2016_17_A_Year_in_Review

Corporate Plan Theme 5: Excellence as a Council
“The Noosa Shire community is proud of its Council”
Key achievements as we work towards our long term goal include:

   Although our end of year financial statements have         Our Noosa Aquatic Centre, Noosa Leisure Centre
    not yet been finalised, it is clear that we have had        and The J all had outstanding years. The Noosa
    another successful financial year. Revenues were            Leisure Centre had its highest ever annual
    above budget, expenses were below budget, debt              attendance, The J had its highest ever revenue and
    levels are lower than at the beginning of the               the Noosa Aquatic Centre had its strongest ever
    financial year and cash reserves are higher than at         financial performance. Reports will be provided to
    the beginning of the financial year. At the end of          Council in due course in relation to the annual
    2016/17, Council adopted its budget for the 2017/18         performance of our community facilities.
    financial year with a 2% general rate increase.            Council has recently undertaken its first external
   Council has successfully achieved another                   customer service survey. The survey was
    unmodified audit from the Queensland Audit Office           undertaken by Market Facts to enable us to
    with the 2015/16 financial statements being signed          benchmark with other Queensland local
    off by the QAO in late 2016.                                governments (LGAQ also use this firm to undertake
   Behind the scenes, the Audit and Risk Committee             state wide customer service surveys). A report will
    has continued to add value to our compliance and            be provided separately to Council in relation to this
    performance for governance and finance. This has            matter but our benchmark scores are above state
    included an oversight of our strategic risks, review        averages.
    of key governance and financial policies, review of        Council continued to undertake a series of service
    organisational KPI’s, development of Business               reviews looking in detail at operations to find ways
    Continuity Planning etc. Our two external members           in which we can be more efficient in delivering
    of the Audit and Risk Committee in particular have          services. This included areas such as the Noosa
    added significantly to our overall governance               Leisure Centre, Environmental Health, and Building
    practices. Although not high profile, this Committee        and Plumbing Services. Following these reviews,
    plays an important role in making sure that Council         Council adopted additional staff resources in some
    “dots the i’s and crosses the t’s” both in governance       parts of the organisation to ensure that appropriate
    and in the management of risk. Council’s Internal           service levels can be delivered.
    Audit Program included internal audits on                  The transformation of our Workplace Health and
    Procurement and Council investments.                        Safety performance has continued. Significant
   Council commenced a review of our organisational            progress has been made in relation to our
    structure at the end of 2016 with the new structure         documentation, processes and practices for
    being adopted in March 2017. Following                      Workplace Health and Safety. Based on the LGW
    considerable internal consultation, the Planning and        Workcover Performance statistics for category D
    Infrastructure Department was split in two with a           Councils we have transitioned from one of the worst
    new Environment and Sustainable Development                 performing local governments of our size to one of
    Department and a new Infrastructure Services                the best performing local governments of our size
    Department being created. Also during 2016/17,              for Lost Time Frequency and Lost Time Injury.
    Council added additional staff resources to our            A Digital Strategy has been developed for
    Infrastructure Design and Delivery Branch and               management to focus on opportunities available
    Asset Management Branch to enable them to                   with emerging digital technology. This strategy
    deliver expected outcomes.                                  focuses particularly on improving our organisational
   Our enterprise risk management has been further             efficiency using digital technology as well as
    developed with risk management practices being              improving our interface to our community. During
    further embedded into Council operations. Council           the year, more mobile technology was rolled out to
    was recognised by Local Government Mutual for               our external workforce.
    our risk management practices. The Leadership              We commenced negotiations for a Noosa Council
    Team reviews strategic risks on a quarterly basis           Certified Agreement. Given the recent changes to
    and operational risk registers have been                    industrial relations legislation and awards, it is only
    established at a Departmental level. Our                    now become possible for Council to begin to
    comprehensive Business Continuity Plans are all             develop our own Noosa Council Certified
    but complete and will be tested in early 2017/18.           Agreement rather than continuing to be bound by
                                                                the former Sunshine Coast Council Certified
                                                                Agreements. These negotiations with unions will
                                                                continue into the 2017/18 financial year.