Chief to guide continued growth

Ararat council has reappointed its chief executive for a five-year term. Dr Tim Harrison was returned to the top job after an initial four-year contract, during which the councillors considered changes to the council’s operational organisational structure, facilitating the building of new housing stock and introducing a four-bin waste system among highlights.

Dr Harrison arrived in Ararat Rural City in 2018 with a diverse career background including senior local government roles in Victoria and Queensland including engineering, service delivery and corporate strategy; developing social enterprise organisations in the community sector; and leadership, research and engagement roles in higher education.

Mayor Jo Armstrong said appointing the chief executive was ‘one of the most important’ legislated responsibilities of the councillor group.

Councillors tasked a ‘CEO Employment and Remuneration Committee’, including its independent chair, to assess options as Dr Harrison’s contract was coming to an end. It recommended re-appointment as the council’s best option.

Cr Armstrong said Dr Harrison would continue to lead the council ‘on its path of innovation and efficiency’.

“Highlights of Dr Harrison’s time with the council, to date, include successfully introducing change to the organisational structure, saving $1-million in salaries and increasing productivity and accountability, while achieving gains when our rating budget has averaged a net zero percent increase over five years — the only council in Victoria to do so,” Cr Armstrong said.

She noted challenges including floods, change management and community expectations — headlined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Introducing change has been a rewarding challenge. The positive attitude of council officers transforming the organisation is paying off for the community, with continuing improvement in community satisfaction surveys demonstrating people appreciate the changes that have been made,” she said.

“In terms of floods and the ongoing cost of recovery, we estimate the cost of damage to our roads and other infrastructure is greater than 80 percent of council’s annual capacity to raise revenue. Another challenge has been managing community expectations in a reality of constrained access to funding.”

Cr Armstrong said the council’s aspirations for Dr Harrison’s new contract term included continuing to attract people to live and work in the region, securing ‘equitable’ funding for infrastructure projects and developing and maintaining partnerships.

“We strive to manage our assets into the future to support an increasing population, as well as a higher proportion of ageing people in our community; to secure our share of equitable funding to manage our infrastructure network that supplies food and energy to Victoria’s metropolitan consumers; to further our agribusiness and value-adding potential for growth in partnership with Federation University; to facilitate greater access to useful digital technologies via our partnership with Telstra; and to take our Aradale study from the realm of possibility into tangible development within a realistic timeframe,” Cr Armstrong said. Dr Harrison is a qualified engineer. He has completed a Master of Business Administration and a doctorate where he explored relationships between social policy and community engagement. He established the Regional Incubator for Social and Economic Research, also known as RISER, at Federation University.