Compliance Exchange 7 Feb 2023
Agenda items discussed during the meeting.
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Guest speaker Lucy Harrington.Lucy is the Wellbeing Project Officer currently working part time with Development Assessment Branch within Logan City Council. Lucy is a non-clinical mental health and wellbeing professional and has worked with several local governments to provide training and consultation in the space, as well as private organisations and not-for-profits. Lucy provided an update on Logan City Council’s work in this space in response to an item raised at last exchange of 2022 that Logan City Council have an officer on board in the wellbeing space when the discussion took place around what strategies are different councils using to address the safety and retention of officers in the compliance space, many teams are experiencing high burnout rates and teams imploding.
General Discussion
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Stormwater – A number of councils currently dealing with stormwater issues as a result of weather conditions.
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Recruitment/Retention - Longreach high staff turnover for a small group. Toowoomba finding that recently they have been receiving quality applicants, could possibly be as people are moving away from major centres. Brisbane is finding that attraction and retention is a major issue for metro. Gladstone are finding it hard to recruit plumbing inspectors.
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Animal Management Facility – Longreach seeking information on new animal management facilities. Brisbane and Mareeba both offered advice from recent experiences.
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Therapy Dog Register – An attendee is seeking advice about how councils are dealing with ‘therapy dogs’. Is anyone aware of a ‘register’ of people who have legitimate dogs. There seems to be in increase in the prevalence of therapy dogs for a range of reasons but is unclear when these dogs are registered for legitimate therapeutic assistance and when it is a case of someone attempting to bring their dogs into otherwise prohibited spaces.
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Show Cause Notices – Mareeba offered respite as a result of building delays in the form of extra time, now in process of inspections and reissuing show cause notices. Watch this space as the process unfolds.
