Agenda of Governance Committee Meeting

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

Page 4

1/11/2016

Governance Committee Meeting (Open Portion) held Tuesday, 1 November 2016 at 5:00 pm in the Lady Osborne Room, Town Hall.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Ruzicka (Chairman)

Deputy Lord Mayor Christie

Cocker

Thomas

Reynolds

ALDERMEN

Lord Mayor Hickey

Zucco

Briscoe

Sexton

Burnet

Denison

Harvey

Apologies:

Leave of Absence: Nil

1. Co-Option of a Committee Member in the event of a vacancy

2. Confirmation of Minutes

The minutes of the Open Portion of the Governance Committee meeting held on Tuesday, 4 October 2016 and the Special Governance Committee meeting held on Monday, 24 October 2016, are submitted for confirming as an accurate record.

3. Consideration of Supplementary Items

Ref: Part 2, Regulation 8(6) of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015.

Recommendation

That the Committee resolve to deal with any supplementary items not appearing on the agenda, as reported by the General Manager.

4. Indications of Pecuniary and Conflicts of Interest

Ref: Part 2, Regulation 8(7) of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015.

Aldermen are requested to indicate where they may have any pecuniary or conflict of interest in respect to any matter appearing on the agenda, or any supplementary item to the agenda, which the committee has resolved to deal with.

5. Transfer of Agenda Items

Regulation 15 of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015.

A committee may close a part of a meeting to the public where a matter to be discussed falls within 15(2) of the above regulations.

In the event that the committee transfer an item to the closed portion, the reasons for doing so should be stated.

Are there any items which should be transferred from this agenda to the closed portion of the agenda, or from the closed to the open portion of the agenda?

Item No. 6.1

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

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1/11/2016

Memorandum: Governance Committee

Professional Development Reporting - Local Government Association of Tasmania Conference

Alderman Harvey submits the attached reports in accordance with Clause C(7) of the Council’s policy titled Aldermanic Development and Support.

REcommendation

That the information be received and noted.

As signatory to this report, I certify that, pursuant to Section 55(1) of the Local Government Act 1993, I hold no interest, as referred to in Section 49 of the Local Government Act 1993, in matters contained in this report.

N.D Heath

General Manager

Date: 27 October 2016

File Reference: F16/120856

Attachment a: Alderman Harvey's professional development report ⇩

Item No. 6.1

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting - 1/11/2016

Page 8

ATTACHMENT a

Report to council from 2016 LGAT Conference.

The 104^th LGAT AGM and Conference was held at the C3 Convention Centre in South Hobart from 20^th – 22^nd July.

The conference theme was - Metamorphosis: A Time of Change and Transformation

The focus of the conference was Local Government reform with a common theme amongst speakers that councils need to embrace change and creativity.

There was also an emphasise on the increasing pressure faced by councils to increase efficiency and reduce cost while still meeting community expectations.

The expression ‘more for less’ was used more than once during the conference in reference to increasing pressure for LG to improve services, tighten belts and cut regulation.

1. Mayor Barry Chipman, in his president welcome stated, “Local Government is continually evolving but more than ever, there’s a focus on reform – of structure, functions and governance. Councils, elected members and staff will need to be able to not only respond to change but to lead change, and deliver improvements to our sector.”

I think councils need to consider if the push for change is coming from the public or vested interest? Is the community perception of LG being affected by the negative campaigns being driven by vested interest?

There were several interesting and informative speakers, such as Susan Law - Review, Transformation and Reinvention - a fresh look at Local Government Reform.

Susan’s area of expertise is in financial and productivity driven organisational transformation to deliver better services and greater value to tax payers.

She has many years of experience at an executive level in local government in the UK, South Africa, NZ and Australia. She asserts that provincial and national government are there to support LG.

Her context of LG reform was that there is increasing pressure on LG to cover the slack for other levels of government.

She believes there needs to be a reinvention of LG with community driven reform of services and delivery - that LG should take over and manage services that other levels of government do poorly such as housing and public transport.

This is more so a UK focused position compared to Australia where LG has little direct involvement in areas such as education, housing and health and there is little driving force to move in this direction.

