August 3, 2012
South Burnett councillors held their first official portfolio briefing yesterday … and Mayor Wayne Kratzmann is pleased with the results.
“Our first portfolio briefing was tremendous,” he said.
“We saw how effective the portfolio system is working in our Council.”
“Today we were able to see the depth of knowledge each Councillor has in their portfolio. The information presented by each Councillor was well received.
“Our Chief Executive Officer Ken McLoughlin has done a wonderful job at opening up the lines of communication between the Councillors and senior management.
“Full credit to Ken for recognising the benefits of the portfolio system.
“We now have the opportunity for staff and Councillors to work together in a collaborative way to ensure Council’s objectives are achieved.”
Mr McLoughlin said the meeting demonstrated the dedication of each Councillor to their portfolio.
“All have risen to the challenge of their portfolios and today we saw some in-depth discussions,” he said.
“The portfolio briefings will streamline the amount of time taken up in communicating on issues as all Councillors and management are involved in the same discussion.”
Mayor Kratzmann, who is the portfolio holder for roads said a highlight was how well the Roads portfolio had developed “even though we still have a lot of work ahead of us”.
“We had all of our engineers involved and the response from the Councillors was very positive,” he said.
The portfolio briefings will be held on the first Wednesday of every month. Items that require a Council decision will then come to formal meetings for debate, which are held on the third Wednesday of each month.
