It’s not always easy to take critical feedback and then implement fundamental change, but that’s exactly what Moreton Bay Regional Council, Queensland, has been doing since September last year.
The southeast Queensland council has been going through significant organisational reform after it engaged independent consultants Grassroots Connections Australia to review its key functions.
The result was 42 major initiatives that were planned to be complete over several years, but just 11 months in, Council has already completed half of those initiatives.
Newly elected mayor, Peter Flannery was a Councillor at the time when the special motion was voted through Council and he has overseen many of the changes.
“At the time it had been 11 years since Council amalgamated, so we thought it was timely to look at what we had done and what more we could be doing.
“The report may have been tough reading for some to see 42 recommendations, but we knew it’s what had to be done for us as an organisation to grow and to be innovative moving forward.
“We moved quickly to start making those changes and I can wholeheartedly say I’ve watched with pride to see the positive impacts it’s already had throughout the Council.
“One of the outcomes was for Council to hire 153 new staff across the organisation to operate more efficiently and provide better service delivery – of that we hired 49 new roles last financial year.
“The remaining 104 are currently being advertised over a 13 week period and will hopefully be filled soon.
“We’ve restructured our Town Planning and Human Resources departments as recognised in the report; implemented new Governance and Integrity practises; and introduced new leadership and management processes.
“It’ll be at least 12 months before all the initiatives are complete, but I can say we have already achieved greater transparency and improved our community and
service outcomes.”
