ANGEL BOOK
Earlier this year I shared with the Leadership Team a story regarding how customer service on Japan’s bullet trains was radically improved. As part of a series of reforms, the company issued twice annually what they call The Angel Report. Starting in 2007, The Angel Report is an acknowledgement of the names of their staff who have been recognised by the public for exceptional customer service. Mark Twain once said there is no such thing as an original idea, and so I have borrowed The Angel Report. The following pages contain the names of staff who have been nominated by a colleague for the work they do and the values of cooperation, respect, excellence and wellbeing they demonstrate in their daily work. Jeremy Bath, CEO
Narelle Amos Administration Assistant – Accounts Payable Finance
Narelle shows consistent cooperation within the City of Newcastle as a whole and to her team. She is always willing to learn regardless of the task to assist her team members. Narelle is considerate and respectful, helping staff and suppliers with their questions and queries. She shows excellence and excels in all that she does. I am proud to have her as a team mate.
Kelly Arnott Corporate Planning & Performance Manager Strategy & Engagement
Kelly a great champion of the CN CREW values. She is continually fostering cooperation within her team, service unit and organisation by encouraging and actively forming collaborations with others by her open and transparent communication and inclusive behavior. Kelly has formed great relationships by her respectful interaction across CN by inviting colleagues to share their views and listening to the feedback of others. Kelly strives for excellence in all areas and this results in extremely high quality in her work outputs, including most recently winning a silver medal for the FY19 Annual Report in the Australasian Reporting Awards. Kelly is a wonderful champion of wellbeing for herself and others, she encourages and models a great work life balance, consistently achieving her work goals and timeframes while also prioritising a healthy lifestyle and her family.
Rebecca Barnes Senior Environmental Specialist Assets & Projects
Rebecca is a selfless advocate for City of Newcastle. As an Arborist by trade she is passionate about trees and fights staunchly to provide the people of Newcastle with a green, healthy connected canopy system. If a community member is unhappy about a tree, she takes the time (including her own out of work time) to meet, listen and work with residents to agree on a solution that everyone is happy with. She teaches people that there is a tree for everyone and to love trees. I’ve witnessed her change the negative attitude and conversation of a local community group who were unhappy with Council as their landlord by engaging her own time and skills to complete works in a community garden. Her ability to influence doesn’t stop out in the public sphere, in the office her positive, broad thinking, world class knowledge inspires those around her and drives the ideas of what the future could be. There is always good passionate conversation and big picture thinking when Rebecca is here.
Michelle Barnett Purchasing & Accounts Payable Team Leader Finance
Michelle is always approachable and willing to help. If I ever have a inquiry Michelle will give me the tools I needs to be able to understand process and complete tasks in line with CN procedure. If I still do not understand she is happy to speak through the information so that I am confident in completing tasks myself in the future. Michelle never makes it feel like too much trouble to help.
Ben Barrett Sports Support Officer Parks & Recreation
Ben has worked tirelessly on summer sporting bookings and licencing over the last few months in order for the summer competitions to get underway on time. Ben has been the contact for CN between The City and sporting groups. Ben has always treated the customers with respect even when faced with difficult situations. Ben has been recognised by the Cricket community for his excellence in his customer focused role.
Geoff Blomfield Civil Contract Supervisor Civil Construction & Maintenance
Geoff defines ‘team player’. Nothing is ever too hard, he always jumps in to help in any way the team needs him to, and it’s always done with a smile. Geoff is committed to continuous improvement and ensuring quality outcomes for CN in the delivery of services across CC&M. He is respected, and shows respect to everyone that he engages with, and for this reason is held in high regard by his peers. He isn’t afraid of change, or a challenge, and he approaches both with enthusiasm and positivity. He is an asset to our team and CC&M, one for which we are very grateful.
Cooperation – Wendy is a first-class communicator and has built strong ties with all sections of
the library service and with our partners in Finance, MECA, People and Culture and many other areas of Council. The success of our recent COVID communications, our COVID safe reopening under difficult circumstances and the ongoing improvements to our branches are a testament to Wendy’s ability to work with all areas of Council.
