Lismore City Council is set to undergo a restructure to better align the organisation with the needs of the city and community, General Manager, John Walker, has announced.
The move will see the Northern Rivers-based Council’s three Director roles and the current directorates abolished and replaced with two new positions – Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) – under the direction of the General Manager.
“During my time in the role of General Manager it has become clear that Lismore City Council does not have the capacity or capability as an organisation to overcome the many challenges facing us to become a sustainable organisation,” Mr Walker said.
“This was true under normal circumstances, but it has been compounded by the significance of the recent natural disaster and the enormity of the tasks we face.
“Restructures are always difficult for staff, however, we simply have no choice but to do things differently if we are to overcome our financial issues and put Council on a strong footing for the future while rebuilding our city better.”
Council’s General Manager will lead a team comprising an Executive Manager Economy and Growth, Chief of Staff and a Project Manager for recovery and restoration.
“There will be no redundancies of award-based staff under the restructure. We need additional human resources and funding to do our jobs. At this point in time, we have neither the capability nor capacity to deliver what is required,” Mr Walker said.
“We need much better strategy and planning. We need new skills and expertise to compliment what we already have.
“The NSW Government have agreed to support Council in transforming and rebuilding our business with a generous funding agreement over three years to ensure we have the capacity to become great.
“A needs analysis prepared for the Office of Local Government (OLG), after consultation with us, by consultants Morrison Low will form the basis of a roadmap which we will follow to that end. Without this funding it would not be possible to achieve our goals,” he said.
