Agenda of Extraordinary Council Meeting

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.1 Draft Community Strategic Plan and Draft Delivery/Operational Plan 2017/18 - 2020/21

TRIM REFERENCE: 2017/839

AUTHOR: Kathy Woolley, Director Corporate and Commercial Services

EXECUTIVE Summary

In accordance with the Integrated Planning and Reporting requirements set out in the Local Government Act 1993, this report presents the Draft 2017/18 – 2020/21 Delivery/Operational Plan and the Community Strategic Plan, which have been reviewed and updated. The documents are recommended for public exhibition.

At the conclusion of the exhibition period Council will be presented with any submissions and any amendments to these two documents to be considered at a subsequent extraordinary meeting.

A comprehensive review of the Delivery/Operational Plan has been undertaken with a focus on developing clear and concise actions and performance measures to allow the community to better understand Council’s activities over the life of the Plan.

The Community Strategic Plan has been updated, with a comprehensive review of this Plan not required until after the next Local Government election.

The draft documents are presented for placement on public exhibition.

Link To Delivery/OPerational Plan

The recommendation in this report relates to the Delivery/Operational Plan strategy “1.3 Our City - Ensure a robust framework that supports the community’s and Council’s current and evolving activities, services and functions”.

Financial Implications

The proposed Delivery/Operational Plan identifies the operational and the subsequent budgetary impacts arising in the delivery of the levels of service proposed.

Policy and Governance Implications

The Local Government Act 1993 requires Council to exhibit the documents for a minimum of 28 days.

Recommendation

That Council place the Draft Community Strategic Plan and Draft Delivery/Operational Plan 2017/18 – 2020/21 on public exhibition.

further considerations

The recommendation of this report has been assessed against Council’s other key risk categories and the following comments are provided:

Service Delivery

The Delivery/Operational Plan identifies levels of service for the range of Council’s operations. These levels of service are also identified as part of the Asset Management planning documents.

The Delivery/Operational Plan identifies the key services Council will deliver over the term of the Plan, and quarterly performance indicators will provide a measure of Council’s performance in achieving these objectives.

Stakeholders

The Delivery/Operational Plan identifies key agencies and other groups that are stakeholders in key Council activities. The Plan identifies the range of government agencies that provide advocacy, funding and partnerships to Council.

The Community Strategic Plan was developed in consultation with the community, and includes community-developed objectives. The Strategies and Actions set out in the Plan identify how Council aims to meet those objectives.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Since 2012, all NSW councils have been required to prepare a suite of documents under the Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R) framework outlined in the Local Government Act and its Regulations.

The Framework is outlined in the following diagram:

Source: Office Local Government

Community Strategic Plan

At the commencement of a new term of Council a Community Strategic Plan must be prepared.

The current Community Strategic Plan (CSP) has been reviewed and updated with minor amendments in the attachment to this report.

The CSP was originally developed in conjunction with the community, and resulted in the development of Directions, Objectives and Strategies.

The CSP exists for the term of each Council and a comprehensive review must be undertaken upon the appointment of the new council term.

Delivery/Operational Plan

The Delivery Plan must cover a four year period and is designed to illustrate the tasks that will deliver the objectives and strategies as depicted in the Community Strategic Plan. The Operational Plan has to show the current year of the 4 years depicted in the Delivery Plan. Given the duplication of information, Orange City Council, like a number of other councils, has determine to combine the Delivery and Operational Plans into one document.

The Delivery/Operational Plan presents the first 4 years of the 10 year Long Term Financial Plan that is a required element in the Resourcing Strategy within the IP&R framework.

Resourcing Strategy

The documents required in the Resourcing Strategy are presented in a separate report to this meeting.

The Resourcing Strategy must include:

· Workforce Management Planning

· Assets Management Planning

· Long Term Financial Plan

Budget preparation and identification of future projects

Council has met on three occasions in Councillor briefings to review the 4 years of draft budgets adopted in the Long Term Financial Plan for the 2017/18 – 2020/21 period as resolved by Council which are now presented in the attached draft Delivery/Operational Plan.

Consideration of the Assets Management Planning documents and plans and the alignment of assets information with the Long Term Financial Plan includes checking items are shown in all documents and that the funding sources (including grants, loans, reserves and developer contributions) have been appropriately applied. This includes assessing the maintenance of sufficient funds to ensure Council is financially sustainable.

Managers have reviewed and updated all fees and charges.

Councillor initiatives added in the 2017/18 year as raised at briefing sessions or in follow ups after briefing sessions include:

· Funding for the attraction of two additional (on top of the events already planned/being scooped) major state/national sporting fixtures - $80K expenses and $20K revenue added

· Showground capital works - $40K added for improvements to arena fencing and to the Dalton Pavilion roof plus $10K for toilet tiling repairs (from existing budgets)

· Cavalier’s Cricket Club – Request from Club for money for upgrade to the toilet block at Cutcliffe Park - $11.5K – funded from the existing sporting facilities donations budget

· Granny Smith festival attendance – attendance costs added to the budget - $5K

· Preservation of funding previously supplied under the tourism services contract that expired June 2016 for support of Orange FOOD week, Wine Week, Banjo Paterson Festival and Apple Festival/Ramble committees and for marketing/promotions. See further on this in the donations section of this report.

· $50-$60K for capital works in Lucknow and Springhill – no additional funding has been allocated as $50K had been included in the 2016/17 year budget. The unspent balance of this allocation will be rolled into 2017/18 once the end of year balances are known.

· Additional allocation for footpaths - $250K has been added each of the 4 years for an increase of $1M to the footpaths program.

· The request for the Anson Street school footpath works of $30K will be undertaken from the allocation to footpaths in the item above.

· Increase to City Presentation budget – an increase of $100K has been added to 2017/18 with the amount continuing in subsequent years at an indexed level. To be used to offset some of the costs associated with new parks/open space added to Council’s property portfolio that require maintenance plus offer an opportunity to expand the City Presentation program.

· Lone Pine Avenue to Shepherd Road – reinstate concrete causeway - $50,000 from existing budget.

Additional changes have included:

· $50,000 increase to the estimates provided by the NSW Electoral Commission for the September 2017 election – budget now $300K with the Commission identifying may be a further increase

· Accelerated roads program continuation – around $8M worth of works brought forward and /or funded differently include Cargo Road (Ploughman’s to Whitton), Cargo Road (water tank to boundary), Escort Way roundabout and roadworks/kerb and gutter and footpaths, Burrendong Way (Robinson Court to NDR), Ophir Road (first crossing to 140m), NDR (Clergate Rd to Anson Street), Leeds Parade (Margaret Street to NDR), Dairy Creek Road/Mitchell Highway intersection and Forest road (SFR to Bloomfield). Additional loans are proposed to enable the acceleration of these projects into earlier timeframes.

· Additional income relating to the costs associated with administering the Central West Libraries program have been negotiated and included - $130K.

· External audit fees have increased compared to the budgeted allocation following the changes by the NSW Government that sees the external audit undertaken by the NSW Audit Office. Additional allocations have also been made to pay for services previously done by the external auditor (e.g. to reconcile grant applications) which are no longer be included in the services offered by the Audit Office. This will add additional project costs to funded projects and will be separately considered in future funding applications - $80K

· Consideration of the Fit for Future Improvement Plan initiatives has been undertaken given the intent of the Office of Local Government to review Council’s progress against this program of activities has been identified.

· New Rural Fire Service fees basis has been factored into the budget for the 2017/18 and subsequent years. This will have an estimated $40K impact on Council’s budgets per annum.

· Impact of the investigation of a new 4 star caravan park have been incorporated.

· Impact of the demolition at the Old Hospital site have been included.

Assumptions used in preparing the Delivery/Operational Plan are as follows:

· Rating increase as set by NSW Government – 1.5% (previous draft in LTFP had been modelled at 1.8% so reviewed against the IPART established rate peg to ensure conforms with 1.5% )

· NSW Local Government Award salary increases – 3%

· Consumer Price index increment – 1.8%

· Water charges – increase 3%

· Sewer charges – increase 3%

· Superannuation – increase as per required – 9.5%

· Award based salary increase – 3% as required

· Continuation of budgeting of Financial Assistance Grant freeze

Summary of key areas in the Delivery/Operational Plan 2017/18 – 2020/21

Council’s assets have been assessed to have a value of over $1.42Bn (as at June 2016).

Council has an existing loan portfolio of $27M, with the average interest rate of all loans being 4.38%.

Tables in this report include the current financial year (2016/17) original budget as adopted in the current Delivery/Operational Plan as Council had requested this information be included.

2017/18 Operating Position

The Draft Delivery/Operational Plan proposes a surplus consolidated operating position (before capital) of $1,862,795 for 2017/18.

The operating position shows how Council proposes to expend money on items other than those classified as capital.

The distribution across the funds is as follows with the table also showing the draft operating positions in the subsequent three years of the Plan:

Operating Result (by Fund)
	2016/17 Adopted	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
General Fund	(42,739)	(290,735)	(995,466)	(80,994)	(28,617)
Water Fund	(1,114,156)	(1,130,292)	(1,346,701)	(1,533,324)	(1,728,350)
Sewer Fund	(636,128)	(441,768)	(600,710)	(718,294)	(841,457)

Total (All Funds)	(1,793,023)	(1,862,795)	(2,942,877)	(2,332,612)	(2,598,424)

Highlights in the operational outcomes in 2017/18 include the following:

· Ongoing development of programs from the new Museum facility

· Council will supply an estimated 16,000 meals on wheels

· Services are offered to support shopping and in home support and home maintenance hours

· 2017/18 is year 4of the 10 year Jobs Creation program offering $110K per annum to assist businesses where jobs are added and/or maintained

· Council will provide airport services for 40,000+ passengers per annum

· Manage the Aquatic Centre servicing over 15,000 people per month

· Produce business papers for two monthly Council meetings

· Engage with community members through the community committee meetings held either monthly or quarterly

· Offer 24 x 7 customer service phone lines and web reporting tool for continuous customer support

· Maintain Council’s online presence with at least weekly updates to the website and through media releases

· Continue the social media activities of Council with engagement levels in excess of 100,000 people

· Manage tourist information services for the 80,000 visitors per year to the Visitor Information Centre plus an estimated 20,000 further contacts via emails and phone calls

· In-house printing of most publications to maximise the use of skills and equipment

· A comprehensive review of the Community Strategic Plan after the next election

· 5+ major sporting events will be hosted in an area with $81K budget as identified by the agency Council has contracted to identify events

· 90% of learn to swim classes will be filled

· Council will host numerous events including events for Seniors Week, Harmony Week, Local Government Week, Australia Day, Mayoral Civic Receptions, new residents, Clean up Australia Day, Christmas carols

· Participate in the Orange Liquor Accord and crime prevention program

· Undertake the road safety program with Cabonne Council

· Update the Companion Animals Management Plan

· Undertake planning of the options for the planetarium and new conservatorium concepts

· Continue to provide services to the 25,000+ members of the Library

· Continue the Museum’s outreach program through the Sustainable Collections project

· Implement the Heritage Strategy within budget allocation and manage the Small Grants Heritage Fund

