It has been nearly two years since I moved to the beautiful North Burnett Region. I walked into an organisation that had seen a changeover of four CEO’s in the previous couple of years and many of our staff were tired from the constant change and uncertainty.
We can’t stop change. The organisation has met our challenges head on while continuing to deliver services for the community. They say there is no ‘I’ in “team” and all our staff work hard to keep delivering services to our community every day.
As part of restoring Council’s financial sustainability, Councillors resolved to adopt a set of principles to guide the Service Delivery Review at their General Council Meeting in May 2019. A key principle that was adopted is that any significant change must be approved by Council.
As part of the development of the 2021/22 Budget and Operational Plan, the Mayor and Councillors asked me to review a number of services. The budget has been collaboratively prepared to incorporate recommendations from the Service Delivery Review and feedback from the community.
We are charged with implementing decisions of Council and will do just that while working with our staff and community to realise operational efficiencies and ensure the long-term sustainability of the Council. I am very proud of the team we have at Council and how they have handled the adversity and challenges of putting this budget together for Councillors and the community.
Our job is never done, today we celebrate months of hard work alongside our councillors and tomorrow we commence enacting the resolutions from today’s meetings and starting the new financial year with a clear strategic direction from Councillors under the new Corporate Plan and 2021/22 Budget.
Rachel Cooper – Chief Executive Officer