In a demonstration of cross-Council cooperation, City of Ryde Group Manager Environment and Planning, Dominic Johnson, will take up a three-month secondment with Willoughby Council.
Ryde’s General Manager Gail Connolly said the secondment represents the new era of collaboration between Northern Sydney Councils.
“This secondment presents both Ryde and Willoughby with an opportunity to share knowledge, skills and resources.
“It demonstrates one of the core elements of our Joint Regional Authority (JRA) proposal for the Fit for the Future local government reform and I am sure this will be the first of many resource sharing and secondment opportunities.”
Mr Johnson will assume the role of Director of Planning and Infrastructure in mid-July for three months.
He will assist Willoughby’s General Manager to implement an organisation change program with a focus on establishing strong customer relations and project management practices within the Planning and Infrastructure directorate.
“This is an exciting opportunity to share learnings from Ryde’s experience of improving the way Council operates to deliver best value services to our customers, and learn from Willoughby’s change program,” Mr Johnson said.
Willoughby Council’s General Manager, Debra Just, said the secondment represents a valuable gain for two Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (NSROC) members in working together.
“Mr Johnson’s leadership and regional planning experience will enable Willoughby’s reform program to continue its momentum through the recruitment phase for the Director’s role.”
Executive Director of NSROC, Andrew Roach, said the outcome is an example of Councils in Northern Sydney working together to achieve mutual benefit through appropriate collaboration.
“By working together, Councils consistently demonstrate that they have the capacity to deal with issues beyond their individual borders.”
City of Ryde has joined forces with Hunters Hill and Lane Cove Councils to develop a collaborative model of a Joint Regional Authority in response to the State Government’s Fit for the Future program.
The JRA will centralise key functions across the three council areas, including strategic subregional planning, procurement, infrastructure delivery and other services where economies of scale exist.
Under this option, each Council and its community would retain their unique local identity and the City of Ryde is not split.