· Maintain 4 child care centres at 80% occupancy

· Action the tourism strategy and new tourism services contract

· Undertake a minimum of 400 private property inspections to manage noxious weeds

· Maintain the 3 star rating for the caravan park and achieve 50% occupancy

· Maintain an electronic directory of businesses in the City to assist in providing local businesses with information (for example, on funding opportunities)

· Allocate allotments for burials within 24 hours

· Deliver the Scores on Doors program inspections of food outlets

· Complete and implement the Orange Active Travel Plan within budget

· Have 95% of the fleet available at all times

· Review the outcomes of the Drought Management Plan against best practice guidelines

· Divert >50% of waste from landfill

Capital Position

The capital budget will deliver projects with a combined total of $44.5M in 2017/18. This expenditure is distributed across the funds and the expenditure levels over the subsequent three years are also shown:

Fund	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
General	$55,827,236	$28,337,024	$18,565,990	$ 18,688,065	$ 25,501,374
Water	$24,862,520	$10,873,997	$3,338,749	$ 2,209,116	$ 1,233,964
Sewer	$ 3,450,165	$ 5,297,670	$ 4,333,690	$ 3,468,820	$ 6,303,110
Consolidated	$84,139,921	$44,508,691	$26,238,429	$ 24,366,001	$ 33,038,448

Funding Sources

Funding for the projects Council is proposing comes from Council’s own funds, grants and loans. Council has already approved in previous years the following external loans:

LOAN - PRINCIPAL OUTSTANDING - as at 03 MAY 2017
COST CENTRES	LOAN NO	INSTITUTION	LOAN AMOUNT	DRAWN DOWN	INTEREST RATE	TERM (YRS)	PRINCIPAL OUTSTANDING
			$				$
ANZAC PARK/DISTRIBUTOR ROAD	4000	NAB	7,000,000	Sep-09	4.65%	10	2,140,470
AIRPORT EXPANSION	4001	NAB	3,000,000	Nov-12	5.48%	10	1,990,085
REGIONAL WASTE FACILITY	6000	ANZ	8,000,000	Nov-12	5.96%	20	7,052,585
DISTRIBUTOR ROAD	8000	WBC	2,800,000	Jun-06	6.40%	10	0
DISTRIBUTOR ROAD/WASTE SERVICES/SPRING CREEK DAM	8811	WBC	5,000,000	Mar-07	6.45%	10	0
Southern Suburb (LIRS Program)	4003	NAB	7,700,000	May-15	3.91%	10	6,390,462
Southern Feeder Road / Airport Expansion	4002	NAB	4,641,000	May-15	3.58%	10	3,843,164
Accelerated roads program	4004	NAB	3,000,000	May-16	3.24%	10	2,873,613
ACCELERATED ROADS PROGRAM 16/17	TBC	TBC	2,640,000	May-17	TBC	10	2,640,000
		TOTAL	$43,781,000	LOAN PRINCIPAL OUTSTANDING			$26,930,379

The table below provides details of internal loans utilised by Orange City Council

Borrower

(by purpose)

Lender

(by purpose)

Purpose of Loan

Date of Ministerial

Approval

Loan Amount

Drawn

Down

Interest Rate

Term (YRS)

Additional comments

Water

Sewer

Construction of the Macquarie Pipeline

13/10/10

8,166,000

30/06/15

Interest only over term of loan with balloon payment of principal in 2035

Sewer

General

Construction of 24 hour Emergency Helicopter Hangar

16/11/16

3,300,000

30/06/16

Interest and principle

The funding sources for the LTFP anticipates additional funding required for the following purpose:

· 2017/18 $1.7m Euchareena Road Recycle Recovery Centre

· 2017/18 $5.020M Roads Acceleration program

· 2017/18 $1.478M Roads Acceleration program

· 2018/19 $2.5M Roads Acceleration program

Where appropriate, and with permission, Council operates an internal borrowing facility to assist in funding its capital expenditure program.

The funding sources for the LTFP anticipates additional funding for the following purposes:

· 2017/18 $2M Accelerated capital program

· 2018/19 $2M Accelerated capital program

Should Ministerial approval not be provided for these loans, it is intended to seek this loan funding from an external lending institution.

Assets Renewal

The Assets Management Strategy illustrates the basis for the modelling done to maintain and improved Council’s assets. The following figure provides an indication of the total annual expenditure for all asset categories in each of the major program areas together with the backlog that is expected in any one year based on the currently available funding. Details are provided in the Assets Management Strategy.

Capital program – major projects

A summary of the major capital projects is provided in this section and a full list of capital expenditure is included in the financial summary section of the attached Delivery/Operational Plan.

Over the four years of the Delivery/Operational Plan a total capital spend of $128.2M is proposed.

Major projects in are as follows, noting that some projects are subject to securing funding and some are to be delivered over a number of years:

· Central Tablelands Water/Cabonne Council and Orange City Council – pipelines project - $2.3M (overall project is $20.3M)

· Old Hospital site – demolition works – costs are shared with NSW Government – budget is $2.9M

· Airport fencing - $50K

· Scout camp development – subject to securing funding - $1.8M

· Gallery improvements - $170K

· Theatre improvements - $147K

· Max Stewart Oval lights - $97K

· Wade Park lights - $140K

· Cricket Centre of excellence – $2M

· Orange Botanic Gardens - Eastern entry boardwalk - $22K

· Cycleways – General program $50K + RMS cycleways funded program - $100K + SFR cycleways projects - $290K

· Aquatic Centre – change rooms - $102K

· Cook Park Blowes Conservatorium - $120K

· Showground – toilet tiling, Dalton Pavilion roof and arena fencing - $50K

· Springhill masterplan - $40K

· Roads reseal and gravel program – $914K

· Road rehabilitation program - $192K

· Roads to recovery program - $502K

· Southern Feeder road - $5.76M

· Canobolas Road causeway upgrade - $60K

· Footpath rehabilitation program $320K

· Traffic facilities - $132K

· Cell 3 at Euchareena Road Facility - $1.55M

· Bus shelters – access and mobility upgrades - $72K

· Stormwater Infrastructure renewals - $70K

· Springhill area/airport business park- water infrastructure $4.15M and sewer infrastructure - $2.1M

· Water service renewals - $123K

· Meter replacements - $200K

· CBD Water mains realignment - $1M

· Water mains renewal program - $300K

· Blackman’s Swamp stormwater harvesting - $200K

· Icely Road WTP Lagoon upgrade - $400K

· Icely Road WTP telemetry upgrade - $100K

· Water fund land acquisitions - $1.2M

· Icely Road WTP solar panels - $70K

· Sewer fund Cadia tank 1 works - $90K

· Sewer Fund – UV design and construction - $800K

· Lake Canobolas Sewer infrastructure - $150K

· Orange STP De-chlorination - $250K

· Orange STP – solar panels - $70K

· Orange STP potable water upgrade - $150K

· North Orange sewer strategy - $180K

· South Orange – stage 1 sewer works - $100K

· Redmond Place sewer pump station – $230K

· Spring Hill Lucknow sewer strategy - $75K

· Sewer reconstructions renewals program - $100K

· Sewer relining program - $700K

Income in 2017/18

A summary of the major areas of income is provided below with a total income of $133M projected for the year.

Fees and charges are listed as a specific section in the attached Delivery/Operational Plan.

Assumptions used in projecting this income are:

· The rate pegging increase of 1.5% will result in rating income of $43.1M

· The majority of fees and charges have been increased by 1.8% in the 2017/18 year. Those fees increased at an amount other than 1.5% generally fall into one of the following categories

o The fee has been set by specific statutory or legislative requirement, and Council is obliged to implement the new fee or charge

o Where the cost of providing the service or good has exceeded 1.5%

· Increases in water and sewer fees and charges are:

Fund	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
Water	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%
Sewer	7%	3%	3%	3%	3%

· Waste fees as adopted by Council in accepting the new contract have been applied.

· User fees and charges contribute $33.2M

· Pensioners receive a reduction in their rates of 55%. Council offers additional pensioner rebate subject to two criteria. The two elements require that a property was owned prior to 1 July 2006 and that the owner was an eligible pensioner prior to 1 July 2006. If both criteria are met, Council offers a further 10% rebate on Rates and Domestic Waste Charges on top of the 55%. If the pensioner who is eligible to receive the 10% additional rebate sells the property, they will continue to get the 10% if they occupy the house within a reasonable timeframe after purchase. If either of the criteria aren’t satisfied, Council still offers a 5% voluntary rebate on top of the 55% rebate. The additional voluntary rebate costs Council around $350,000 per annum.

· Grant income in 2017/18 totals $43.3M

· Contributions from developers is budgeted at $4.4M in 2017/18

Expenditure in 2017/18

Total operating expenditure is $101M in 2017/18 across all funds.

Major areas of expenditure in 2017/18 include

· Employee costs - $36.2M – 2 new positions, 3% Award based increase, 9.5% superannuation increase

· Materials and contracts - $35M

· Depreciation - $18M

Donations

The only avenue for Council to assist other organisations financially is in accordance with Section 356 of the Local Government Act. Where the organisation is operating for its own financial benefit, Council must advertise any offer of financial assistance to seek community comment.

In December 2016, Council wrote to all applicants (not just successful applicants) who have sought a donation or sponsorship over the past three years encouraging them to make application for donations as part of the budget process. Council has also run advertisements and had information on the Council website on the donations and sponsorship processes. Attached to the report is a summary sheet of all applications received by the due date. Councillors have been supplied with full copies of all applications under separate cover.

The proposed donations allocations for all donations areas over the 4 years in the draft Delivery/Operational Plan are shown below. Details of how the allocation of the general donations is proposed is provided in the attached list of responses received. Councillors considered these requests at one of the budget briefing sessions:

Category	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21
General Donations	61,500	80,000	80,000	80,000
Sports Facility grants	50,000	50,000	50,000	50,000
Sports Participation program	13,900	13,900	13,900	13,900
Sponsorships/major promotions	51,072	32,503	33,088	33,684
Donation to Orange Racing	100,000	-	-	-
Donation to Orange Harness Racing	20,000	20,000	20,000	20,000

Council received 53 applications for donations and sponsorships. A further item was added to the list following the Councillor briefing session for the Apple Festival/Ramble who had not submitted an application due to changes in personnel managing the event.

Councillors considered the general donations and major promotions and sponsorship applications under the following scale with a diminishing allocation being made as progression is made through the bullet points:

· Not for Profit entities, first time donation recipient

· Not for Profit entities, previous recipient of donations

· For Profit entities, first time donation recipient

· For Profit entities, previous recipient of donations

When the donations requests were being reviewed, consideration of the funding that had flowed to 4 in region events (FOOD week, Wine Week, Banjo Paterson Festival and the Apple Festival/Ramble) via the tourism services contract (ended June 2016) has also been undertaken. The contractor, Brand Orange, was required to deliver support to the 4 committees as a part of the deliverables of the contract and to attend committee meetings as Council’s representative. The assistance provided was for issues such as event organisation, marketing activities and in some cases the production of event programs.

The tourism services contract monies have been preserved in the budget with an allocation of $400K per annum.

