Moyne Shire Road Focus Group Presentation to the MAV Local Government Infrastructure and Asset Management Conference. Presented by Trev Greenberger, Director of Physical Services, Moyne Shire

The Big Bang Theory

Provides a format for consultation regarding roads Provides a forum to educate the public about our work Provides a forum to differentiate between arterial and local roads Provides a forum for public to raise issues of interest Provides a forum to engage industry in our planning A strategic lobby group

How (not) to make it work?

Charter included issues such as road maintenance practices. A committee of 3 councillors, various council officers and about 10 community representatives Hand picked known “issue raisers” from across the Shire Arranged meetings at various hotels across the Shire

The Result?

Minutes were essentially a list of complaints Issues raised were generally of specific interest to members A lot of comment about road making practices Rarely focussed on local road issues but usually Vicroads or legislative issues Attack on officers Repetitive raising of issues with no outcomes Relationship wrecking as opposed to relationship building

The Recovery?

Removed all officers other than the Director from the group A number of individual meetings with group members Changed the format of the meetings to allow each member to speak early in the meeting Provided a folder of information and maps to all members Provided a template for members to complete prior to meetings with a focus on motions to raise Regular reports at meetings regarding progress on issues raised by the group and when they were concluded.

What now?

Group has been reduced to 3 councillors, 4 community representatives and the Director Focus on change and continuous improvement Discussions around budget and allocation of other funds Likely to receive a fund within the budget to respond to issues raised by the group

The Learnings?

Recruit for skill or interest based members (e.g. industry) Focus on local road issues Focus on a team based approach to inform each other Focus on strategy around use of funds and increasing funding streams Agenda needs to be worthwhile and focus on achieving outcomes Potentially a larger facilitated forum

The Potential?

Learn from each other Strategic approach to use of roads budget Buy in from other players such as industry and emergency services Partnership approach to problem solving Creation of a strong and influential lobby group Community consultation evidence for grants and Government reporting