Three Victorian councils have proved that sharing really is caring, with their award-winning shared engineering services program helping to save money and improve services for their communities.
Engineers employed by Northern Grampians Shire Council are provided to neighbouring West Wimmera and Hindmarsh Shire Councils on an as-needed basis, for what the council describes as, “a fraction of the cost of consultants”.
Northern Grampians Chief Executive Officer, Justine Linley explains the council sees the project as an opportunity to assist their local government counterparts in West Wimmera and Hindmarsh, while also offering new learning experiences for staff through exposure to new work environments.
“The project overcomes staff shortages and saves everyone money,” she says. “Our council saves on staff costs as the fees it charges the two councils help subsidise our engineering positions.
“A lot of rural councils use consultants to undertake their engineering design work, but it is much more cost effective to conduct the work in-house with staff who have the local government and on-ground knowledge required.
“This project could be adapted by any other region and service that is experiencing staff shortages. We’re already using a similar model in environmental health services and we can see it working with other service areas in the future as well.”
The program was recognised at the recent LGPro Awards for Excellence, where it took out the Service Delivery Initiative award.