The contract has not been re-let as Council is to receive a proposal from the Transition Board established to develop a plan for an industry led tourism entity that Council will consider funding.

In order to ensure the money continues to be available to the 4 event organising committees, the budget will be allocated to reduce the $400K by $23,000 which will be provided directly to the 4 organising committees who can determine how they apply the funds directly, instead of it going through a third party. Council staff will take on the attendance at committee meetings which may assist in increasing the level of support for the event.

Event	Tourism Services Promotions budget	Donation (as per Council consideration)	TOTAL to be provided to the committee
Orange FOOD week	$8,500	$ 1,500	$ 10,000
Orange Vignerons' Association - Wine week	$8,500	$ 1,500	$ 10,000
Apple Festival/Ramble	$1,000	$ 5,000	$ 6,000
Rotary Club of Orange - Banjo Festival (will be supplemented with in-kind up to $5K in value including offer of use of the Theatre for the Poetry Festival)	$5,000	$ 10,000	$ 15,000
TOTAL	$23,000	$ 18,000	$ 41,000

“Other” Expenses

Council is required to submit its accounts to the Office of Local Government in a prescribed format.

This format includes an item entitled “other expenses”. Council has identified it wants to have information that specifies what is included in the other expenses category. The following table provides this information:

	Original 2016/17	Proposed 2017/18	Proposed 2018/19	Proposed 2019/20	Proposed 2020/21
Other Expenses
Telephone Charges	367,660	383,963	390,936	398,029	405,249
Insurance / Worker's Comp	1,431,241	1,454,687	1,480,867	1,507,522	1,534,663
Donations	84,378	61,500	80,000	80,000	80,000
Electricity Charges	3,747,054	3,676,272	3,746,110	3,817,282	3,889,810
Gas Charges	274,831	282,779	287,869	293,050	298,326
Mayor and Councillor Fees	265,827	270,612	275,483	280,442	285,489
Computer Leases	142,100	144,658	147,262	149,913	152,611
Regional Library Administration Fee	1,115,109	1,236,515	1,290,221	1,332,148	1,376,040
Other	115,367	110,251	112,149	114,079	128,039

Total Other Expenses	7,543,567	7,621,237	7,810,897	7,972,465	8,150,227

Attachments

1 Draft - Community Strategic Plan - 2017 18 - 2026 27 (For InfoCouncil), D17/28079 ⇩

2 Donation Application Submissions 2017/18, D17/27902 ⇩

3 Draft - Delivery Operational Plan - 2017/18 - 2020/21, D17/28080 ⇩

4 Fees and Charges - 2017-2018 - Draft 05-05-2017, D17/28035 ⇩

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.1 Draft Community Strategic Plan and Draft Delivery/Operational Plan 2017/18 - 2020/21

Attachment 4 Fees and Charges - 2017-2018 - Draft 05-05-2017

PDF Creator

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.2 Strategic Policy Review

Attachment 3 ST011 - DRAFT Strategic Policy - Community Engagement

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

ST011 F22

ObjectiveS

The Community Engagement Policy guides a consistent approach to engaging with the community.

Engagement assists Council to:

• better meet the needs of the community

• tap into local knowledge and expertise

• have a more informed community

• encourage and enable the community to participate in decision making

• ensure Council works on behalf of the people in the community

• meet the requirements of legislation, policies and procedures

This Policy is based on the internationally recognised levels of community participation – Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate and Empower (see below).

Applicability

To comply with the requirements of the legislation and the Planning and Reporting Guidelines for local government in NSW, Council must have a strategy that sets out how it will engage with the community.

GENERAL

This Community Engagement Policy endorses the social justice principles of equity, access, participation and rights and ensures that social, environmental, economic and civic leadership considerations are adequately addressed in the community engagement process.

Orange City’s approach to community engagement is guided by the values and frameworks of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) (see box over page).

IAP2 is the recognised global authority on tools and best practices for people who develop and conduct public participation processes and has already been adopted by many local government areas across Australia.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

A five tier level of community engagement is used to guide Council’s approach to conducting consultation.

1 Informing

· Advising the community of a situation or proposal

· Informing on a decision or direction

· Providing advice on an issue

· No response is required, although people are free to seek a further level of participation

Tools for Informing Include:

· Council websites

· Information sheets and FAQs

· Media Releases

· E-Newsletter

· Advertising

· Councillor feedback to the community

2 Consulting

· Undertaking market research to identify needs or issues

· Seeking comment on a proposal, action or issue

· Seeking feedback on a service or facility

· Requiring a response, but limited opportunity for dialogue

· Option for people to seek a further level of participation

Tools for Consulting include:

· Orange Your Say Site

· Exhibition periods

· Surveys

· Incoming records/Customer Service

· Councillor interactions with the community

3 Involving

· Involving the community in discussion and debate

· Ensuring informed input through briefings and information

· Adopting a more personal and innovative approach through personal contact meetings/sessions that encourage participation

· Involving at different times in the planning process, ie keeping informed and enabling further comment

Tools for Involving include:

· Open forums at Council meetings

· Public meetings

· Specific purpose consultations

· Mediation

· Councillor interaction with the community

4 Collaborating

· Establishing a structure for involvement in decision-making, eg committee

· Enabling ongoing involvement and keeping informed

· Allocating responsibility in achieving initiatives

Tools for Collaborating include:

· Council committee structure

· Councillor involvement in the committee structure

5 Empowering

· Council elections

Tools for Empowering include:

· Ballots

When to Engage?

Council must consult when:

· It is required by legislation

· It wants to identify community issues, needs and priorities

Council should consult when:

· Any proposed changes will impact on current users or customers of a Council service or facility

· Any proposed changes which will affect the rights or entitlements of community members, including minority groups

· There is potential impact on surrounding neighbours

· It wants to monitor customer satisfaction with Council’s services facilities

· There is a level of controversy or sensitivity about a particular issue

· There is conflict among community members about an issue.

When will Community Engagement Occur?

Council will engage the community in the following areas:

· Strategy Planning

This refers to the development of strategic plans and projects that inform the Delivery/Operational Plan.

· Policy Development and Implementation

This includes any policy development that has a direct impact on the community.

· Site Specific

This refers to any changes to a site that may have impact on the community.

· Service Planning

This includes the development and/or improvement to a service.

· Areas of improvement

This refers to any improvement required to increase the quality of lifestyle for the community.

· Legislative Requirements, including planning issues

This refers to all prescribed plans and projects under the Local Government Act (1993) and other relevant Acts.

What level of Engagement will occur?

Council will call for different levels of engagement depending on the issue, and the immediate or long term impact on the community.

PROCEDURE

The Council’s Community Engagement Policy is used by staff to develop, deliver, monitor and evaluate community engagement campaigns for their projects and programs. It is to be used in conjunction with Council’s Communications Strategy and in consultation with Council’s Corporate and Community Relations team.

RELATED POLICIES/DOCUMENTS

ST049 - Communications Strategy

ST021 - Customer Service Obligation

ST012 - Community Communication Strategies for Development Proposals

Responsible Area – Corporate and Commercial Services

REVISION
	DATE	RESOLUTION		DATE	RESOLUTION
1	January 2002		6	January 2007	07/207
2	January 2003		7	6 January 2009	09/453
3	January 2004		8	15 July 2010	10/328/6
4	January 2005		9	May 2017
5	January 2006	06/685
All policies can be reviewed or revoked by resolution of Council, at any time.

SUMMARY OF AMENDMENTS

Amendment Date

Section/Reference and Amendment

May 2017

· Includes updated IAP2 spectrum of engagement.

· Provides more guidance on when and how to engage with the community.

· Replaces the community engagement handbook.

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.3 Draft Resourcing Strategy

Attachment 1 DRAFT - Workforce Management Plan 2017/18-2020/21

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. 4

WORKFORCE PLANNING.. 5

1.1 Introduction to Workforce Planning. 5

1.1.1 Workforce Analysis. 5

1.1.2 Forecast Future Needs. 5

1.1.3 Analyse Gaps. 5

1.1.4 Develop Strategies. 6

1.1.5 Implement Strategies. 6

1.1.6 Monitor and Evaluate. 6

1.2 Staff Engagement. 6

1.3 Scope of the Workforce Management Plan. 7

1.4 Responsibility for Workforce Management Plan. 7

OUR ORGANISATION.. 7

1.5 Orange’s Vision. 7

1.6 Directions. 7

1.7 Values. 8

1.8 Organisational Structure. 9

1.8.1 General Manager. 9

1.8.2 Corporate and Commercial Services. 9

1.8.3 Development Services. 10

1.8.4 Community, Recreation and Cultural Services. 10

1.8.5 Technical Services. 10

1.9 Organisation structure. 11

1.10 Our Current Workforce. 12

1.10.1 Workforce Profile. 12

1.10.2 Workforce Age Breakdown. 12

1.10.3 Retirement Intentions. 13

1.10.4 Tenure. 13

1.10.5 Turnover. 13

1.10.6 Recruitment. 13

1.10.7 Costs of recruitment. 15

1.10.8 Employees Costs. 15

1.10.9 Leave Patterns. 16

OUR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT. 16

1.11 Local Labour Market Factors. 16

1.12 Skill Shortages. 16

1.13 Legislative Changes/Impacts. 17

1.13.1 Local Government Act 1993. 17

1.13.2 Fit for the Future. 17

1.13.3 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and other codes of practice and regulatory standards. 17

1.13.4 Building Professionals Act 2005. 18

1.13.5 National Framework – Regulations for Child Care. 18

1.13.6 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). 18

1.13.7 National Certification Framework: Operators within Drinking Water Treatment Systems 18

1.14 Technological Changes. 18

1.15 Cultural Diversity. 19

GAP ANALYSIS. 20

1.16 Future staffing. 20

1.17 Workforce development gaps. 20

1.17.1 Learning and development framework. 20

1.17.2 Ageing workforce. 20

1.17.3 Recruitment and attraction of staff. 20

1.17.4 Performance management. 20

1.17.5 Retention of corporate knowledge. 21

1.17.6 Strategic review of vacancies/ongoing positions. 21

MONITOR AND REVIEW... 21

1.18 Monitor and review procedures. 21

Appendix: Workforce Management Plan – Action Plan.. 22

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This Workforce Management Plan has been developed to continue to build on the strong foundation laid down by our first Workforce Management Plan 2012-2016.

This document will support the long-term workforce strategies for Council’s workforce and human resources needs which will likely remain unchanged over the four year period of the plan. However, changes to the communities’ priorities and to the local government industry will require the Workforce Management Plan to be reviewed on an annual basis.

The ongoing focus for this Workforce Management Plan is set to remain clearly on ensuring Orange City Council has the right people doing the right jobs, at the right time. This means having systems in place to attract, develop and support staff and Council in implementing the Community Strategic Plan objectives. This plan also links with the key initiatives of the NSW Local Government Workforce Strategy.

The key workforce challenges include managing increasing community expectations, responding to change, overcoming skills shortages and ageing workforce issues and achieving greater productivity to provide the community value for money.

