million over the last five years, Tony has also carried out projects to provide facilities and services not normally available to a small populated shire," he said.
Mayor Scott estimates because of its huge area and small population, Cook Shire Council starts every financial year with an "own" operating deficit of around $14 million.
Tony Lickiss said the dry season offers a short window of opportunity to get in and repair roads, but the challenges do not end there.
"It is not just a question of the dry season starting and then we are able to start work," he said. "It is very important that we do not allow cars and trucks on roads too early as they can damage a road very easily.As the monsoons diminish, we are steadily able to work our way up north to fix and repair roads."
To do this, Tony uses an innovative linking system involving a helicopter using a video camera linked to a GPS.
"We are able to film along the roads of the Shire and then make an informed assessment of what roads need to be repaired and where.This involves watching the video carefully and noting where repairs need to be made."
Tony Lickiss has spoken about the use of helicopters at Local Government Association of Queensland and at least one other Local Government has begun to use the system.His work has impacts well beyond keeping up the road network.
Tony works extensively with the neighboring indigenous communities and provides a great deal of employment.
"Because we are close to almost all the indigenous Shires on the Cape, it makes logistical sense to have them assist us with road repairs," he said. "We employ close to 400 people to repair these roads, so it is a major source of employment in the region."
Before working at Cook Shire, Tony was in private industry and gained his engineering degree while serving in the Army in the infantry. He has enjoyed the switch to Local Government that he made in August 2006 and he is particularly appreciative of his 100 strong team.
Tony lives in the Shire at Cooktown with his family and thoroughly enjoys the lifestyle.
"It is a place where kids can run around and be kids," he said. "It is just a really good town."
