Kiama Council is progressing with strategic work to create a sustainable future and long-term financial security, with myself and the Councillors developing a Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP).

We are in early but concerted development of this Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) and have begun work on key issues outlined in the CEO’s recent “State of the Organisation” report including: financial sustainability; organisational capability, culture and performance; and risk and governance.

This plan will allow us to immediately focus on what needs to be addressed to stabilise and improve our situation.

The SIP will have four focus areas: finance and costs, assets, communications and staff. Different Councillors will take the lead on different focus areas to allow them to play to their strengths and ensure nothing is missed.

We are taking a proactive, transparent approach to the issues our organisation is facing. We are working as a team and we’re acting without delay to do this important work.

As a first step, we have engaged major accounting firm KPMG to work with our finance team and other groups including the Audit Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC), Blue Haven Board and Finance Advisory Board, to facilitate this process.

We have also recently held workshops for the Community Strategic Plan (CSP), which is a 10-year overarching plan for the Municipality that all Councils are tasked with developing in their first six months of office.

The SIP differs from the CSP in that it is a working group for issues the Councillors will tackle to ensure Council’s assets and finances can get back on track.

The SIP will address urgent issues that will be the foundation of our future. We will report to the community regularly on our progress and to show our strategy has clear goals and well- defined benefit.

It is likely there will be significant financial challenges ahead and some tough decisions around assets that will need to be faced. However, with the SIP, I am confident we have a robust way to undertake this work as a team, one that will ensure the best outcomes for our Council and our community.

I look forward to sharing further updates with you about this work, which is an important step towards our long-term stability.

As always, if you’d like to get in touch with me, email: [email protected]