Wendy Carmichael Manager Service Design & Customer Experience Libraries & Learning
Respect - Wendy came to her position a few (3) years ago with no library experience. She has taken the time to learn all she can about every aspect of library service from all members of the team, from managers and coordinators to library assistants, ensuring that every team member feels that they are competent, valued, and respected. Excellence- Wendy is responsible for all 10 branches of the Library, our members, and our front-line staff. Over the past 12 months our memberships have increased (despite COVID) by 10% assisted by programs and promotions put in place by Wendy. The transition of the library staff to flexitime was a great success in no small measure due to the clear communications and support to staff provided by Wendy. While the upgrade in our financial and public computer systems was not her direct responsibility Wendy’s clear communications and instructions to staff about the changes greatly assisted in the successful Monitor rollout to the branches. Upgrades to our dated branch spaces, new signage, painting and furniture has provided Newcastle Libraries with a fresh face to our members. Wendy has been instrumental in the planning and selection of the niche collection for our new library at 12SA presenting Newcastle with the latest bestselling titles hot off the press. In conjunction with MECA Wendy has lent her expertise in marketing to create new look library cards, internal and external signage and promotional material and a bold online presence which has lifted the profile of the library in our community. Wellbeing – Wendy is a caring and compassionate manager who always has the wellbeing of her staff at the front of mind. While expecting a high level of commitment and excellence from her staff Wendy is conscious of the need to relax and have a laugh. She has helped a number of staff through difficult times personally and professionally. Wendy is always approachable, and her staff know that they can rely on her for confidential and sensible help and advice.
Michael Cherry Debt Management & Rates Manager Governance
Michael goes above and beyond, he is the backbone of the Rates and Debt Management teams. He has a vast amount of technical knowledge that he shares with us and we truly would be lost without him. He puts in lots of extra hours, he even answers emails we send him on his days off and is never too busy to help anyone (even answering our phones). He is very approachable and everyone respects him. He has had a few injuries lately but still manages to work from home or come into the office and just gets on with it (making time for his stretches/exercises and wellbeing). Michael is an extremely hard worker and City of Newcastle is very lucky to have him as an employee. Michael always recognizes people in his teams achievements, he is a great Manager and role model and I think it’s time he got recognition. He deserves it!
Selena has been actively facilitating the CLMS (PORTT) delivery into the Assets and Projects Service Unit. Selena’s knowledge and skills in this area are evident and has been integral in the comfort level that the service unit have with the new system. Selena has shown cooperation by working closely with the Contracts Management Team and IT and assisting in the CLMS delivery to Assets and Projects.
Selena Costelloe Former Contracts Officer Assets & Projects
Selena’s respect for existing members of the unit who have experience with Contract Management is evident by instigating a Subject Matter Expert Group and including these officers at all times, relying on their previous experience and corporate knowledge. Selena displays excellence in her role by going above and beyond for the service unit, ensuring we are all comfortable with the system and the updated processes. By creating “”how to”” and process documents specific to our unique contract management process, and using different tools such as meetings, informal training, Teams Group, and supporting formal training, Selena has excelled at ensuring the Assets and Projects Unit will have as smooth a transition as possible to the new system. Since joining the organisation Selena has set a benchmark for excellence in the quality of work she has delivered. Selena has showed exemplary cooperation working across the Contracts and A&P team in rolling out CN’s new contract administration system PORTT. Selena has taken the bull by the horns to ensure the system is fit for purpose and the transition is as smooth as possible for the entirety of the A&P Team. She has had to quickly and efficiently understand the needs across multiple stakeholders in Asset Services and Program (A&P) and Project Services to ensure PORTT was a functioning system from day one. Selena has stepped up beyond what her roll requires to deliver absolute quality A&P specific training to entire service unit. Selena’s excellent technical understanding of systems and strong focus on governance and probity breathes confidence into a team of new Project Managers in a bumper year of project delivery. Across the unit we shudder to think how PORTT’s implementation would have proceeded without her. The gratitude the team has for Selena’s accomplishments to date far exceed what would be expected for her roll and as such feel her efforts are worthy of recognition on an organisation wide scale.
