Kiama Council has quickly started tackling its sustainability challenges, following last week’s release of the State of the Organisation report.
Mayor Neil Reilly said Community Strategic Plan (CSP) workshops to set priorities for the next 3, 5 and 10 years was just one of the jobs already done or underway by councillors and staff.
“All the councillors are involved in the CSP workshops to listen to, discuss and record the community’s ideas for our municipality in the short, medium and long term,’ Cr Reilly said.
“There’s been an enthusiastic response from people taking part, which makes the work that much easier, as we all need to agree on the path we’re taking.”
The Mayor and CEO Jane Stroud have also briefed local government minister Wendy Tuckerman and the unions on Council’s position.
“I’m pleased to say the Minister as well as the unions, are fully behind our approach to solving the underlying problems that have led us to this situation,” said Ms Stroud.
“Importantly, Minister Tuckerman is considering our request to take the critical step of separating the financial records of Kiama Council and Blue Haven Illawarra.”
Cr Reilly said an extraordinary meeting was being held this Thursday 24 February to finalise the membership of committees essential to Council’s reform agenda.
These include the Blue Haven Advisory Board, Financial Advisory Committee and the Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee.
“So much great work is done by our boards and committees, and we want to see that continue. They will play a huge part in reaching our sustainability goal,” Cr Reilly said.
“This simply can’t wait till the next regular Council meeting in March, so we’ve organised an extraordinary meeting so we can get cracking.”
The Mayor continued: “Councillors have provided unanimous support to CEO Jane Stroud; she’s working hard with her management team now to prepare strategic improvement plans and implement changes. We are looking forward to tracking progress with monthly reporting”.
Further achievements to date include Council appointing highly-experienced local government accountant Elizabeth Alley as Chief Financial Officer.
“We have also appointed a new Governance Coordinator, a key recommendation of the recent Hopwood Report into Council’s risk and governance arrangements,” said Ms Stroud
An independent review of Council’s risk and governance arrangements was conducted by leading expert Todd Hopwood of Wollongong Council.
His report made 35 recommendations.
“I’m pleased to report, to date, 25 of those recommendations have already been actioned, including 5 listed for urgent action,” said Ms Stroud.
“Everything we are doing is about making sure Council stays sustainable so it can continue to deliver the services our community needs,” she said.
Cr Reilly said the progress in such a short timeframe was encouraging but much hard work and tough choices remained.
“Sometimes we will have to make hard decisions. However, councillors have shown we will make those decisions, on behalf of our community, as long as they are informed choices.”
“Our Council has a long and proud history, and myself and my fellow councillors are doing everything we can to continue the good work of those staff, and Councillors who came before us.”
Image: Community Strategic Plan workshop with Kiama Council’s Director of Engineering & Works Mike Dowd
