Mackay regional council is undergoing a major redevelopment of its systems and processes to modernise its business practices and deliver efficient and effective customer services.
Under the plan, approximately 145 council administrative staff from the areas of Finance, Rates, Water, Human Resources, Information Technology and Client Services, will operate in the partnership.
The strategic partnership will be equally owned by Mackay Regional Council and Propel Partnerships, of which 67 percent is owned by the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ).
The new partnership will be known as Northern Australia Services (NAS).
Mackay Mayor Deirdre Comerford said the decision to proceed with a strategic partnership model was an important day for council and the community.
“This is a visionary and bold move that we believe will result in significant cost savings coupled with the long term ability to generate an income stream for our organisation.
“That will directly correlate to keeping rates affordable for the community now and into the future.
“Mackay Regional Council aims to be a modern council, standardising and streamlining processes will be a focus of the strategic partnership.”
Chief Executive Officer Barry Omundson said staff would be enabled to realise efficiency and productivity improvements through new practices and approaches, with a focus on service level improvement.
“The tour of the United Kingdom in April this year made it abundantly clear that transforming administrative services results in significant improvement to council’s business performance.
“Staff who are participating in the partnership will remain employees of Mackay Regional Council and will retain all current and future Enterprise Agreement (EA) conditions.”
Mr Omundson said high volume administrative areas had the potential for greater productivity improvements.
“We are still working with our staff and our strategic partners to devise an implementation plan, but it is hoped to have it operating at full capacity by June 2015.”
