A realignment to the Noosa Council structure will better position the organisation to meet the needs of the community and provide a stronger focus on service delivery, council chief executive officer Scott Waters told councillors at Monday’s general committee meeting.
After a year’s review and discussion Mr Waters prepared a report on council’s functions and reporting lines identifying their need for realignment was a high priority which was twofold, firstly to improve service delivery to the community and secondly to address direct report issues that have overloaded parts of the director cohort.
On Monday, councillors fully supported the revised structure he tabled which is expected to be formally ratified at Thursday’s ordinary meeting.
“The goal of the organisational realignment is to create a council that is better equipped to deliver on our commitments and enhance our connection to the community.” Mr Waters said.
There will be no redundancies, however, the creation of three additional roles at a director, manager and co-ordinator level will deliver additional costs to the council bottom line of about $230,000 per annum.
“This additional investment will deliver a coordinated approach between our strategic olanning and climate change response teams and provide additional support to the Mayor and councillors and assist in planning for the 2024 quadrennial elections,” he said.
Mr Waters said the changes also better aligned planning, climate change and regulatory roles.
“With council soon to adopt a new corporate plan, the changes align our structure to the strategic objectives outlined in the Corporate Plan 2023-2028 and position us to meet industry and community expectations,” he said.
Mayor Clare Stewart said the realignment would break down the siloing of departments, reduce duplication and enhance council’s response times to the community.
“Our staff work extremely hard and it’s important we continually look to improve what we do and maintain a focus on services and outcomes for the community,” she said.
“Last year, councilors fully endorsed the CEO’s Noosa 2.0 Change Management Program and this is another key component of that program.”
Cr Stewart said a key change was to ensure flexibility in dealing with major events and prioritising critical operational services.
“We have listened to the community’s expectations, so the realignment creates an environment that places more of a focus on how we deal with events in the shire and puts an emphasis on waste infrastructure,” she said.
The structure includes the establishment of a Regulation and Compliance Directorate to better equip the organisation to deliver a customer-focus ethos to regulatory type activities.
It formalises the split of the Environment and Sustainable Development department to elevate strategic planning and climate change to ensure the organisation is future focused.
A number of functions will be centralised under the Office of the Mayor and CEO.
“I’m confident that this realignment will deliver greater long-term benefits for all staff and help enhance communication and collaboration across the organisation,” Mr Waters said.
“We’ve carried out extensive consultation with the executive and staff, as well as representative unions,” Mr Waters said.