A high level review of Council’s workforce needs now and into the future has been completed as part of the development of this Workforce Management Plan. Council has a dynamic workforce of more than 500 people, and provides a range of traditional and non-traditional local government services. The workforce ranges in age from under 20 to over 70 years, with a significant number of staff (over 30%) approaching retirement age in the next 5 to 10 years.

The components of this plan sets out our ongoing commitment to deliver on:

· Attraction and Retention of our Workforce

· Leadership of our Workforce

· Development of our Workforce

· Recognition of our Workforce

· Health and Wellness of our Workforce

· Organisation Culture and Corporate Values of our Workforce

While many of the annual actions arising from the strategic tasks identify the Human Resources team as responsible for implementation, all staff have a role to play in ensuring the outcomes of the Plan are realised.

I encourage staff to read the Workforce Management Plan, and participate where possible in its implementation.

Garry Styles

GENERAL MANAGER

WORKFORCE PLANNING

1.1 Introduction to Workforce Planning

At the simplest level, workforce planning is about “getting the right number of people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time.”

Workforce planning is a tool that helps Council to plan for the future, anticipate change, manage its workforce and meet Council’s goals. The Plan considers how future staffing and skill needs may be met, and identifies some of the key factors impacting on the workforce.

The Workforce Plan is based on the Workforce Planning Framework pictured and described below:

1.1.1 Workforce Analysis

Workforce analysis involves establishing a clear understanding of Council’s direction and the internal and external factors that influence current and future labour demand and supply. Specific activities undertaken in workforce analysis include reviewing organisation direction and the external environment, and looking at the internal and external factors that impact on the workforce.

1.1.2 Forecast Future Needs

Forecasting future needs involves identifying impacts on the service delivery requirements of Council. This involves estimating the capability and capacity of the workforce into the future.

1.1.3 Analyse Gaps

Analysing gaps involves using the results of workforce analysis and forecasting to identify current and future gaps between current and required positions/skills/resources. Gaps are then analysed, prioritised and consideration given to how the gaps may be filled.

1.1.4 Develop Strategies

Developing strategies involves planning and designing specific programs and projects that will enable Council to develop and maintain a workforce capable of delivering the Community Strategic Plan Objectives.

1.1.5 Implement Strategies

Implementing strategies is the execution of the specific programs and projects. The implementation of these strategies is integrated into the broader business planning and operational management activities.

1.1.6 Monitor and Evaluate

Monitoring and evaluation is conducted to determine the effectiveness, efficiency and appropriateness of the workforce planning strategies and activities. Monitoring and evaluating information will be used to identify what works and issues/opportunities to be considered in future workforce plans and to modify this Plan as part of the annual review process.

1.2 Staff Engagement

In December 2015 Council conducted a staff survey to continue our ongoing process of engagement with our workforce. Approximately 300 staff participated and overall the staff survey results were very positive with significant improvements in a number of areas from the previous survey.

The areas that received the most positive responses were:*

· 90% of employees are proud to tell others they work for Orange City Council

· 89% would recommend Orange City Council as a workplace to family or friends

· 92% of employees state that their team is committed to achieving Council’s goals/targets

· 87% consider gender is not a barrier to success in the organisation

· 85% believe that their team copes well with change

· 80% have received positive feedback in the past month from someone in their team

· 95% of employees are aware of Council’s Corporate values

· 93% of employees believe they receive the training they need to undertake their role competently

· 88% of employees believe they would be supported if they raised a safety concern

*positive responses are based on the sum of respondents that have answered the question as slightly agree, agree or strongly agree

Opportunities for improvement are in:

· 73% state they have not been subjected to bullying in the workplace in the last two years

· 62% believe that employees who perform poorly within their team are appropriately managed

· 60% believe there is effective communication and support between teams

In October 2016 meetings were held with every Manager to review their workforce planning needs for 2017/18. This included a review of their overall salaries budget, vacant positions, temporary positions, casual employees, proposed new positions, any known employee turnover and any proposed job redesign. This process also provided managers with tools for making human resource decisions now and into the future.

1.3 Scope of the Workforce Management Plan

The Workforce Management Plan is a four year strategic plan to support long term workforce strategies. To support Council’s four year Delivery/Operational Plan annual actions are detailed at the end of this Plan.

1.4 Responsibility for Workforce Management Plan

The Human Resources team have overall responsibility for developing and implementing the Workforce Management Plan. The Plan is developed based on consultation with staff and management.

The Orange City Council Staff Consultative Committee has a key role in assisting in the implementation and monitoring progress of the Plan.

All staff can play a part in assisting the implementation of this Plan, and providing feedback to monitor progress.

OUR ORGANISATION

1.5 Orange’s Vision

A proud, vibrant and supportive community that embraces and fosters sustainable natural, cultural and economic diversity

1.6 Directions

Through the community engagement process the direction of the City is divided into four elements:

Our City

The Orange community will embrace and support strong, accountable leadership to ensure effective, long term, inclusive planning and decision-making within the region.

Our Community

The Orange community will support and enhance a healthy, safe and liveable city with a range of recreational, cultural and community services to cater for a diverse population.

Our Economy

The Orange community will plan and grow an innovative, diverse and balanced economy while protecting the character of the City and the region.

Our Environment

The Orange community will pursue the balance of growth and development with the protection and enhancement of the built and natural environment while recognising climate impacts and the diverse needs of the urban, village and rural communities.

1.7 Values

As a values-based organisation, Council demonstrates its values through workplace behaviours. These behaviours provide a framework for staff to model behaviour across the organisation. Underpinning the behaviours is the Orange City Council Code of Conduct. Council’s corporate values are:

· Respect – is honest and respectful towards others and works as part of a team

· Ownership - takes responsibility for actions

· High Performance - pursues performance excellence and continually looks for improvement

· Customer Focus - demonstrates a customer focused approach towards internal and external customers

· Safety - works safely, in accordance with Council’s Work Health and Safety policy and procedures

· Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) – complies with EEO principles and respects diversity

· Leadership – Council encourages all its employees to lead by example and role model our values. Leaders also need to ensure they provide constructive feedback and encourage high performance by coaching, developing, recognising and managing people effectively

Our values are also considered as part of our recruitment processes, and are linked to our Position Descriptions and various organisational policies and procedures.

1.8 Organisational Structure

Council delivers services to the community through four divisions comprising a total workforce of 584, with an equivalent fulltime (EFT) of 396.54 as at December 2016. The activities undertaken by each of these divisions are guided by the Delivery/Operational Plan. A brief overview of these activities are provided below:

1.8.1 General Manager

The General Manager is generally responsible for the efficient and effective operation of the organisation and for ensuring the implementation, without undue delay, of decisions of Council.

The Local Government Act 1993 states the General Manager has the following particular functions:

Garry Styles

General Manager

(a) to conduct the day-to-day management of the council in accordance with the strategic plans, programs, strategies and policies of the council,

(b) to implement, without undue delay, lawful decisions of the council,

(c) to advise the mayor and the governing body on the development and implementation of the strategic plans, programs, strategies and policies of the council,

(d) to advise the mayor and the governing body on the appropriate form of community consultation on the strategic plans, programs, strategies and policies of the council and other matters related to the council,

(e) to prepare, in consultation with the mayor and the governing body, the council’s community strategic plan, community engagement strategy, resourcing strategy, delivery program, operational plan and annual report,

(f) to ensure that the mayor and other councillors are given timely information and advice and the administrative and professional support necessary to effectively discharge their functions,

(g) to exercise any of the functions of the council that are delegated by the council to the general manager,

(h) to appoint staff in accordance with the organisation structure determined under this Chapter and the resources approved by the council,

(i) to direct and dismiss staff,

(j) to implement the council’s workforce management strategy,

(k) any other functions that are conferred or imposed on the general manager by or under this or any other Act.

The General Manager and Directors (below) are classified as Senior Staff, and are all on fixed-term contracts.

1.8.2 Corporate and Commercial Services

Kathy Woolley

Kathy Woolley Director Corporate and Commercial Services

The Corporate and Commercial Services Division includes the functions of finance, corporate and community relations, governance, information systems, economic development, tourism, land development, customer service, administration, human resources, safety, risk and records management.

Corporate and Commercial Services has 90 staff in total, with an equivalent full-time (EFT) of 73.44.

1.8.3 Development Services

David Waddell Director Development Services

The Development Services Division includes the functions of environment and planning, building, land use, ranger services, parking, natural resources and cemetery management.

Development Services has 43 staff in total and an EFT of 40.15.

1.8.4 Community, Recreation and Cultural Services

Scott Maunder Scott Maunder

Director Community, Recreation and Cultural Services

The Community, Recreation and Cultural Services Division includes the functions of Library, Gallery, Museum, Theatre, Community Information and Services, Children’s Services, Community Planning and City Presentation.

Community, Recreation and Cultural Services has 267 staff in total and an EFT of 135.38.

1.8.5 Technical Services

Chris Devitt

Director Technical Services

The Technical Services Division includes the functions of water, sewer, roads, footpaths, traffic, engineering, Orange Airport, Aquatic Centre and Waste.

Technical Services has 183 staff in total and an EFT of 147.57.

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.3 Draft Resourcing Strategy

Attachment 1 DRAFT - Workforce Management Plan 2017/18-2020/21

1.10 Our Current Workforce

1.10.1 Workforce Profile

The organisational structure as at December 2016 comprises 396.54 full-time equivalent (EFT) staff across the four divisions

As at December 2016, Orange City Council employs 583 staff, of which 296 are full-time, 134 are part-time and 153 are casual.

1.10.2 Workforce Age Breakdown

Orange City Council’s workforce age profile is similar to that of the NSW average for local government, a feature of which is a low proportion of young employees under the age of 25 compared with the proportion of older workers aged 55 and above. As the table below shows, the largest proportion of staff fall in the age bracket of 41 to 60 years.

Orange City Council has 96 (22%) permanent staff members who are aged over 55 years, of whom 39 are over 60 years. These staff may be planning to retire in the short to medium term, and so it will be critical to ensure contingency plans are in place and that transfer of corporate knowledge occurs before they retire.

The average age of a Council staff member is 45.27 years, and average length of service (excluding casuals) is 10.01 years.

1.10.3 Retirement Intentions

A comparison of the responses to the 2011 and 2015 Employee Survey indicates that employees are now expecting to retire at a later age. In particular in 2011 only 2.7% of employees expected to retire over 70 now more than 18% have indicated this.

1.10.4 Tenure

As part of the last survey of staff undertaken, staff were asked how long they anticipated staying with Orange City Council. 74% of respondents anticipated a career with Council exceeding 6 years, and 45% of respondents intended a career with Council of more than 15 years.

This information suggests that generally, staff are looking for a career with Council. This provides an opportunity for Council to develop a range of tools to assist staff in planning a career, and developing professionally within Council’s framework of training, education and development.

1.10.5 Turnover

In 2016 71 employees (16 full time, 22 part time staff and 33 casual staff) left Council. This reflects a total turnover rate of 12.18 % compared to 8.14% in 2015 and 12.88% in 2014. A lower turnover rate of 8.84% occurred when only taking into account full time and part time staff. A recent survey conducted by the Local Government NSW provides an average turnover rate for NSW Councils of 10.5%.

