In February 2009, the Minister for Local Government announced Local Government Reform Strategies. As part of the reform, Councils have been requested to identify voluntary amalgamations, appropriate regional groupings within which to work collaboratively and to have an elected member representation of between six and nine.
Shire President Cr Donald McKechnie said, “Given the geographic location, topographic features and location of communities within the Shire’s existing boundaries, there is no obvious case for amalgamation with another local government. However, a case could be made for adjustment of boundaries between the Shire and neighbouring Shires.”
“The Shire of Kalamunda is in a particularly strong financial position, with a favourable net financial liabilities position, lack of reliance on debt and with operating surpluses in recent years.” He said.
Research seems to suggest that residents and ratepayers of the Shire agree, and have a strong degree of loyalty to the area and satisfaction with the Shire’s services and operations. An independent customer satisfaction survey carried out on November 2008 indicated high levels of satisfaction with Shire customer service (88%); maintenance of key infrastructure (70-84%) and key service provision (73-95%) and very high satisfaction with overall quality of life in the Shire (92%).
The Shire of Kalamunda currently has 12 Councillors representing an estimated 52,000 people. The Shire recently submitted a Boundary Review Report to the Advisory Board requesting greater representation in its growth corridor of High Wycombe, Forrestfield and Wattle Grove. The recommendation was for four Wards, with three Councillors in each. This proposal was accepted, and was gazetted on 14 August 2009.
Cr McKechnie said, “The Council would like to see its ward system retained, without a reduction in the number of councillors .”
The Shire acknowledged that over past years it had under-funded infrastructure asset renewal (as identified in an independent report by Access Economics May 2009), which has resulted in a growing infrastructure backlog and asset renewal gap in excess of $18million.
CEO James Trail said, “To address this, the Shire has developed a comprehensive Infrastructure Asset Management Plan to guide effective asset budgeting and management. The Shire has also developed a Five Year Financial Plan to address the gap and expenditure requirements and has the financial capacity to meet current and future community needs.”
The Shire has recently set a new strategic direction with the development of the Kalamunda Planning and Performance Management Framework. The framework provides an integrated approach to strategic and business planning, service delivery and performance management.
As well, a new organisational structure has been implemented, following the Organisational Capacity Review in October 2008. This structure has been designed to ensure that the staff can meet the challenges ahead as well as the objectives of maximising operational effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services.