COUNCIL 25 AUGUST 2014 ITEM 10. QUESTIONS ON NOTICE PR AND MARKETING (S103141) 1. By Councillor Mandla Question The City of Sydney has a number of Public Relations and Communications employees and external consultants within various departments. A quick scan of the City’s website and the constant daily media releases show at least nine people are employed or engaged in Public Relations and Communications roles during the past month. This does not include any agencies or external consultants that the City employs. This seems an enormous amount of Public Relations and Communications personnel, given that the Premier of NSW only has three Public Relations and Communications staff to service a population of 7.29 million compared to the City’s population of 170,000. What was the cost spent on Public Relations and Communications employees and external consultants for the 2013-2014 financial year broken up by department (including the Office of the Lord Mayor) with a head count for each department? What is the purpose and function of each of these employees? Answer by the Lord Mayor The Office of the Premier is supported by an extensive network of media and communications staff. The staff in the Office of the Premier work closely with and are supported by media and communication material produced by media and communications staff from across multiple ministerial offices and the media and communications units within each of the Government’s agencies. The City of Sydney has a statutory obligation to inform all residents in its Local Government Area of its actions and operations, the majority of which emanate from decisions of Council. The Media and Communications Unit in City Engagement has seven media staff, including an overall manager, and the Comms team has five. The Unit promotes the City’s many operations, services, and projects which are delivered on behalf of ratepayers, residents, workers, visitors and tourists every single day of the year. These services, including cleansing, waste collection, parks, libraries, swimming pools and recreation, ensure that our global city looks its best, and that Sydneysiders have the essential services they expect. In 2013-14, the media team managed 880 individual media inquiries and issued over 360 media releases nationally, and internationally, leading to media coverage valued at over $60 million. A benchmarking exercise conducted by independent media provider iSentia assessed the City’s media coverage against the City of Melbourne, and Destination NSW. The City of Sydney’s coverage achieved over the 12 month period was almost twice the second ranked organisation (City of Melbourne) and 2.5 times that of Destination NSW. The study also revealed the City of Sydney’s brand is 4.5 times more prominent nationally than Destination NSW and 1.5 times more prominent than the City of Melbourne. QUESTIONS ON NOTICE 16282508 COUNCIL 25 AUGUST 2014 Media staff also promote, and drive up attendance at, the City's many events, including New Year's Eve, the biggest and best fireworks party in the world. In 13/14 the team significantly increased positive coverage of the City’s own events as follows: Art & About Sydney: Achieved 920 stories in TV, print, radio and online. 234 stories were generated in Chinese media outlets. Total audience reach was 25 million (31% up on previous festival). Media coverage was worth $3.2 million (a 68% increase on the previous year). Sydney New Year's Eve: Achieved 9,828 stories in TV, print, radio and online. Total audience reach was 130 million (up from 96 million the previous year). Media coverage was worth $16 million (an increase of $5 million on the previous year). Chinese New Year: Achieved 3,927 stories in TV, print, radio and online locally, nationally and overseas. This included 2,276 stories in Chinese media, up 31% on the previous year. Total Australian audience reach was 27.6 million. Media coverage was worth $3.8 million (an increase of 31% on the previous year). Media team costs for 13/14 were $782,781 which includes salaries and wages, overtime, superannuation, annual leave and long service leave. Comms staff communicate directly to residents and update the City of Sydney’s corporate website homepage. These staff do not deal with media issues. They ensure the public is informed of upcoming capital works projects, project updates and launches and public consultation processes. This includes the production of website materials, letterbox drops, flyers, signage, the Council's annual report, residents’ guides, and activity guides. Comms team costs for 13/14 were $475,511, which includes salaries and wages, overtime, superannuation, annual leave and long service leave. A total of $73,592 was spent on external consultants in 13/14 in relation to Chinese translations, and on publicity for Art & About. Chinese media coverage achieved was substantial. There were 13,500 mentions of the City in ethnic media, including significant coverage in People’s Daily, Beijing Morning Post, Sing Tao Daily, Australian Chinese Daily, Australian New Express Daily, Xinhua News and several Chinese Government department websites. The Office of the Lord Mayor has three Communications staff members. As there are only three staff members, the requested information about costs could identify personal salary levels which are confidential. Therefore only information about the band levels is available and there is one staff member on Band 10 and two on Band 7. The Lord Mayor approves, on average, around nine media releases a week (440 a year) and responds to numerous, daily, individual media inquiries from local, national and international print, radio & TV journalists. QUESTIONS ON NOTICE 16282508 COUNCIL 25 AUGUST 2014 CAR SHARE (S103141) 2. By Councillor Mandla Question There are approximately 600 car share spaces made available in the Sydney LGA for use by car share operators such as Go Get. Why do car share operators have to pay for the use of the allocated car share parking spot? Answer by the Lord Mayor The Roads and Maritime Services Technical Directive (TDT 2007/04) for the Implementation of On-street Car Share Parking stipulates that each car share vehicle parked within a dedicated car share parking space must display an authorisation permit from the relevant Council. The City imposes an annual fee on car share operators to reissue the authorisation permit. Annual fees range from $25 to $37, depending on the environmental performance of the car share vehicle. The City also charges car share operators a one-off fee of $2,250 for every new dedicated space provided. This fee covers the line-marking and signposting of each dedicated space as well as the administrative cost associated with processing each new application. Furthermore, the costs associated with removing a dedicated car share space are also passed on in full to each operator. STAFF INVESTIGATIONS BY CITY OF SYDNEY STAFF (S103141) 3. By Councillor Mandla Question Why does the City of Sydney have an ex ICAC Investigator in the Legal and Governance department on staff to investigate Councillors, their support staff and City of Sydney employees? How many governance employees are there in the City of Sydney Council? Who determines who and what is to be investigated? Please list the number of investigations the Manager of Governance (past and present) or equivalents have run since September 2012? Please note in that list whether the person investigated in that meeting had or didn't have a support person and if that person was told of their right to have a support person. QUESTIONS ON NOTICE 16282508 COUNCIL 25 AUGUST 2014 Answer by the Lord Mayor The role of the Manager of Governance includes conducting investigations of probity and corruption allegations. The role also includes managing the City’s frameworks for ensuring compliance with the Government Information Public Access Act and the Privacy and Personal Protection Act. There are two full time and one part time staff members in the Governance Unit. All allegations are reviewed by the Manager of Governance and a decision made about investigation in consultation with the Director Legal and Governance and, where a disciplinary issue potentially arises, representatives of the Workforce and Information Services Division. One investigation has been conducted since September 2012. The right to a support person is afforded each person the subject of allegations who is interviewed. WIGRAM ROAD (S103141) 4. By Councillor Mandla Question The City of Sydney council notified residents in Wigram Road in April of this year that work was to commence on footpath upgrades. Nearly four months later, work is yet to commence. What is the reason for the delay and when will work commence? Answer by the Lord Mayor The footway works at Wigram Road, Glebe between Glebe Point Road and Rock Lane are part of the City’s footpath renewal program. The City sent a notification letter to the residents on 23 April 2014 about the upcoming upgrade works at Wigram Road. The construction of the footpath involves working near Sydney Trains (formerly known as RailCorp) underground high voltage electrical assets. The City requested approval from Sydney Trains to carry out work near their underground assets on 16 April 2014, which has not been received. City staff have been working with Sydney Trains in an attempt to gain the necessary approval. Residents were notified about the delay and the need to postpone the works on 19 May 2014. City staff will notify residents before any works are planned to begin. QUESTIONS