Susan Denholm Community Development Facilitator Community, Strategy & Innovation
Cooperation - Susan is a committed and diligent Team member, assisting in tasks and providing her expertise and advice freely. Susan works not only within CSI, she has a strong history of working across Service Units in order to achieve CN’s goals this extends to her passion to help our Community through various and diverse projects and initiatives. Respect - Susan not only has the respects of many CN Officers, but of those in the Community whom Susan has assisted along the way. Susan respects the authority of her role, and works within CN’s policies and procedures in order to maintain appropriate allegiance to corporate governance and expectations. Excellence - Going the extra mile is a saying often employed, and Susan is the epitome of this expression. Working well above and beyond normal expectations in the workplace, Susan follows up on issues and works hard to provide viable and sustainable outcomes for both CN and our Community. Susan often participates in areas outside of her bailiwick where appropriate in order to assist others achieve their goals, and employs her vast experience and expertise in order to achieve positive outcomes. Wellbeing - Susan is a natural Carer, and is always concerned for the health and wellbeing of her workmates and for the broader Community. In her numerous roles here at CN Susan has demonstrated commitment to CN’s 2030 CSP, and to always seeking out ways of ensuring the very best quadruple bottom line for all concerned.
Lynn Duffy Manager Parks & Recreation City Wide Services
Lynn has shown excellent leadership qualities and displayed intelligence, compassion and most of all common sense in her handling of a delicate staffing situation. She had taken all of the participants out of the environment and placed them in a more relaxed and personable place to debrief them and try and remove the incident from their minds. She also had in place work doctor Bruce Raffin and the work place psychologist to assist with the healing process. Lynn later on in the process also defusesd a potential serious issue with a calm and level head. I feel Lynn has not only displayed the CREW culture, but went above and beyond this and her duty.
Paul Dunlevie Library Customer Support Assistant City Wide Services
Paul’s contributions to the community and his tireless, persistent, and endlessly patient assistance to both members of the community and staff alike demonstrate his dedication to excellence in his role at CN. Although I am not his supervisor, I receive compliments about Paul from library users at least once a week. Paul is always willing to lend a hand, and always sees the job through to the end. He contributes daily to the wellbeing of others in the library through his assistance. Much of the day to day interaction in the library involves helping people who are struggling. Paul treats all library patrons and staff with a consistent and high level of respect, which is especially appreciated by people who are struggling just to get by. Paul has also just reached 30 years of employment at CN, and I feel that he is a quiet hero of the library service, working on the front lines of library and community service, and that is why I am nominating him for the CEO CREW award.
Elle Durrant Development Officer Regulatory, Planning & Assessment
Elle has been a part of the team on-boarding me into a new position for the past couple of weeks and whose support has been priceless. Elle has really tried to involve me in all aspects of the team and has even spent time taking my feedback from my previous position on board to try and better procedures within my new position. She is supportive and helpful (even when she doesn’t know an answer, she will help me to locate someone who can and make sure that I understood the response that they gave). Has a great attitude to work and really balances her time well between assisting me as well as still completing her required day-to-day tasks. At one point my swipe pass was broken and not working and she even offered to stay back to find alternative solutions for me to gain access if my pass wasn’t working that same day. Her spirit, vigour and personality radiate good vibes into the office and I feel that she is a real asset to the culture of the team and department.
Matt Finn Field Supervisor - Construction Civil Construction & Maintenance
Matt shows incredible dedication to his work on a daily basis and regular goes above and beyond expectations in the delivery of large CN projects. Matt produces work efficiently to an exceptional level of detail and has regularly passed on his vast array of skills and knowledge to young CN employees in particular trainees to allow them to progress to full time positions. Matt takes pride in the work he completes and I regularly observe the positive relationships that he develops with the community that are affected by our works and the respect and cooperation that he shows to the public are incredible and lessen the impact that these residents experience throughout the project. Matt takes the time throughout projects to ensure that his colleagues share a high level of wellbeing and that a positive and friendly work environment is maintained despite the pressure of deadlines and to ensure that all team members maintain a safe environment. When tasked with the challenging project that is Council Street and setting a goal of completion by Christmas 2020, Matt has continually upped his planning, work load and management to ensure that this is achieved. This includes numerous hours of planning and organizing beyond his start and finish time. Without his dedication and work ethic completion would not have been possible.
