The City of Whittlesea's Panel of Administrators, which acts as the "Council", has provided a detailed report on its work to restore good governance and organisational stability while representing the best interests of the community in the first 12 months since being appointed by the Victorian Government.
Chair Administrator Lydia Wilson said she was proud to serve the City of Whittlesea along with Administrators Peita Duncan and acknowledged the work of The Hon Bruce Billson who resigned recently to take on a Federal Government appointment.
"The last 12 months has been a rewarding, busy and productive period with many achievements that go beyond good governance and organisational stability," Ms Wilson said.
"We are very proud to be The Council, leading the organisation alongside our CEO Mr Craig Lloyd and the Executive Leadership Team - working in partnership for the best outcomes for our community going forward."
Over the past year, the Administrators have been united in its approach to good governance, effective decision making and representing the community.
Among the many activities are openings of community facilities, Council Meetings and Briefings, advisory committee representation, community engagement forums, media commitments, internal and external events, and meetings with members of parliament, residents and businesses.
"It is important that we have a strong governance role but also representative role on behalf of our community and we embrace the opportunity to participate in formal engagement activities as well as responding to enquiries that come to us directly from residents and business owners," Ms Wilson said.
With an eye to the future, an Administrator's Action Plan 2020-2024 has been developed, setting out a roadmap for delivering Council's priorities until the end of the Panel's term (2024).
"Our role, approach and priorities going forward have been included in our four-year Action Plan, which goes further than the recommendation made by the State Government-appointed Municipal Monitor to develop, implement and publicly report on our activities to embed good governance at Council while taking into account the reform opportunities contained within the Local Government Act 2020," Ms Wilson said.
"We have outlined our emphasis on good governance and effective decision-making together with very clear strategic directions as our roadmap going forward to 2024.
"Our Action Plan is aligned to the Council Plan and community vision - Whittlesea 2040 -priorities together with three additional priorities including good governance and effective implementation of Local Government Act 2020; Covid-19 response and recovery; and high performing organisation.
"Under each of those, the actions or focus areas we have identified include very clear deliverables and we note their status within the report as at April 2021 along with future actions," Ms Wilson said.
"For general transparency and accountability, we will report on the progress of our activities to the community every six months."
The full Council Report which includes a full list of activities from 23 March 2020-18 March 2021 and the forward-facing Action Plan can be found in the April Council agenda.