1.10.6 Recruitment

In 2016 Council recruited/appointed 123 positions which included:

Employment Type	Number	Employment Type %	Average Time to Hire in days (Approval to Recruit - Acceptance Date)
Casual	41	33%	81
Full-time	23	19%	60
Part-time	24	20%	62
Temporary	23	19%	39
Trainees	9	7%	82
Apprentices	3*	2%	135
TOTAL	123		67

*Note: Whilst Apprentices are not employed directly by Council they are included in the figures.

The majority of casual recruitment in the past 12 months was as a result of the operational or seasonal needs for positions for the Aquatic Centre, Children’s Services, and the Theatre/Hospitality areas.

The total direct recruitment costs spent on pre-employment medicals, psychometric testing, external advertisements and induction on average costs $420 per position. As there were a number of internal appointments that did not require a pre-employment medical this has reduced the average cost per position.

1.10.7 Employees Costs

Council’s employee costs (for financial year 2015/16) are set out in the table below:

Item	Amount
Total wages and salaries	$24,513,665
Superannuation costs	$3,046,903
Workers compensation premium	$1,485,628
Employee leave entitlements	$4,820,231
Fringe benefits tax	$103,035
Employee Assistance Program	$24,500
Payroll tax	$239,281
Other (including uniform, PPE, medicals)	$207,303
Total employee benefits and on-costs	$34,440,546

Wages and salaries increase in accordance with the Local Government (State) Award. The current Award is due to expire in July 2017(the last wage increase was 2.8% in July 2016) and therefore no further wage increases have been determined however an annual increase of 3% has been modelled in the Long Term Financial Plan.

Employee costs (wages, salaries, on-costs etc) constitute approximately 38% of Council’s operational expenses.

As can be seen from the above figures, investment in employees constitutes a major part of Council’s operations.

Council implemented a new salary system on the 25 March 2013 which is 3% above the award with three additional salary levels increasing each level by 3%. This also involved the rescission of 17 Enterprise and Council Agreements with existing staff able to preserve the terms and conditions of their agreements. All new staff commence on the Local Government (State) Award conditions from 25 March 2013.

Positions are evaluated by the Position Evaluation Team (PET) who assess and determine position grading within the salary structure. The PET may also utilise the expertise of relevant job knowledge experts.

Employer superannuation contributions will increase gradually from the current 9.5% until they reach 12%. These additional contributions have been factored into Council’s long term financial plan and budget process.

1.10.8 Leave Patterns

Council proactively monitors and manages employee leave. This includes providing quarterly leave reports to Managers and Directors. As part of the annual workforce planning discussion with Manager employees excess annual and long service leave balances were discussed including the need to implement leave plans for employees where necessary.

The number of sick leave hours taken (per EFT employee) over the past three years is:

· 2013/14– 64.36 hours

· 2014/15– 63.46 hours

· 2015/16 – 57.87 hours

The above rates are in line with the average NSW Council and compare favourably to the Federal Public service rate of 65 hours and NSW State Government rate of 61.4 hours.

In the last 12 months 11 staff were on parental leave.

OUR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

In planning our workforce needs into the future, it is critical to identify and understand those factors influencing the external environment, and therefore, impacting on Council’s workforce.

Scanning the external environment entails obtaining both factual and subjective information on the business environments in which Orange City Council is operating. It is a process of considering what will affect Council’s ability to provide services.

Information about Orange’s community profile and lifestyle facts can also be found in Council’s Community Strategic Plan.

1.11 Local Labour Market Factors

The City of Orange has a broad economic base, comprising manufacturing, mining, health and education, service industries, finance and agriculture. The City’s retail and health sectors serve a regional population of over 100,000. As a regional centre, the City also provides banking, finance and government services for Central NSW.

The Orange City unemployment rate is 5.5% which is slightly above the NSW unemployment rate of 5.1% (as referenced by the Department of Employment Small Area Labour Market data, June 2016 quarter)

1.12 Skill Shortages

Orange City Council’s recruitment experience to date has identified minimal challenges attracting suitably qualified applicants with the only roles that required re-advertising in the past 12 months were Airport Reporting Officer, Teachers and Learn to Swim Instructors.

In addition, there are national shortages in Town Planners, Building Surveyors, Environmental Health Officers and Engineers that will impact Council when current employees leave.

1.13 Legislative Changes/Impacts

Local Government must comply with many acts, regulations, guidelines and laws. Some of the key legislation and recent changes to some of the principle legislative instruments are briefly explored below.

1.13.1 Local Government Act 1993

Council must, in accordance with the Local Government Act, prepare an Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan. This Plan guides Council in compliance of Equal Employment Opportunity and Anti-Discrimination legislation. It is important to ensure that the Plan is reviewed and assessed to ensure ongoing compliance, and that any changes to these laws are captured.

The Local Government Acts Taskforce was established to review the Local Government Act. Phase One amendments passed parliament in 2016 and include new purposes and principles for local government, new roles and responsibilities for mayors and councillors and new functions for the General Manager. The major change that impacts on the Workforce Plan is that determination of the organisation structure of Council is by the governing body of the Council, in consultation with the General Manager for senior staff positions and by the General Manager for the remainder of the structure.

1.13.2 Fit for the Future

In January 2016 the Minister for Local Government proposed to merge the local government areas of Blayney Council, Cabonne Council and Orange City Council. However, in March 2017 the Minister advised their decision not to proceed with the proposed merger. Orange City Council will now continue to stand alone with elections to take place in September 2017.

Information sessions were held with staff in 2016 and 2017 to provide updates during the period of uncertainty.

1.13.3 Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and other codes of practice and regulatory standards.

Council’s Technical Services Division has accreditation for its work health and safety management system, under Australian Standard AS/NZ4801, and under the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner Construction Scheme. The current OFSC accreditation expires on 3 May 2022 and AS/NZ4801 accreditation on 24 August 2019.

Council has rolled out the Work Health and Safety Management System (WHSMS) to all operational areas of Council and has seen a reduction in the number of workers compensation claims lodged with Council’s insurer over the last 5 years.

1.13.4 Building Professionals Act 2005

All building certification work undertaken on behalf of Council must be done by an accredited certifier. Council building surveyors must apply to the Board of Accreditation in either A1, A2, A3 or A4 Categories of Accreditation.

1.13.5 National Framework – Regulations for Child Care

All children’s services were required to abide by the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 and the Education and Care Services National Regulations (2011) from 1 January 2012. The National Regulations replaced the Children’s Services Regulation (2004). The Regulations include the National Quality Framework and the National Quality Standards.

The Regulations require a higher number of trained educators at Certificate and Diploma levels (from 1 January 2014, at least 50% of educators working directly with the children must have a Diploma or be actively working towards a Diploma), as well as reduced child to carer ratios for children under three years of age (from 1 January 2016, the ratio in the 2 to 3 years room went from 1 to 8 down to 1 to 5). These changes impact on the cost of operating Council’s Children’s Services, and have implications for Council’s training, education and development program.

1.13.6 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

Transition of Ageing, Disability & Home Care (ADHC) funding to the National Disability Insurance Agency will impact on our workforce. By mid-2018 every eligible person in NSW will receive their disability support funding through the NDIS. ADHC will no longer provide funding directly to service providers, including local government.

1.13.7 National Certification Framework: Operators within Drinking Water Treatment Systems

The framework introduces a minimum level of competency for Certified Operators by aligning skills, knowledge and competency requirements to national Vocational Education and Training (VET) standards. A project team has been setup to work through the implications of these changes.

1.14 Technological Changes

Council continues to review how technology can assist in areas such as recruitment, performance management, field work and administrative work. While these new technologies may improve productivity outcomes, the required investment in training and ongoing maintenance and operation impacts need to be determined.

Council has invested in an online e-Recruitment system which was implemented in 2014. It was recognised that in order to be competitive and attract high calibre candidates within reasonable timeframes, Council needed to ensure that recruitment practices are efficient, simple, and where possible, automated. Council also implemented online performance reviews in 2015 which improved the linkages between the delivery/operational plan, council’s values and individual staff.

Council also undertakes its quarterly reporting online via the Pulse system for the Community Strategic Plan and the Delivery Operational Plan.

1.15 Cultural Diversity

A high proportion of the City’s population (86.3%) is Australian born (as referenced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics). The majority of overseas born persons have traditionally been from Great Britain and Ireland, with the largest group coming from various countries in Europe. Approximately 4% of the population was born in non-English speaking countries, with 3.4% speaking languages other than English at home. The Aboriginal community is also represented in the City, comprising 4.4% of the population.

Council’s Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan provides strategies to increase inclusion of these groups into Council’s workforce, as well as additional groups such as young people.

GAP ANALYSIS

1.16 Future staffing

Over the life of this Plan, staffing levels are anticipated to stay about the same. Given the age demographic of Council’s workforce, a number of staff are anticipated to retire over the next three years.

As part of the development of this plan and the 2017/18 budget meetings were held with each Manager and Director to review the current and future staffing needs. Managers are asked to project their workforce needs for the next four years based on known workloads and programs. As part of this process training needs and key skill areas were also identified. This will assist with meeting the gaps between the demands for particular types of employees with certain skills and abilities and the supply of labour. The use of casual employees was also reviewed and where possible converting positions to part time.

1.17 Workforce development gaps

Set out below are a number of the key workforce development gaps identified by this Plan. These gaps are further analysed in the Workforce Management Plan – Action Plan, appended to the Plan.

1.17.1 Learning and development framework

The development of a learning and development plan each year assists in budgeting, career planning and succession planning. This is undertaken through the annual performance management review process and detailed training needs analysis with Managers.

1.17.2 Ageing workforce

As detailed in section 2.6.2 the average age of the workforce has been increasing each year. In conjunction with this employees have indicated their intention to stay at work longer. Specifically, in the 2011 employee survey only 2.7% of employees expected to retire over 70 in comparison to the recent 2015 employee survey where 18% have indicated this. The ageing workforce will therefore be one of the major challenges to our workforce over the next 10 years. There are a number of key strategies within this plan that will further develop a framework to retain staff, allow phased retirement options, and support the health and wellbeing of staff as they get older.

1.17.3 Recruitment and attraction of staff

Council needs to be able to attract suitable applicants to fill vacancies. The system for recruitment is flexible and allows for internal movement of staff. Council also offers flexible working arrangements where practical.

1.17.4 Performance management

A recognised gap across the organisation relates to managing poor performance (as identified in the Staff Engagement Survey completed in December 2015). This incorporates training and development of supervisors, providing support for staff to achieve their best, and ensuring information about performance expectations is provided and understood by staff. It also extends to ensuring expectations and responsibilities are discussed by the supervisors and their staff at annual appraisals. The online performance review system addresses also supports this component of workforce management.

A new performance management policy and associated procedures were implemented in 2014/15, and Managers and Supervisors were provided with managing performance training as part of an overall Leadership Training Program.

1.17.5 Retention of corporate knowledge

Given the anticipated retirements over the life of this Plan, and the likely departure of key managers and experienced staff, there is a need to ensure the transfer of corporate knowledge. Council has implemented Succession Planning strategies to assist with the management of this challenge.

