Lessons Learnt From Council Decision

A Council decision against officers’ advice in the December Council meeting was returned to Council last week and Mayor Rod Marti said re-visiting the decision was a learning opportunity for Council.

At the December meeting Councillors resolved to deliver roofing projects in Yungaburra and Tolga using internal resources rather than contractors.

‘We need to understand exactly what happened and avoid similar traps in the future.

‘For the Lapidary Club project at Tolga’s Morrow Park, the cost to deliver has now gone up while the scope of the project has decreased.

‘It’s really important we find some learnings from this situation.

‘The problem in the December meeting is, instead of just approving and assigning a budget to the upgrade to the Lapidary Club roof and wall cladding, we decided we’d tell our staff how to do it.

‘So we actually became operational.

‘Further, when officers present us with a proposal, it’s well considered, it’s in the best interests of the community, and it’s also taking into account the capacity of this organisation.

‘Also drafting motions on the fly is really dangerous, especially on projects like this when we don’t have a good line of sight or know what the existing workloads are,’ Mayor Marti said.