2017-03-13 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                     13 MARCH 2017


3.    Infrastructure Services will be the Department responsible for all of our asset management
      planning, infrastructure design and delivery and civil operations (including road and parks
      maintenance).
4.    These changes also involve:
      a.    Creation of a new Environmental Services Branch that would bring together a range of
            different staff who work on environment issues. This would include our current
            Environment Officers, Natural Areas staff, and the staff who work in the Pest
            Management area. This new branch will be part of the Environment and Sustainable
            Development Department. The branch will also take the lead on our Zero Emissions
            strategy. A greater emphasis on environment issues was one of the key focus areas
            for our new Corporate Plan. Further consideration will also need to be given to how
            administrative support is provided to this proposed Branch.
      b.    The existing Asset Planning team within Infrastructure Planning & Design will become
            a branch. This is aimed at highlighting the importance of asset management to our
            organisation.
      c.    The Council Buildings & Facilities team (corporate & community buildings and facilities)
            will become part of Infrastructure Services. That change is contingent on additional
            resources being applied to this area and that proposal will be considered by the Council
            as part of the upcoming budget process. Implementation of that change will be held
            pending a formal Council decision on those resources (see section on implementation
            below). Further consideration will also need to be given to how administrative support
            is provided to this proposed Branch.

The above changes are the major changes proposed as part of the restructure. However, there
are some other detailed changes to ensure that we maximise efficiency. These issues are
identified to the Council for the sake of completeness. There is also the opportunity to further refine
some of the detail when the Council adopts the structure again as part of the annual budget
process. Some of the other detailed changes are:
 Centralising the GIS function in the ICT branch – this will involve transferring a vacant GIS
   position in the Asset Management area to the ICT area (the GIS position which is specifically
   allocated to the new Planning Scheme will not be changed). Centralising the GIS function will
   improve our use of GIS systems although it will be important for the GIS function to continue to
   support our asset management function. Centralising will allow that to occur during periods of
   annual leave, peak demands etc.
 Capital works planning will form part of the functions of the new Asset Management Branch.
 The Environment Officer position currently in the Development Assessment Branch will remain
   as part of that Branch as almost 100% of that function is related to Development Assessment.
   It is anticipated that this position will liaise closely with the new Environment Branch.
 The Technical Officer (Road Reserves) in the Infrastructure and Design Branch will transfer to
   the Civil Operations Branch as the role has more alignment with some of the functions
   performed by that area. The change is supported by the managers of those two branches.

3.    Transition Plan

For the majority of our staff, there is no change. Even for most of our staff in Planning and
Infrastructure Department, there will be no real change on a day to day basis as most staff in
Branches will stay the same and simply have a new Director etc. There will be significant change
for some individuals (e.g. staff forming the new Environment Branch, individuals transferring
between Departments or Branches etc).




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