Community at the centre of new organisational structure

"Working as one for the community" is the central theme behind the City of Wagga Wagga's new organisational structure.

The new structure will take effect on 3 October, with the five current Directorates and General Manager's section removed and four new Sectors created – Governance, Community, Financial and Commercial.

"Services, facilities and projects that have a social benefit fall under the Community Sector, while the Commercial Sector is about taking a more business-like approach to our operations," General Manager Alan Eldridge said.

"The Governance Sector will ensure organisational accountability and the Financial Sector is to integrate financial accountability and planning across the organisation.

"This is a more collaborative approach than the traditional Directorate model, is less bureaucratic and makes accountability and planning a priority across Council."

Following its adoption at the July Ordinary Council meeting on Monday evening, staff have been informed of how the new structure will work and any impact on their role.

Twenty positions have been effected by the change, five of which were already vacant. There will be a total reduction of 10 full time equivalent (FTE) positions overall, with options for impacted staff including redundancy, suitable redeployment and applying for newly created positions.

"Change is always challenging, but this change is necessary and is focused on how we operate as organisation and serve our community," Mr Eldridge said.

"The impact on frontline staff has been minimal, so service delivery will not be affected.

"The past year has been a challenging period for Council and we're now moving forward.

"Once the structure is operational, we will start looking more closely at our processes to further improve how we deliver services."

Media opportunity

Who: General Manager Alan Eldridge regarding the new structure

When: 9.30am, Thursday 28 July

Where: Civic Centre

City of Wagga Wagga's new organisational structure (see below graphic)

Commercial Sector

• Operating with a business approach ie competitive with industry and the market
• An integrated approach to facilitate maintenance, growth and development of city
• Integrating utilisation of plant, resources and assets
• Building business partnerships

Financial Sector

• Integrating financial accountability and planning across the organisation
• Integrating finance into our service delivery
• Internal financial controls and services

Community Sector

• Focusing on social and community benefits
• Building community capacity
• Community related front line delivery of Council services
• Engaging with community to support social infrastructure
• Providing support, services and educating the community

Governance Sector

• Ensuring organisational accountability
• Providing a sound governance framework
• Providing support to the General Manager, Mayor and Councillors
• Ongoing development of our staff to ensure the delivery of efficient and effective services

Why is change necessary?

The organisational structure review is an opportunity to create a structure that:

• Ensures we are Fit for the Future while also allowing us to meet the needs of our community
• Aligns like services and functions
• Balances our legislative requirements with community needs and service delivery
• Has greater emphasis on financial accountability and integration across all services
• Adopts a more streamlined approach to projects, design, engineering, planning and service delivery
• Supports a framework of learning
• Provides the opportunity for a more flexible and multi-skilled workforce