She highlighted the implications to LG of the GFC in the UK. This put enormous pressure on LG who were struggling with funding and forced to repay government loans. This meant huge cuts to expenditure and the way they operated.

UK councils responded with a ‘salami slicing’ approach to reduce staff, review and cut services and delivery methods. It was soon realised that ‘salami slicing’ cost cutting approach was not sustainable and that innovation was the key.

One example of a successfully implemented innovation was the outsourcing of payments, which saw enormous efficiency gains from spending pounds on paying invoices to spending pence by using an external specialist provider.

UK councils also started discussion around a devolution model, where councils combined their organisations to produce a regional scale that would allow them to not only reduce duplication and costs, but to consider taking over some services from higher levels of government and do it more effectively.

Creating a larger organisation and combining resources to service a larger area potentially would allow local government the requisite size and scale to consider taking over services provided by national or state government and making these services more attuned to the requirements of local communities. This would allow communities to play a greater role in service provision - double devolution.

The speaker asserted that the further the service provider is from the client the more difficult it is to provide the service. Big councils taking over services from the state could lead to cheaper and more efficient services, while devolving more say and management to the local community.

It was asserted that the model seems to have worked in a number of LGAs because individual council representation was retained.

The speaker raised some interesting discussion points about council amalgamations. The idea of devolution seems to have been largely ignored in LG reform debate in Tasmania, which is focus on creating fewer councils, fewer elected reps and encouraging sharing of services opportunities. There does not appear to have been any discussion about the role of the community in decision making, whereas the concepts of devolution and double devolution emphasises the role of community as decision makers working with local government and taking some responsibility for provision of services. A decentralised approach, with input from the local community, to provision of services, on the surface has merit and should be explored.

Wayne Kaylor-Thompson spoke about the Visitor Economy and emphasized that it was more than just tourism and the state needs to take advantage of it especially considering the growth in middle class travellers from China.

Ian Plowman also gave an interesting and informative presentation on Investing in your community. The speaker presented an informative presentation on why some communities thrive and others struggle. His main contention was that communities that embrace creative ideas will improve their circumstances much more than those that reject and criticise new ideas.

Ian also emphasised the need for regular renewal in councils, as often councils are dominated by councillors resistant to change and discourage new and innovative ideas.

This conservative way of thinking is detrimental to motivating the community and encouraging new ideas. It was emphasised that councillors that hang on to positions in council too long prevent others from gaining civic experience and building depth of experience across the community.

This raises the issue of should there be a limitation on how long councillors can serve.

Overall, the conference was informative and beneficial. In Plowman’s presentation was most relevant overall.

More alderman should make an effort to attend the LGAT conference and contribute to the broader discussions about the direction of local government with their peers from across the sector.

Bill Harvey

Item No. 6.2

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

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1/11/2016

Memorandum: Governance Committee

Professional Development Reporting - Australian Institute of Company Directors - Applied Risk Governance

The Lord Mayor submits the attached reports in accordance with Clause C(7) of the Council’s policy titled Aldermanic Development and Support.

REcommendation

That the information be received and noted.

N.D Heath

General Manager

Date: 27 October 2016

File Reference: F16/123119

Attachment a: Lord Mayor's professional development report ⇩

Item No. 7.1

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

Page 13

1/11/2016

Lord Mayor’s report on professional development course

AICD APPLIED RISK GOVERNANCE 25 OCTOBER 2016

I am happy to report that this half day course was one of the best I have yet attended. I found it to be particularly relevant to what we do in council with day to day decision making. I am also happy to note that our council, through the external Audit controls and committee examine and maintain the risk matrix for the council very thoroughly.

The course focusses on the fact that recognized and managed risk is important for growth and vibrancy of an organization…..ie the risk/reward scenario.

The course is run to Adult learning style and discussed the learning objectives:

· Consider the processes for setting and reviewing risk appetite/tolerance and the relationship between organization culture and risk appetite/tolerance.

· Review the interrelationship between risk and strategy and between risks and organization activity

· Examine the function of the board’s (Council) risk committee and board (Council) risk reporting systems *copied from the work book provided by AICD

Interestingly the facilitator had a lot of knowledge on local government work.

