Shire of Augusta-Margaret River restructures departments and farewells James Shepherd

The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River will undertake another corporate restructure to address the local government’s perceived shortcomings. Corporate and community services director James Shepherd finished up in his position last week amid news the Shire structure of two directors would be expanded to three. In a statement released on Friday, Shire president Paula Cristoffanini directly linked the restructure to the Shire’s dismal rating in its most recent four-yearly community satisfaction survey. “The themes we heard through the recent survey showed that the community wants us to focus on ensuring better quality customer experiences, having clear goals about the protection of the environment, working more collaboratively with the business community, and increasing our response to pressures that come with a rapidly growing population,” she said. “We have recognised this year that the current two-director model has been spreading our leadership team very thin across multiple diverse portfolio areas.” Consequently, two new director positions were now set to be advertised: one for corporate and customer services, the other for the sustainable economy and communities. It was chief executive Stephanie Addison-Brown who introduced the two-director model soon after taking over from retired chief Gary Evershed. That move in 2018 saw two directors made redundant and allowed the new chief to put her own stamp on the organisation. The new directorship was advertised and Ms Addison-Brown’s former City of Bunbury colleague Mr Shepherd was hired in a competitive process. However, there remained disquiet within some sectors that the director in charge of community development declined to move to the region where he worked. Ms Addison-Brown said she could not comment on personal circumstances of staff members with the media. Cr Cristoffanini said a review was recently undertaken involving analysis of community feedback, benchmarking and mapping of the council’s current goals. Central to the feedback was the Shire’s community satisfaction survey, reported by the Times in June, in which ratings across key indicators slid backwards on its 2019 results. The overall results gave the local government itself a shellacking, with a score of 45 out of 100 compared with 53 per cent from the previous survey. Business operators also vented their ire with a 59 per cent rating in the new category introduced for this survey, with 18 per cent of respondents citing “poor” or “terrible”. The Shire identified strong performance in libraries, waste collection, streetscapes, trees and verges, and consultation with traditional owners. But there were declining ratings for consultation, communication, turnarounds for planning and building approvals, services for families, and as flagged by the Shire president, concerns around the management of growth and development. The Shire’s value-for-rates feedback held steady at 35 per cent, below the national average of 44. “Our community is evolving quickly and the Shire will be increasing its attention on advocacy, services and infrastructure to meet the growing needs,” the Shire president said. Posting on LinkedIn, Mr Shepherd said he would take a short break “before getting into an as yet unknown new challenge”. “As the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River shifts its focus, my 3½ challenging but happy and rewarding years have come to a mutual close,” he said. “Thanks to all at the Shire and the many people, community groups and organisations I have worked with over the years, I wish you all well.” Margaret River Business Network chief executive Annie McFie said she welcomed the Shire taking on the community’s feedback. “The MRBN strongly supports sustainable economy and communities being placed in the same director portfolio,” she said. “We have long advocated that small business is integral to and inseparable from community.” The new positions would be advertised next week.