ARARAT Rural City Council has been congratulated by the Minister for Local Government Marlene Kairouz on its successful implementation of the recommendations made by the Commission of Inquiry into Council’s governance in 2017.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In a letter to the council, Ms Kairouz thanked it for its leadership and for ensuring that the council delivered the highest governance to the community.
Interim chief executive Allan Bawden said the Minister had been very positive about the council’s progress.
“Minister Kairouz has been kept up to date by the municipal monitor Janet Dore on a monthly basis and that will continue through to August 2019,” he said.
“She has been very pleased on the progress made by the council to embed good governance across the entire organisation, as well as the completion of the council’s action plan to address the Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations.”
The council has been tabling monthly action plans at its ordinary meetings and has now successfully implemented 13 out of the 15 recommendations made by the Commission.
The remaining recommendations are currently in the monitoring phase.
During the council’s September ordinary meeting, councillors unanimously backed a motion to stop tabling the monthly reports.
Instead they decided to include reports on the progress of ongoing recommendations in incoming CEO Dr Tim Harrison’s key performance indicators.
These KPI reports will now form the basis of the monitor’s monthly reports to the Minister.
Mr Bawden explained the reasoning behind the motion at the September meeting.
“Based on the progress made, my recommendation is that we cease monthly reporting on this document, build whatever actions are ongoing into the CEO’s work plan, and a final status report be tabled in August of next year,” he said.
The recommendations that are still ongoing revolve around the conducting of service reviews.
These reviews have already started and will look across the entire organisation at the services that the council provides.
They will also look at ways to improve delivery to the community, productivity gains and help councillors form a long-term financial plan.