Topics discussed included board and director accountability, risk management standards, enterprise risk management, risk appetite and culture.

There was time devoted to the impact of risk on culture and being able to articulate the risk appetite for an organization. This led onto resilience and competitive advantage and how to improve the risk culture/maturity.

We looked at establishing a risk profile, the domino effect, sourcing independent control assurance and crisis preparation and management.

The course covered the links between risk and strategy, emerging risks and strategic decision making along with continuous improvement work.

There was discussion on the appropriateness of having a Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and this was followed by workshops on practical cases. We were also provided with a list of useful website links.

I would certainly recommend this course to my fellow Aldermen, but also to all members of local government including our officers.

It has broadened my thinking and I am grateful I did the course.

Sue Hickey – Lord Mayor.

7 Committee Action Status Report

7.1 Committee Actions - Status Report

A report indicating the status of current decisions is attached for the information of Aldermen.

REcommendation

That the information be received and noted.

Delegation: Committee

Attachment a: October 2016 - Committee Status Report

Item No. 8.1

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

Page 20

1/11/2016

8. Responses to Questions Without Notice

Regulation 29(3) Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015.
File Ref: 13-1-10

The General Manager reports:-

“In accordance with the procedures approved in respect to Questions Without Notice, the following responses to questions taken on notice are provided to the Committee for information.

The Committee is reminded that in accordance with Regulation 29(3) of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015, the Chairman is not to allow discussion or debate on either the question or the response.”

8.1 Aldermanic Workshops

File Ref: F16/116292

Report of the General Manager of 1 November 2016.

Delegation: Committee

That the information be received and noted.

Item No. 8.1

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

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1/11/2016

Memorandum: Lord Mayor

Deputy Lord Mayor

Aldermen

Response to Question Without Notice

Aldermanic Workshops

Meeting: Governance Committee

Meeting date: 4 October 2016

Raised by: Alderman Zucco

Question:

Can the General Manager advise if it is possible to schedule regular Aldermanic Workshops as an interim measure, until the matter in relation to the Council’s committee structure is resolved?

Response:

I confirm that it is possible to provide Aldermen with the scheduling of the upcoming Aldermanic Workshops and briefings and I will do so through the distribution of a memorandum to all Aldermen by the end of the week.

N.D Heath

General Manager

Date: 27 October 2016

File Reference: F16/116292

Agenda (Open Portion)

Governance Committee Meeting

Page 22

1/11/2016

9. Questions Without Notice

Section 29 of the Local Government (Meeting Procedures) Regulations 2015.

File Ref: 13-1-10

An Alderman may ask a question without notice of the Chairman, another Alderman, the General Manager or the General Manager’s representative, in line with the following procedures:

1. The Chairman will refuse to accept a question without notice if it does not relate to the Terms of Reference of the Council committee at which it is asked.

2. In putting a question without notice, an Alderman must not:

(i) offer an argument or opinion; or

(ii) draw any inferences or make any imputations – except so far as may be necessary to explain the question.

3. The Chairman must not permit any debate of a question without notice or its answer.

4. The Chairman, Aldermen, General Manager or General Manager’s representative who is asked a question may decline to answer the question, if in the opinion of the respondent it is considered inappropriate due to its being unclear, insulting or improper.

5. The Chairman may require a question to be put in writing.

6. Where a question without notice is asked and answered at a meeting, both the question and the response will be recorded in the minutes of that meeting.

7. Where a response is not able to be provided at the meeting, the question will be taken on notice and

(i) the minutes of the meeting at which the question is asked will record the question and the fact that it has been taken on notice.

(ii) a written response will be provided to all Aldermen, at the appropriate time.

(iii) upon the answer to the question being circulated to Aldermen, both the question and the answer will be listed on the agenda for the next available ordinary meeting of the committee at which it was asked, where it will be listed for noting purposes only.

about people	We value people – our community, our customers and colleagues.
professional	We take pride in our work.
enterprising	We look for ways to create value.
responsive	We’re accessible and focused on service.
inclusive	We respect diversity in people and ideas.
making a difference	We recognise that everything we do shapes Hobart’s future.