1.17.6 Strategic review of vacancies/ongoing positions

It will be important to ensure that vacancies are strategically reviewed to ensure ongoing relevance to the organisation. This gap is considered in the process of developing the phased retirement scheme as well as other separation options to provide maximum benefit to both Council and the employee. Council maintains an online recruitment system to ensure an efficient, streamlined recruitment process for requests to recruit positions.

MONITOR AND REVIEW

1.18 Monitor and review procedures

This Workforce Management Plan is reviewed by the Human Resources Team during the annual budget preparation, and amended to recognise any change in organisational needs and/or resources available to implement the annual actions.

The Workforce Management Plan – Action Plan is reviewed by the Staff Consultative Committee on an annual basis to validate ongoing relevance and progress towards objectives and timeframes.

The Directors review the plan and the General Manager will approve the plan.

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.3 Draft Resourcing Strategy

Attachment 1 DRAFT - Workforce Management Plan 2017/18-2020/21

Appendix: Workforce Management Plan – Action Plan

The below four year action plan linked to the Delivery/Operational Plan supports the ongoing implementation of existing workforce strategies and actions as detailed in the Workforce Management Plan.

Task 1 - Attraction and Retention of our Workforce

Action Ref	Action	Year 1 2017/18	Year 2 2018/19	Year 3 2019/20	Year 4 2020/21	Responsibility	Other staff involvement
1.1	Undertake follow up employee satisfaction survey and link results into review of the Workforce Management Plan Action Plan and the Delivery/Operational Plan	ü		ü		Manager Human Resources	Human Resources Team
1.2	Promote the use of flexible working arrangements including the use of case studies to increase the understanding of the benefits of workforce flexibility and the options available under the Award and Council Policy.		ü		ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Human Resource Officer
1.3	Review employer branding and promotion of Council as an attractive career option including the use of digital media to promote jobs and careers	ü				Senior Human Resources Officer	Human Resource Officer
1.4	Benchmark Council’s Salary System against like councils to measure ongoing competitiveness	ü		ü		Manager Human Resources
1.5	Position Evaluation Team to monitor organisational structure and review relativities between positions.	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Position Evaluation Team
1.6	Benchmark retention and employee turnover rates	ü	ü	ü	ü	Employee Relations Officer

Task 2 - Leadership of our Workforce

Action Ref	Action	Year 1 2017/18	Year 2 2018/19	Year 3 2019/20	Year 4 2020/21	Responsibility	Other staff involvement
2.1	Rollout of induction including corporate training needs for new staff and Managers	ü	ü	ü	ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Employee Relations Officer
2.2	Improve understanding of the performance management process including the link with the learning and development plan		ü		ü	Manager Human Resources	Managers, Human Resources Team
2.3	Promote the use of the Managers Helpline as part of the Employee Assistance Program for supporting Supervisors with people challenges including workplace conflict, change management and performance management	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Human Resources Team
2.4	Develop and implement programs and initiatives to improve cross team communication and team work.	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Directors, Managers
2.5	Continue to develop high potential “future leaders” via development programs such as mentoring and the current Emerging Leaders Program	ü	ü	ü	ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Manager Human Resources
2.6	Continue to rollout Leadership Programs including Recruitment and Selection, Performance Management, new manager induction and Work Health and Safety	ü	ü	ü	ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Manager Human Resources
2.7	Continue with the regular “Managers Forum” quarterly meetings to discuss current issues and initiatives with all Managers	ü	ü	ü	ü	Managers	Managers
2.8	Continue to maintain an active Staff Consultative Committee and Health and Safety Committee to ensure staff engagement and policy consultation	ü	ü	ü	ü	Consultative Committees Work Health and Safety Committee	Consultative Committees Work Health and Safety Committee
2.9	Report senior staff contractual conditions to Council annually	ü	ü	ü	ü	General Manager	Manager Human Resources

Task 3 - Development of Our Workforce

Action Ref	Action	Year 1 2017/18	Year 2 2018/19	Year 3 2019/20	Year 4 2020/21	Responsibility	Other staff involvement
3.1	Ensure all new staff undertake a corporate induction and existing staff attend core corporate and compliance training	ü	ü	ü	ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Human Resources Team
3.2	Review the Local Government capability framework and its potential to be utilised at Orange City Council	ü	ü			Manager Human Resources	Senior Human Resource Officer
3.3	Implementation of new online training system	ü				Senior Human Resource Officer	Human Resource Officer
3.4	Ensure all employees complete an online performance review	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Directors, Managers and Supervisors, Employee Relations Officer
3.5	Rollout of e-learning solutions to assist with educating staff, particularly in relation to governance related issues	ü	ü	ü	ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Human Resource Officer
3.6	Implement the actions form the review of the use of apprentices/trainees across Council and programs to support Supervisors and Trainees.	ü				Manager Human Resources	Senior Human Resource Officer, Managers
3.7	Develop the annual learning and development plan	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Human Resources Officer
3.8	Improve functionality of Human Resources Information System (Civica HR Module) including in the areas of electronic leave and online time sheets	ü				Employee Relations Officer	Senior Payroll Officer

Task 4 - Recognition of our Workforce

Action Ref	Action	Year 1 2017/18	Year 2 2018/19	Year 3 2019/20	Year 4 2020/21	Responsibility	Other staff involvement
4.1	Promote the Employee Recognition Policy with a focus on immediate recognition	ü	ü			Manager Human Resources	Senior Human Resource Officer
4.2	Conduct annual staff excellence awards and service recognition	ü	ü	ü	ü	Senior Human Resources Officer	Directors
4.3	Support Council wide employee events including Picnic Day and Christmas event	ü	ü	ü	ü	Human Resources Team	Relevant Committees

Task 5 - Health and Wellness of our Workforce

Action Ref	Action	Year 1 2017/18	Year 2 2018/19	Year 3 2019/20	Year 4 2020/21	Responsibility	Other staff involvement
5.1	Maintain a safe workplace environment through best practice safe systems of work through completion of actions from Council’s Safety Plan including review and implementation of Council’s Work Health and Safety Management System, review of the WHS training process, and delivery of the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) for chemical management.	ü	ü	ü	ü	WHS Coordinator	WHS Team
5.2	Continue to work to reduce workplace injuries and incidents through application of injury prevention programs, promotion of health and wellbeing programs and ongoing Work Health and Safety Training	ü	ü	ü	ü	WHS Coordinator	WHS Team, Supervisors
5.3	Undertake AS4801 and OFSC Work Health and Safety Management Systems audits and inspections across Council work sites	ü	ü	ü	ü	WHS Coordinator	WHS Officer
5.4	Review and implement employee wellness programs and health surveillance	ü	ü	ü	ü	WHS Coordinator	WHS Team
5.5	Develop and deliver the framework around musculoskeletal injuries and manual handling PERFORM program with the aim to reduce the incidence rate of claims for musculoskeletal disorders resulting in one or more weeks off work by at least 30%.	ü	ü	ü	ü	WHS Coordinator	WHS Team
5.6	Undertake a review of high risk positions physical capability statements in line with WHS requirements.	ü	ü	ü	ü	WHS Coordinator Senior Human Resources Officer	WHS Team

Task 6 – Organisation Culture and Corporate Values of our Workforce

Action Ref	Action	Year 1 2017/18	Year 2 2018/19	Year 3 2019/20	Year 4 2020/21	Responsibility	Other staff involvement
6.1	Develop new methods to educate and reinforce Council’s Corporate Values and Code of Conduct	ü				Manager Human Resources	Directors, Managers, Supervisors
6.2	Complete the action plan outlined in the Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan including increasing community awareness of the diversity of jobs within Council and promoting the benefits of a diverse workforce	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Employee Relations Officer
6.3	Develop programs and initiatives with a focus on zero tolerance to bullying and harassment and equal treatment of employees	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Managers Forum
6.4	Continue to align Human Resource Policies and Procedures to Council’s Corporate Values	ü	ü	ü	ü	Manager Human Resources	Senior Human Resources Officer, WHS Coordinator

Extraordinary Council Meeting 9 May 2017

2.3 Draft Resourcing Strategy

Attachment 2 DRAFT - Asset Management Strategy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Executive Summary. 2

2 Strategic Framework. 5

3 Services Provided. 7

4 Levels of Service. 8

5 Condition of Our Assets. 10

6 Operations. 12

7 Maintenance. 13

8 Capital Renewal / Rehabilitation. 15

9 Capital Upgrades and New Assets. 17

10 Disposal Plan. 18

11 Financial Plan. 19

12 Key Performance Measures. 20

13 Plan Improvements. 21

14 Risk Management Plan. 22

15 Appendix A: Example of Annual Service Costs. 24

16 Appendix B: Improvement Strategy Action Plan. 25

17 Appendix C: 20 Year Financial Plan (2016 $,000) 27

Document Control
Rev No	Date	Revision Details	Author	Verifier	Approver
1.0	23/11/2016	Updated based on finalisation of AMP’s	ML	CD	GS
1.1	8/12/2016	Updated after further reviews of AMPs	ML	CD	GS

1. Executive Summary

A high level review of Council’s Asset Management policies, practices and systems has been completed in conjunction with the development of this document to provide a strategic direction and guidance for improving asset management planning and performance. Council is responsible for infrastructure and other assets that have a fair value of approximately $1.42 billion at 30 June 2016.

This plan assists Council in the decision making process and is presented at a high level to provide key information that can used in the determination of levels of service and funding required. Table 1.1 identifies the asset groups in this plan, the twenty year average costs and funding gap if one exists between the available renewal budget and predicted renewal requirements. Note a funding analysis has not been undertaken on the ‘Other’ assets.

Table 1.1: Council’s Asset Portfolio Overview (in 2016 $,000)

Asset	Fair Value	Operations and Maintenance Budget¹	Renewal Budget¹	Upgrade & New^1,2	Annual Average Funding Gap¹	Backlog (2017/18)	Backlog (2036/37)
Water	282,189	16,228	3,598	3,017	-1,034	-2,214	-20,679
Sewer	249,807	13,190	1,487	1,601	-162	1,671	-3,237
Water and Sewer	531,996	29,418	5,085	4,618	-1,196	- 543	-23,916
Transport	371,504	8,079	1,917	4,398	1,021	6,015	20,421
Drainage	131,400	2,925	670	5	482	3,138	9,632
Buildings	45,170	7,576	6	197	275	241	5,494
Aerodrome	147,040	758	76	372	-8	1,304	-153
Aquatic Centre	3,817	1,941	46	-	82	-430	1,631
Open Space	14,749	1,170	46	102	201	1,160	4,012
Other	174,159
General Fund	887,839	22,449	2,761	5,074	2,053	11,428	41,037
TOTAL	1,419,835	51,867	7,846	9,692	857	10,885	17,121

Notes:

1. Budget Figures are based on the Council’s Long Term Financial Plan. Within the Water and Sewer AMPs, the averages are based on a 30-year model, however for consistency they are presented as 20-year average here (it is also important to note that while a surplus is shown at 20 years, after 30 years the backlog equals $0).

