Harden Shire Council
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Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice REVIEW REPORT HARDEN SHIRE COUNCIL JULY 2006 challenges improvement innovation good governance Department of Local Government Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 ABOUT THE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 3 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................... 5 3 RECOMMENDATIONS....................................................................................... 8 4 CONTEXT......................................................................................................... 14 5. AMBITIONS, PRIORITIES AND FUTURE FOCUS .......................................... 16 6. DELIVERING AND ACHIEVING....................................................................... 18 6.1 Governance ............................................................................................... 18 6.2 Regulatory Functions ................................................................................. 40 6.3 Asset & Financial Management ................................................................. 47 6.3 Community & Consultation......................................................................... 53 6.5 Workforce Relations................................................................................... 59 7. COUNCIL’S RESPONSE ................................................................................. 64 8. SUMMARY- WHAT’S WORKING WELL & CHALLENGES ............................ 69 July 2006 Page 2 of 72 Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council 1 ABOUT THE REVIEW Review objectives Promoting Better Practice reviews have a number of objectives: • to generate momentum for a culture of continuous improvement and greater compliance across local government • to provide an ‘early intervention’ option for councils experiencing operating problems • to promote good governance and ethical conduct principles • to identify and share innovation and good practice in local government • to enable the department to use review information to feed back into its work in identifying necessary legislative and policy work for the local government sector. Reviews act as a “health check”, giving confidence about what is being done and helping to focus attention on key priorities. Review process The review process was developed after extensive research into council performance measurements in Australia and overseas. There are essentially five steps in a review - preparing, assessing, checking, analysing and reporting. The process involves a Department of Local Government (DLG) review team evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the council’s operations and giving feedback. This involves checking compliance, examining appropriate practices and ensuring that council has frameworks in place to monitor its performance. The results of reviews are analysed and fed back to the elected council, the Director General of the Department of Local Government and the Minister for Local Government. For this review, Harden Shire Council was asked to complete a strategic management assessment tool and a comprehensive questionnaire about key council practices. The review team examined council’s responses and a range of other July 2006 Page 3 of 72 Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council source documents prior to visiting council, in order to gain a preliminary understanding of council and the shire. Mr Deb Bose, a Senior Finance Officer and Mr Richard Murphy, a Senior Investigations Officer conducted the review. The on-site component of the review occurred on 20 February 2006, 21 February 2006 and 24 February 2006. The on-site review involved of a briefing for senior staff, several meetings with the general manager, interviews with a range of specialist staff, interviews with the mayor and 4 councillors, visits to council facilities/worksites and a more detailed review of a number of council’s practices, policies and other documents. The review team provided council with a draft report, and invited council to comment upon it. Council has responded, and a copy of council’s response is contained in section 7 of the report. Council’s comments have been taken into account in preparing this final report. This report details the review’s findings, recommendations and council’s response. The department expects council to formally respond to the review process, to prepare an action plan to address agreed issues and to provide progress reports on the implementation of the action plan. July 2006 Page 4 of 72 Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY It is evident that Harden Shire has faced considerable pressures the last few years and is continuing to do so. It is dealing with the effects of a protracted period of drought, a major employer in the town has closed down, the shire’s planning instrument is out of date and the council itself has limited financial resources at its disposal. None of council’s senior managers have been with council for more than four years; and two of the managers have been with council for less than 12 months. It is not surprising that a comprehensive review process such as this has identified many areas where council needs to improve its performance. However, it should be acknowledged at the outset that the council appears to already have an awareness of many of those areas, albeit that this awareness is not reflected in its most recent management plan and annual report. The council has embraced the review process with an openness and willingness to engage in the process that is to be commended. It is clear that the council has already acted to address many of the deficiencies it identified in its responses to the review question and self-assessment tool. A major area where council needs to improve is in its approach to strategic and management planning and the monitoring of its performance against its various plans. The report makes a number of recommendations related to the need for a strategic plan, major changes to council’s management plan, the development and use of key performance indicators and improvement to council’s annual reporting. Attention to these key issues will afford council the opportunity to better define its priorities and target it resources accordingly. Beyond the focus on planning and reporting, there are some critical areas that council needs to address to improve its governance standards. Council needs to pay particular attention to its risk management and internal control activities, council meeting practices and records management. July 2006 Page 5 of 72 Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council Both councillors and staff identified land use as a major issue facing the shire. Council needs to do everything within its power and resources to expedite the making of a new local environmental plan for the shire. The council makes extensive use of delegated authority to efficiently deal with development applications. Council has also recognised the need to allocate additional resources to this area of council’s operations. There is clear scope for council to improve its performance in the way it approaches its environmental responsibilities. Particular attention needs to be paid to council’s state of environment reporting and to increasing awareness of its charter, to manage the environment in a manner that is consistent with and promotes the principles of ecologically sustainable development. Council has invested considerable effort in the development of its website as a key conduit for communicating with its community. It is important that it leverages this investment by promoting the site in the community, particularly with the roll out of broadband services in the shire. The council has the elements of a sound framework for including the community in its processes, such as its section 355 committees, its use of public meetings, a complaints process and the opportunity for members of the public to ask questions at council meetings. However, this review found some inconsistencies and a lack of integration. The council is pursuing many different strategies that should help it more effectively and efficiently address the needs of the shire. It has recruited a team of enthusiastic and committed managers. It has commissioned a new social and community plan, it is developing a new local environmental plan and it is embracing the need to better manage its infrastructure. There is evidence that a significant amount of work is being done on developing and updating council’s policies and procedures. This work must continue. July 2006 Page 6 of 72 Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council The development and monitoring of an action plan to address the recommendations contained in this report will provide the council with the opportunity to help ensure that it meets the ongoing expectation of the Government and its community. July 2006 Page 7 of 72 Local Government Reform Program - Promoting Better Practice Report – Harden Shire Council 3 RECOMMENDATIONS 1 Council should develop a new strategic plan. 2 Council should make changes to the format and content of its management plan having regard to the suggestions contained in the