Local Government Managers Australia - AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

SUPPORTING THE PROFESSIONALS

SHAPING QUEENSLAND COMMUNITIES

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

About the Awards

As an association of managers and aspiring managers in local government, LGMA is committed to the development and improvement of local government management in Queensland. We are also committed to maintaining high professional and ethical standards throughout the profession, ensuring that our members are at the forefront of innovation and change. One of the ways we support councils and individual officers in achieving excellence is through the Local Government Awards for Excellence programme offered annually across Queensland councils.

Council subscribers of LGMA Queensland may nominate projects for the Awards for Excellence. The Awards for Excellence are presented at a celebratory event (typically a Gala Dinner). Each award category winner will receive a certificate and trophy along with recognition in the Awards magazine. In 2020, nominations closed on 27 May and a record number of nominations were received! Due to social distancing and restrictions for events, the Gala Dinner scheduled for Thursday 28 May was cancelled.

DATE CLAIMER: Thursday 27 August 2020 - live-streamed ceremony - 15.30-17.30.

Announcements include: Awards for Excellence, Young Manager of the Year and the Australasian Management Challenge Queensland Winners. Please note we do not announce Finalists in advance.

All Queensland councils are invited to the virtual celebration. Each council can register online via our Events page - Online Registrations. We only need two people per council to register. The Award Liaison and Technical Guru will then arrange/communicate with you regarding your event celebration.

CONDITIONS OF NOMINATION:

Nominations for 2020 are now closed. Nominations for 2021 will be open in November 2020. Watch this space.

•    Council subscribers of LGMA Queensland may nominate projects for the LGMA Queensland Awards for Excellence.
•    They may submit numerous projects. A Nomination Form must be completed and submitted with each submission.
•    Multiple nominations are permitted in all categories.
•    A project or initiative may be nominated in up to two (2) categories. Each will be treated as a separate nomination.
• If nominating a project in more than one category, nominators should ensure the nomination is tailored to address the category requirements.

Please refer to the Nomination Guidelines

An entry fee of $250 is applicable to each nomination. A tax invoice will be issued upon receipt of each nomination.

Award Categories

The categories are designed to be flexible – recognising that local government is at the forefront of innovation and operates in a rapidly changing environment. Categories are not intended to be limited to, or represent, particular areas of local government activity, and are applicable to activities across the whole of local government.

ABOVE AND BEYOND / COLLABORATION / COMMUNITY SHAPING / INNOVATION / TEAMWORK

'DOING MORE WITH LESS' / SUSTAINABILITY / WORKPLACE WELLBEING

The Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by:

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE - 2019

Representatives from councils celebrated their success with over 230 Queensland local government officers from across the state at the LGMA Queensland Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner at Shangri La Gardens Brisbane, for our ninth year celebrating the achievements of the people and organisations that are local government in Queensland.

Congratulations to all nominees and special congratulations to the category winners, well done and well deserved!

The quality of applications in the various categories highlights the dedication and innovation shown by council staff and teams working in the sector.

AWARD WINNERS 2019

EXCELLENCE IN SUSTAINABILITY

The 2019 Sustainability Award was won by Logan City Council for their project Carbon Reduction Strategy and Action Plan.
Logan City Council’s Carbon Reduction Strategy and Action Plan aims to make the council carbon neutral by 2022. The plan utilises a range of innovations such as solar panels and battery storage, LED lighting, solar powered LEDs and efficient air-conditioning plant; powering facilities from streets to reservoirs and from sporting fields to community buildings. The activity is supported by an energy management framework and monitoring dashboard which will allow Council to track progress and better meets its ambitious goal.
Two other councils were finalists for the Sustainability Award: Mackay Regional Council who submitted their Apprentice and Trainee Scheme and Tablelands Regional Council for its Community Revegetation Nursery initiative.

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EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION

Winner of the Innovation Award 2019 - the Sunshine Coast Council for their project Making Governance Innovative.
Innovation and governance are terms which are not usually put together. But when Sunshine Coast Council sought options to streamline governance, the Making Governance Innovative project was born. It has led to simplified delegations, an integrated delegations’ database, assurance of currency, upskilling and provides confidence to the CEO in further delegations. Benefits have been better evidentiary trails, assisting complaints management and improved consistency and compliance.

Three other finalists recognised in this category were Boulia Shire Council for their 3D Zebra Crossings, Brisbane City Council for Invasive Species Management and Sunshine Coast Council for Development.i.

Proudly sponsored by:

'DOING MORE WITH LESS' AWARD

The winner of the 2019 'Doing More with Less' Award is Quilpie Shire Council for their NDIS Community Assistance Scheme project.

The introduction of NDIS has not been an easy one in every community and for Quilpie Shire it became evident that residents were struggling to maintain the services necessary to ensure quality of life. With limited access to support, council took up the challenge, employing a coordinator to assist residents in navigating the complex requirements. While a short-term impost, council has identified that the support provided has reduced demands on council in other areas and had a net community benefit.

