Governance & Communications Portfolio - 20 July 2016
Governance Internal Audit update Within my portfolio area of Governance, Council delivers internal audit and enterprise risk management functions as prescribed by both the Local Government Act and Re
Governance
Internal Audit update
Within my portfolio area of Governance, Council delivers internal audit and enterprise risk management functions as prescribed by both the Local Government Act and Regulation 2009.
Council’s internal audit plan covering the 2016/17 financial year is currently being reviewed and will be tabled at the next audit committee meeting in August. Council, senior management and the audit committee have worked closely with the Internal Auditor to finalise the review of relevant policies and terms of reference as presented for adoption at the Council meeting today.
Communication
Council is committed to ensuring meaningful community engagement as demonstrated by the variety of ways in which Council makes contact with the community and equally in which the community makes contact with Council.
To highlight some of the activities in this area, I would like to provide some statistics for the 2015/16 financial year.
The customer contact/front counter staff across the offices of Blackbutt, Nanango, Kingaroy, Wondai and Murgon received 29,192 calls to Council’s 4189 9100 number. Customer contact furthermore issued 24,406 receipts to customers over the counters.
Customer requests are an important element of Council’s day to day operations with 6,369 customer requests processed during 2015/16. Of the 29 categories to which a customer request can be located, the top 10 were:
| Customer requests relating to | Number processed |
|---|---|
| Roads | 1,323 |
| Animals | 1,161 |
| Water Supply | 786 |
| Mowing | 539 |
| Waste Collection | 460 |
| Trees | 383 |
| Drainage Issues | 252 |
| Signage | 213 |
| Parks & Gardens | 175 |
| Waste | 133 |
Additionally, Council received a total of 4,668 applications across a possible 18 categories. The top 10 being:
| Applications relating to | Number received |
|---|---|
| Searches | 1,382 |
| Local Laws | 1,108 |
| Community | 362 |
| Cemeteries | 250 |
| Private Certifier (building) | 234 |
| Building Work | 215 |
| Plumbing | 206 |
| Lease | 162 |
| Food | 152 |
| Roads & Drainage | 147 |
Council provides community halls across the South Burnett receiving bookings for Nanango, Kingaroy (2), Wondai, Proston and Murgon. During 2015/16, customer contact processed 988 bookings as follows:
| Location | Number processed |
|---|---|
| Kingaroy | 341 |
| Nanango | 238 |
| Wondai | 226 |
| Murgon | 94 |
| Proston | 89 |
Council regularly provides information to over 40 media contacts linked to a variety of mediums such as radio, television, online and print. During 2015/16, Council engaged with media by providing media releases/alerts, quotes and information as well as providing information directly to the community. With over 1,100 points of engagement Council has provided information across all areas of general operations and strategic planning.