2. Capital Upgrade and New costs to be confirmed as short term projects only identified.

3. Other assets in the fair value column include but aren’t limited to land, plant and equipment and library books

This Strategy is presented at a high level to provide key information that can be used in the determination of levels of service and funding required. Table 1.1 provides a snapshot of the Council’s asset groups, twenty year average costs, the funding gap if one exists between the available renewal budget and predicted renewal requirements and the projected backlog of works as at Years 1 and 10.

The analysis highlights that depending on decisions regarding the condition at which assets are maintained or renewed that there is a Renewal Funding Gap for which future generations will become liable if remedial action is not taken. It needs to be stressed that we are considering long-term averages in this strategy and accordingly in some years the cost to renew will be higher and some years’ lower dependant on the number of assets that are due for renewal in that particular year.

With the current modelling, in certain years there may be a small surplus shown in the analysis. The intention is that where appropriate work will be ‘smoothed’ to provide a more consistent workflow, and the Long Term Financial Plan adjusted to more closely match the timing of specific works.

The backlog in year 1 of the plan is calculated by determining the value of works that are due as at 1 July 2017 that can not be funded in the 2017/18 financial year. Note a funding analysis has not yet been undertaken on the ‘Other’ assets. Figure 1.1 shows the rolling 10-year backlog for each asset category. (The rolling backlog is the renewal works identified as being required, that can not be funded in the year they are due).

Figure 1.1: Anticipated Rolling Backlog over the next 10 years (in 2016 $,000)

Figure 1.2 provides an indication of the total annual expenditure for all asset categories in each of the major program areas together with the backlog that is expected in any one year based on the currently available funding.

Figure 1.2: Forecast Expenditure and over the next 10 years (in 2016 $,000)

A number of options are available to address this funding gap including adjustment to service levels, extending asset life (i.e. changing the acceptable condition levels prior to renewal), obtaining increased grant funding, increases in rate revenue i.e. Special Rate Variation and borrowing strategies.

Levels of Service, Intervention Levels, Condition Rating and Useful Life

The determination of Levels of Service (LOS) is crucial in the calculation of the gap between required funds for asset service delivery and available budgets. The levels will be determined by defining the outcomes as agreed with the community, identifying the services required to meet those outcomes and the infrastructure required to support those services. Details on proposed LOS are contained within each of the Council’s Asset Management Plans.

In order to allocate limited funds responsibly, renewal or rehabilitation of assets will only be undertaken once they reach a certain condition, referred to as the intervention level. Typically, assets will not be renewed until they are between a condition 6 and 9 depending on the utilisation, function and / or criticality of the asset. Condition Rating assessments on individual assets are undertaken on a regular basis depending on the component, the asset’s current age, previous condition and criticality.

Figure 1.3: Council’s Asset Condition Profile Based on Value (2016 $,000)

The Useful Life of an asset is the period from when it is constructed until it reaches its defined intervention level. The modelling undertaken is based on this information which is a ‘best estimate’, with the actual life dependant on numerous factors that influence the rate of deterioration of the asset (e.g. construction methods, materials, weather, usage, and worker skill). Appendix A provides an example calculation of this.

The graph presents a snapshot of the current condition of Council’s assets based on the value of each asset component in each of 10 conditions ranging from 1 being near new to 10 as a completely failed component or asset. Note that this only includes the assets that have been condition rated and modelled in the 2017/18 Asset Management Plans.

Risk Management

Section 14 outlines the management of risk in delivery of assets to the community with their delivery considered in the Enterprise Risk Management Program. Critical assets are identified in each AMP with those most critical listed in this Strategy.

Improvement Program

The process of managing assets is one of continually improving the knowledge Council has including maintaining up to date asset registers, condition ratings, and the cost of work on the asset and the rate at which assets deteriorate and reach their intervention level.

To manage that process Council has undertaken a self-assessment against the National Asset Management Assessment Framework (NAMAF), which assisted in developing a plan of action to improve Council’s Asset Management knowledge, practices and benchmark performance. The benchmarking information has been taken from data made available on a number of Western Australia Council that have completed an assessment. Details of the assessment are contained in Appendix B.

An Assets Strategic Financial Management Plan has been developed for each of the assets reviewed in the strategy with the details contained in Appendix C based on current (2016) dollars. The 20 year forecasts presented are based on the modelling undertaken and achieving the levels of service presented in the plan, and is intended to assist Council when considering future Strategic Community Plan and Delivery/Operational Plans. If changes are made to the Assets Strategic Financial Management Plan, those changes will be reflected in the next AMS and Asset Management Plans.

2. Strategic Framework

Orange City Council developed a comprehensive community engagement strategy to ensure a broad range of opinions, ideas and visions were captured to help shape the Orange Community Strategic Plan. From this Plan a number of key outcomes are supported by the effective management of Assets including:

· 14.1 Incorporate identified community aspirations for the creation of infrastructure into the Asset Management Plan

· 14.3 Design and construct new infrastructure assets as specified within the Asset Management Plan to agreed levels of service

· 15.2 Maintain and renew water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure and services as specified within the Asset Management Plans at agreed levels of service

To assist in delivering these outcomes, Council will operate and maintain its assets to:

1. Ensure adequate provision is made for the long-term management of assets, the delivery of new assets and the renewal or upgrading of existing assets to meet service delivery objectives.

2. Ensure that assets are maintained in a safe and functional condition.

3. To encourage and support the economic and social development in and around Orange.

4. Ensure that Infrastructure is managed to deliver the requirements of Council’s Asset Management Policy and Community Strategic Plan.

We will achieve these objectives by:

· Maximising the service potential of existing assets by ensuring that they are appropriately used and maintained

· Identifying opportunities to reduce demand for new / upgraded assets by implementing demand management techniques and considering alternative service delivery options (e.g. water restrictions)

· Increasing value for money in the identification and delivery of new works by considering life cycle costing and / or alternative construction techniques

· Focusing attention on results by clearly assigning responsibility, accountability and reporting requirements in relation to asset management.

The key principles guiding the development of our Asset Management Strategy are:

· Sound information and systems are needed to inform decision making;

· Comprehensive asset management planning is required to ensure decisions are based on an evaluation of alternatives that take into account life cycle costs, benefits and risks of assets;

· The community will be informed and have an opportunity to have involvement in establishing level of service standards based on a willingness to pay;

· Responsibility for asset management, including accountability and reporting requirements, is clearly established, communicated and implemented;

· An effective policy framework is established for the strategic management of assets.

The Strategy will be influenced by the following factors:

1. The increasing community expectations for a higher quality of service to be provided by Council.

2. An increasing focus on lifestyle and environmental issues.

3. The combination of ageing asset stock and increased community expectations will make risk management an increasingly important asset management activity.

4. The trend for the cost of materials, labour, and risk management will continue to be much greater than CPI in the short to medium term due to:

a) The cost of materials due to a range of factors - increasing: production, wages, cartage, insurances, quality assurance and other ancillary costs.

b) Escalations in the price of petroleum products will continue to have a significant impact because of the high proportion of the budget allocated to maintaining the road network, an area highly sensitive to the price of oil;

c) The continuing increased cost of risk management processes and public liability insurance;

d) The increased cost of occupational health and safety regulation and superannuation contributions.

5. The impact weather patterns have upon the pace of deterioration.

6. The ageing of infrastructure will require renewal at some time in the future if service levels are to be maintained.

7. Council’s 2015/16 Financial Statements indicate that the Orange City Council is in a sound financial position, however an asset renewal ratio of less than 100% indicates that insufficient funds are being allocated to adequately maintain infrastructure.

The City’s population is projected to grow at 0.8% per annum, based on the latest projections underpinning the Community Strategic Plan. This will require new areas for housing, which are being staged through City planning to provide for logical and economic provision of suitable, serviced land. The population at the 2016 Census was estimated to be 42,356.

To assist in the delivery of the objectives in this strategy, a number of key documents and systems have been prepared and should be referred to in considering the findings presented:

Table 2.1: Where can I find additional information?

Document / System	Content
Community Strategic Plan	Outcomes and strategies identified by the community
Council Asset Management Policy	How we manage assets
Asset Management Plans	Detailed analysis for each asset portfolios
Asset Management Manual	Procedures and processes the guide the management of assets
Condition Assessment Manual	Details on the process of assessing condition, including photographic examples of various conditions
Enterprise Risk Management Plan	The identification and management of risks across Council operations
Asset Management System (AM)	Electronic system that contains the asset register, condition ratings and used to model future renewals
Enlighten GIS	Geographical information system that produces maps of assets

3. Services Provided

Council recognises the importance of asset management planning. The preparation of this Asset Management Strategy is another step in providing guidance to Council on improving its asset management systems and practices.

Situated approximately 250 kilometres west of Sydney, the City of Orange is centrally located within the region commonly known as Central West of New South Wales. The City has an area of 286 square kilometres, and is located within the Tablelands climatic region of New South Wales.

Whilst the area is predominantly rural, about 90% of the population lives in the urban areas. The establishment of a classification system for asset groups will be included in each asset management plan (AMP) to ensure the efficient allocation of resources to maintain levels of service appropriate to their function. These classifications will be developed within each AMP specifically based on functionality, utilisation, and community requirements.

The infrastructure assets managed by Council are detailed in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: What assets does Council manage ($M)?

Asset Category	Component	Dimension / Scale	Fair Value
Transport	Roads (incl ancillaries)	475 km	371,504
	Kerb and Gutter	447 km
	Pathways	147 km
	Bridges and Ancillaries	41 bridges
Drainage		215 km	147,040
Parks		31 playgrounds, >850 Ha	45,170
Buildings	Corporate	40	131,400
	Community	85
	Public Amenities	37
	Other (residential, sheds etc.)	243
Sewer		440km pipes, 61,000 EP S.T.P	249,807
Water		530 km pipes, 38.8 ML/d W.T.P	282,189
Aerodrome	Includes runways, roads, and buildings		14,749
Aquatic Centre	FV included in buildings		3,817
Other	(Includes Plant, office equipment, land and other assets)		174,159
Total			$1,419,835

4. Levels of Service

One of the basic tenets of sound asset management practice is to provide the level of service the current and future community want and are prepared to pay for, in the most cost effective way (NZ NAMS 2007). The final determination of service levels will be undertaken in conjunction with the community as the assets management processes progress. This will enable Council to make informed decisions on the allocation of community resources in accordance with community priorities and willingness to pay.

Figure 4.1 – How do we develop Level of Service?

The level of service and the cost to deliver services at that level is an essential component in strategic asset management planning. Council must know the true cost of service delivery, priorities placed by the community on infrastructure, the service levels desired by the community and at what level they are willing to pay.

Figure 4.2 – How can we determine a sustainable level of service?

As work on developing acceptable levels of service are underway, for the development of each Asset Management Plan, historical defined levels of service will be identified together with options to increase or decrease these levels and the cost savings / increases associated with those options. This will provide an excellent starting point for the consultation required as indicative costs for various service levels will be available.

Council will continue to develop service levels in the future revisions of each Asset Management Plan. This will provide the link between service levels and costs of service delivery, providing a tool for community consultation on these levels to enable Council to make decisions on service levels and costs in setting budgets and rate levels.

To assist in this process, consideration of life cycle costing and funding models is required to better inform Council and the Community.