Proudly sponsored by:

TEAMWORK AWARD

The 2019 Teamwork Award winner is Tableland Regional Council for their project: Treatment Operations Team.

Managing 320km of reticulation pipework, the Treatment Operations Team at Tablelands Regional Council has a large job to do in maintaining service to a community regularly hit by wild weather. Operating in a high-risk environment and with clear challenges to water quality, the team has undertaken an extensive project to secure water supply to required standards and deliver for the community. The small team has demonstrated trust, resilience and commitment in managing the 30% increase in workload and increased community pressure. The team has demonstrated the importance of an inclusive and supportive culture in delivering solid results.

Judges also recognised three other finalists in this category: City of Ipswich – Beautiful Ipswich, and Redland City Council for Local Disaster Coordination Centre and Bushfire Response Team.

COLLABORATION AWARD

Noosa Council is the winner of the 2019 Excellence in Collaboration Award with their project: Collaboration for Koalas.

The outlook for SEQ’s Koala population is pretty bleak and Noosa Council has decided to do what it can to address this. Bringing together 6 diverse agendas including state government, a large harvesting company, a community environmental organisation, residents and council, a new regional National Park has been created, restoring land from plantation timber, protecting 23 endangered species and creating a new model for funding of environmental protection and restoration. A long-term focus and genuine openness to collaboration were key elements of Noosa Council’s Collaboration for Koalas success.

The Judges also recognised the following Councils as finalists in this category (in alphabetic order): Central Highlands Regional Council – The Game Plan, Logan City Council – Building Social Capital Hubs, South Burnett Regional Council – Collaboration for Events and Western Downs Regional Council – Coordinated Pest Management and Monitoring.

Proudly sponsored by:

COMMUNITY SHAPING AWARD

Logan City Council are the winners of the 2019 Excellence in Community Shaping Award for their engaging and collaborative initiative Speaking their language – building disaster resilience.

One of the most diverse local governments in in Australia, Logan has more than 17,000 residents needing help due to a disability, 27% of the population born overseas, 15% speaking a language other than English at home and almost 9,000 people who report issues speaking English. In this environment, traditional communication will not hit the mark across the community – especially when providing critical information about disaster preparedness. Speaking their language is a comprehensive programme developed rolled out by Logan City Council through schools and the community including in multiple languages and braille to ensure all are informed about how to respond to disasters and where to get help.

Also recognised in this category were finalists Fraser Coast Regional Council – Community Builders Program and Southern Downs Regional Council – Shaping Southern Downs.

Proudly sponsored by:

WORKPLACE WELLBEING AWARD

This year, Mackay Regional Council are the winners of the Excellence in Workplace Wellbeing Award with their initiative MRC Workplace Wellbeing.

With strong performance in securing employee safety through a traditional workplace health and safety focus, Mackay City Council recognised a need to do more in the emerging areas of financial, social, mental and physical health. Creating a dedicated strategy, the project has allowed employees to engage with the elements relevant to them, including initiatives such as free physical health checks, flu vaccinations, domestic violence support, mental health support and mental health first aid training. The success to date has led to increased support and financial health initiatives will be next in line to be delivered. Also recognised in this category as a finalist is Western Downs Regional Council for the WorkVibe initiative.

Proudly supported by Queensland Health, Queensland Government

ABOVE AND BEYOND AWARD

This year, the winner of this award is Nicholas Sabatino, Manager of Utilities at Torres Shire Council, for his efforts in introducing water filtration into the shire.

Torres Shire Council is proud and grateful for his efforts and were delighted to nominate him for this award.

Issues with water quality during 2018 were impacting dialysis treatment at the regional hospital and requiring council to issue boiled water alerts. Unable to resolve the problem locally, Nicky flew to Adelaide to inspect and then commission a water treatment system made possible with Queensland Government funding. He then worked tirelessly to ensure that temporary plant was installed and kept operational. Nicky had to jump in a small boat, often in the middle of the night, and travel across the choppy Torres Strait to get to the plant where he would have to troubleshoot and fix without the benefit of a phone a friend or access to other support. He gave up Christmas with his family to work on the commissioning of the new plant – all because he wanted to ensure that his community had the luxury many of us take for granted of clean, stable drinking water supply.

Congratulations to Nicholas for going Above and Beyond for his Council and community

2019 Australasian Management Challenge

An integral part of the Awards for Excellence each year is the highly anticipated announcement of the Queensland winner and finalists for the Australasian Management Challenge. A highly contested annual event that invokes teamwork and competition, councils complete a range of tasks under tight deadlines while exhibiting creativity, productivity and skill development whilst expanding teams’ capabilities. This program builds an understanding of relevant issues facing local governments through practical, experiential learning in a ‘safe’ environment.

Everyone who participates in the Challenge – from experienced managers to emerging leaders, comes away with new and practical insights into excellence in leadership and management. This year the Challenge included 17 teams and was hosted at the Queensland Law Society in Brisbane across two days. The Challenge featured tasks such as report writing, project management plans and report writing.

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