Monitors to watch over council staff

CITY HALL: BACK TO DEMOCRACY

MONITORS will be keeping a close eye on how Geelong council’s internal staff work with the incoming councillors from October.

Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins said the monitors would be tasked with tracking how both the councillors and internal staff were managing the transition back to democracy.

“How they’re functioning — in this council’s case, between the elected members and the paid staff and administration — there will be specific reporting back on that,” she said.

While candidates have been spoken to, Ms Hutchins yesterday said a final decision on the two part-time monitors would not occur until mid-next week.

The duo will oversee the return to an elected government, and act as a Government watchdogs after the exit of three administrators, who were appointed in May last year.

Ms Hutchins was in Geelong yesterday as the council acknowledged the past and buried the future, as it aims to create a clever and creative city.

A time capsule containing the centrepiece Our Vision 30-year plan was buried near the steps of the City of Greater Geelong’s headquarters, where it will sit until it is retrieved in 2047.

The ceremony also marked the cen- tenary of City Hall’s distinctive facade.

The document, which was completed in July but officially launched yesterday, aims to guide long-term decision making and investment.

Ms Hutchins said the blueprint would provide a key reference point for councillors and staff through until 2047.

“This is a plan that goes beyond the four-year cycle,” Ms Hutchins said.

“That keeps the council accountable to the long-term vision and I think that’s exactly what this council needed. There are decisions that councils make every single day that can contribute to these outcomes and these measurables.”

A reduced field of 11 councillors will be returned to the Geelong council after an election on October 27.

The council’s three administrators are expected to work through the election caretaker period, which begins on September 26.

Ms Hutchins praised the trio’s work on the 30-year vision, which drew on the views of more than 16,000 residents. “One of the prime reasons why administration came about is because there was no future plan,

and they’ve delivered this in a very short time frame,” she said.

Chief administrator Kathy Alexander said the document showed investors that Geelong had long-term goals and knew how to reach them.

“Future councils can demonstrate the stability and direction required for their investment,” Dr Alexander said.