Figure 4.3 – How do Levels of Service influence the Delivery Program?

Two primary types of level of service are defined in the AMPs:

· Community LOS – relates to how the community receives the service in terms of safety, quality, quantity, reliability responsiveness, cost efficiency and legislative compliance; and

· Technical LOS – are the technical measures of performance developed to ensure the minimum community levels of service are met.

5. Condition of Our Assets

Council maintains a Condition Assessment Manual that details the frequency of inspection and condition rating to be used for all assets. This data is recorded in the Council Asset Management System and used to predict the timing of renewal / maintenance requirements in the Long Term Financial Plan.

Assets are rated on a 1 (Near New) to 10 (Completely Failed) scale consistent with the Maloney model and advanced asset management practices as outlined in the IPWEA International Infrastructure Management Manual. Details on how Council assesses condition and further information on the rating scale are contained in the Condition Assessment Manual.

The intent of Council is not to undertake renewal on an asset until it reaches its ‘Intervention Level’, that is the condition at which the community has determined renewal is required based on the LOS analysis. Typically, assets will be renewed between condition 6 and 9 which ranges from fair/poor to very poor depending on their classification.

Table 5.1: What are our Intervention Levels to Renew an Asset?

Component	Component and Class	Intervention Level	Useful Life
Transport	Collector Roads: Pavement	7	65
Water	All Fibro / AC water mains	8	70
Sewer	All DICL Sewer pipes	8	90
Drainage	All concrete pipes	9	165
Buildings	Premier Building Ducted Air Conditioners	8	30
Aerodrome	Runway Seal	5	15
Open Space	BBQ’s in Regional Parks	6	12

Each asset’s condition is maintained in the Asset Register and the graphs below gives the condition profile based on the dollar value assets in each condition. Note only modelled assets are graphed.

Figure 5.2: What Condition are Council’s assets in?

6. Operations

Operational activities are those regular activities that are required to continuously provide the service including asset inspection, electricity costs, fuel and overheads.

Table 6.1: When do we undertake Inspections?

Asset Group	Inspection	Frequency
Transport	Condition Assessments: Collector Roads	Annually
Water	Water Treatment Plant Checks	Daily
Sewer	CCTV Sewer Mains	5 Km per year
Drainage	CCTV Drainage Pipes	2% per year
Buildings	Condition Assessments	Annually
Aerodrome	Condition Assessments	Annually
Aquatic Centre	Condition Assessments	Annually
Open Space	Regional Facility Inspections	Annually

The expenditure on operational costs in each asset group are detailed in table 6.2 and graphed below.

Table 6.2: What are our Operational Costs?

Activity	20 year average (2016 $)
Water	15,293
Sewer	12,093
Transport	6,572
Buildings	2,206
Open Space	4,392
Drainage	501
Aquatic Centre	1,889
Aerodrome	1,092
Total	44,038

Figure 6.1: What is the breakup of our Operational Costs?

7. Maintenance

Routine maintenance is the regular on-going work that is necessary to keep assets operating to ensure they reach their useful life. It includes work on an asset where a portion may fail and need immediate repair to make it operational again. It may be either planned where works are programmed in or cyclic in nature or reactive in response to storm damage, vandalism etc.

Maintenance is either planned or reactive, defined as:

· Reactive maintenance – unplanned repair work carried out in response to service requests.

· Planned maintenance – repair work that is identified and managed through a maintenance management system (MMS). MMS activities include inspection, assessing the condition against failure/breakdown experience, prioritising, scheduling, actioning the work and reporting what was done to develop a maintenance history and improve maintenance and service delivery performance.

Maintenance expenditure levels are considered to be adequate to meet required service levels. Future revision of this strategy will include linking required maintenance expenditures with required service levels in the CSP. The level of service and standards of care for maintenance is carried out in accordance with Council’s Defined Asset Management Policy (DAMP).

Table 7.1: What are our Maintenance Activities and the frequency we undertake them?

Asset Group	Activity	Class	Frequency
Transport	Jet patching pot holes	Collector	Daily
Water	Ozone servicing	All	Quarterly
Sewer	Blowers servicing	All	6 monthly
Drainage	Tree root removal	All	On inspection
Buildings	Cleaning	Premier Buildings	Daily
Aerodrome	Cleaning	Class A	Daily
Aquatic Centre	Exit Light Inspections	All	Weekly
Open Space	Mowing	Regional Parks	Weekly

Adjusting Levels of Service

The opportunity to adjust the level of service provided is primarily through reducing reaction time to repair defects, increasing the frequency of shoulder and other maintenance grading or other maintenance activities.

The proposed maintenance programs are detailed in each AMP, with the average annual costs detailed below:

Table 7.2: What are our Maintenance Costs?

Activity	20 year average (2016 $)
Transport	935
Water	1,097
Sewer	1,508
Drainage	718
Buildings	3,184
Aerodrome	257
Aquatic Centre	52
Open Space	78
Total	7,829

Figure 7.1: What is the breakup of our Maintenance Costs?

8. Capital Renewal / Rehabilitation

This includes work on an existing asset to replace or rehabilitate it to a condition that restores the capability of the asset back to that which it had originally. The intervention level and estimated useful lives are contained in Table 5.1.

Renewal will be undertaken using ‘low-cost’ renewal methods where practical. The aim of ‘low-cost’ renewals is to restore the service potential or future economic benefits of the asset by renewing the assets at a cost less than the full replacement cost.

This Strategy contains an analysis based on broad assumptions and best available knowledge to date. Modelling is not an exact science so we deal with long term averages across the entire asset stock. Work will continue on improving the quality of our asset registers and systems to increase the accuracy of our renewal models.

Assets requiring renewal will be generally identified from estimates of remaining life and condition assessments obtained from the asset register and models. Candidate proposals will be inspected to verify the accuracy of the remaining life estimate and to develop a preliminary renewal estimate. Verified proposals are ranked by priority and available funds and scheduled in future works programmes.

Details of planned renewal activities proposed over the next 4 years are contained in each Asset Management Plan. The first year of the program will be considered in the development of the next Operational Plan and the remaining 3 years of work will be assessed each year to confirm that the asset has reached its intervention level prior to the work being scheduled.

The costs presented in the following table identifies the current level of funding for the required renewal programs and the funding required to maintain the asset to what is considered an appropriate standard. The required funding in that table is based on the intervention specified in Section 5.

For this asset group, an analysis has been undertaken to determine assets that are already at or above intervention level that are not able to be funded in the next Operational Plan. This work is quantified in the ‘Backlog’ column.

Table 8.2: What are our Renewal Costs, Gap and Backlog (20 Year Average – 2016 $,000)?

Activity	Budget	Required	Average Gap	Backlog (2017/18)	Backlog (2036/37)
Water	3,598	2,564	-1,034	-2,214	-20,679
Sewer	1,487	1,325	-162	1,671	-3,237
Transport	1,917	2,938	1,021	6,015	20,421
Buildings	670	1,151	482	3,138	9,632
Open Space	6	280	275	241	5,494
Drainage	76	69	-8	1,304	-153
Aquatic Centre	46	128	82	-430	1,631
Aerodrome	46	246	201	1,160	4,012
Total	7,845	8,701	856	10,885	17,121

It is clear from the initial analysis of each asset class that a gap in funding may exist depending on the condition at which renewal occurs. A number of options are available to manage this gap, including:

· Improving knowledge of the condition of assets and their remaining life, thereby deferring renewal as late as possible;

· Improving maintenance to extend the life of assets and defer projected renewal;

· Improving efficiency and introducing innovative practices for carrying out maintenance and renewal works;

· Using lower cost renewal / rehabilitation methods;

· Rationalising (disposing of unnecessary assets);

· Lowering service levels;

· Increasing funding; and / or a

· Combinations of each option.

Asset Management Plans for each asset class consider these options in the analysis of service levels and the gap analysis.

It should also be recognised that the acquisition of additional assets (expansion and upgrade) will add to the funding gap for projected renewal and to annual operating and maintenance costs.

Figure 8.1: What will we spend over the next 10 years on Renewal (2016 $,000)?

Lifecycle costs

The lifecycle costs are determined based on the total cost of ownership of each asset including operations, maintenance, renewal and disposal costs. The ten year average annualised lifecycle costs for each component is presented in individual Asset Management Plan.

9. Capital Upgrades and New Assets

Upgrades enhance an existing asset to provide a higher level of service, for example widening an existing road seal. New assets are those created to meet an additional service level requirement or increase the size of a network, for example, new subdivisions, or extension of the stormwater drainage network.

Capital upgrade and expansion expenditure adds to future liabilities. These works commit Council to fund ongoing budget liabilities for operations, maintenance, depreciation and finance costs (where applicable) for the life of the asset. They are discretional expenditure, which increases future operating and maintenance costs because it increases Council’s asset base, but may be associated with additional revenue from the new user group.

The requirements for new assets may result from growth, social or environmental needs. The impact from growth is included will be further developed in the next suite of Asset Plans and this Strategy. At present growth is predicted to continue at 0.8% per annum.

Both capital types may be funded at least in part through Developer Contributions in the form of a Section 64 or 94 Contribution, a Voluntary Planning Agreement, or as part of a subdivision development

New assets and upgrade/expansion of existing assets are identified from various sources such as councillor or community requests, proposals identified by strategic plans or partnerships with other organisations. Candidate proposals are inspected to verify need and to develop a preliminary renewal estimate. Verified proposals are ranked by priority and available funds and scheduled in future works programmes.

Council has developed a framework for the prioritisation of capital projects and that information is used in the consideration of all new projects above the threshold set in the framework. Included in the analysis is the identification of life cycle costs as outlined in Appendix A.

Table 9.1: Proposed Projects in each asset group over the next 10 years (2016 $,000)

Asset Group	Project	Year(s)	Estimated Cost
Transport	Southern feeder Road (Forest to Elsham)	2017/18	17,000
Water	Orange to CTW Pipeline	2017/18	9,997
Sewer	North Orange Sewer Strategy	2018-2021	3,414
Drainage	Retention Basin – Waratah W5	2017/18	200
Buildings	Function Centre New Interior Wall	2017/18	25
Aerodrome	Carpark Expansion	2019/20	175
Aquatic Centre	Diving Pool – wet deck	2017/18	500
Open Space	Mt Canobolas – Mountain Bike Trail Centre	2016-2018	300

Figure 9.1: What will we spend over the next 10 years on Upgraded or New Assets?

10. Disposal Plan

Disposal is any activity associated with disposal of a decommissioned asset including sale, demolition or relocation. Assets with a condition rating of 9 (poor condition), where Council has received no contact through the Customer Request System indicating that the community don’t require the asset (as they have raised concerns or complaints about the asset condition) may be considered to be a redundant asset or not utilised and ther

Date	Section/Reference and Amendment
May 2017	Formatting updates only. Addition of Business – Village Category. Inclusion of Part Year Rating section.
August 2014	New Policy

Amendment Date	Section/Reference and Amendment
May 2017	Review and update formatting.
May 2016	Review and update formatting. Added Asset Handover Operational Policy.
May 2015	Review and update formatting.
May 2014	Major review of document. Update of formatting.