Committees structure changed significantly to benefit community

16 October 2018

Ipswich City Council will cut its current 10 standing committees to just five to better align with its Advance Ipswich community plan and corporate plan.

Interim Administrator Greg Chemello said the new structure would provide more effective “Line of Sight” and help drive council towards its publicly-stated goals.

“I think this is a good proposal and aligns with our Advance Ipswich goals,” he said.

Council previously had 10 committees: Infrastructure and Emergency Management; Works, Parks and Sport; Conservation and Environment; Libraries and Tourism; Arts and Community Development; Health, Security and Community Safety; Planning, Development and Heritage; Economic Development and Digital City, City Management, Finance and Community Engagement; and Specific Purposes.

Different councillors chaired a committee and they met over two days each month, making recommendations to council.

As from today, those committees will be merged and rebadged as Economic Development; Growth and Infrastructure; Communities; Environment; and Governance. The first meetings will be on 7 November.

Mr Chemello said council researched other Queensland councils and found Ipswich had more committees than any other local government area. Some councils had even moved away from the committee structure.

A review had “identified inefficiencies” with “no clear alignment between council’s two key strategic plans and the current committee structure”. It also found a “resource heavy burden” with departments having to submit the same reports for up to four committees and, conversely, some of those reports being produced with “no strategic or operational outcomes or benefits”.

The new structure would align to council’s community plan – strengthening the local economy and building prosperity; managing growth and delivering key infrastructure; caring for the community; caring for the environment; listening, leading and providing financial management.

Council will also look at establishing five community reference groups to assist the standing committees deliver strategies within each theme.

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