Amanda Gale Senior Development Planner Regulatory, Planning & Assessment
Amanda approved a controversial development application for 495 Hunter St for a large residential flat building after a three year assessment process. This involved 6 meetings at the Urban Design Consultative Panel, two Public Voice meetings, three Development Application Committee meetings and numerous requests from Councillors, objectors and applicants over the proposal. Amanda displayed the CREW values throughout this period as she provided a high level of technical assessment, customer service to all interested parties in the application and used negotiation and facilitation skills. Amanda was very professional and courteous at all times and was a great representative for CN at all external meetings.
Mark Green Field Worker Parks & Recreation
Cooperation - Mark’s attitude is 100% positive. Even if a co-worker is negative about an activity Mark is the first person to step forward and offer positive input and work together to achieve best results. He is a genuine team worker. Respect - Mark is very careful to demonstrate respect in every arena. I am his 72 year old co-worker and the respectful courtesy he regularly offers me in our work makes it a pleasure to turn up every day. Excellence - Mark’s attitude is to do a quality job whatever it is. His daily output is of the highest quality and always timely. He is a team player who pays attention to detail and this saves City of Newcastle money and resources. Wellbeing - Mark is committed to City of Newcastle’s wellbeing values. He pays attention to the mental and physical state of himself and his co-workers. He is always checking on me when we are working together and he involves himself with WHS wellbeing initiatives like the Body Composition Analyser. In my opinion Mark would be a truly worthy recipient of the CREW Award.
Chris has produced a variety of signage projects for our team over the years, from garbage truck livery, public place bin decals, the new and improved Summerhill site signage, event signage, safety signage, temporary signage, magnets, stickers, banners - the list goes on!
Chris Kime Team Leader - Signwriting Building Trades
Some of this work has been very repetitive (e.g. preparing 150 bin panels within a fortnight), some has involved 4am starts up on a scaffold on a chilly winter morning or working after hours when our trucks can only be made available, and other projects have involved pressing and sometimes competing deadlines - but I’ve never heard Chris complain once. In the many years that I have worked with him, Chris has always been helpful, friendly and courteous. He provides sound advice and plays an active role in coming up with ideas and solutions when discussing a new project. He pays good attention to detail, often re-doing something if he is not satisfied with it or if he thinks something can be improved. I’ve often remarked that “I wish we had an organisation full of Chris Kimes!”” and have wanted to recommend him for recognition for some time now, and the new monthly CEO C.R.E.W Ambassador Award seemed like the perfect opportunity. Thank you for your time and consideration of Chris for this award. Chris always has such a “can do” and “nothing’s too much trouble” attitude. I have worked with him on several signage projects now and every time he has always been helpful and positive. He looks for solutions when the answer may not be obvious (e.g., finding an environmental alternative to corflute). It is obvious from the way he does his job that he strives not just to do his job, but to go above and beyond and works to a very high standard. Chris is always friendly, polite and respectful and is very easy to approach about jobs. In addition, did you see how many positive and supportive comments CN’s facebook post about Chris received? Obviously I’m not the only one who thinks so very highly of him and the way he represents CN’s CREW values. From the first time I engaged with Chris Kime he has been extremely approachable and helpful. No job is ever too hard for Chris to pull off even with the shortest of notice. One day I phoned Chris re an urgent job for the following day and had inadvertently caught him on his way home. He asked if I wanted him to head back to the depot to get the signage printed that afternoon. Of course my answer was no, but just the fact that Chris is always going above and beyond for his colleagues to ensure our community remains informed is a great demonstration of his CREW values.
Shaun Lawson Quality Systems Coordinator Civil Construction & Maintenance
Shaun walks the walk when it comes to living the values of our organisation. In particular, he consistently demonstrates the value of excellence in our strive for continuous improvement of process and service delivery. He questions process in a constructive and inclusive way, encouraging others to embrace the values along the way, and is a positive influence on our team as a result. Shaun has worked above and beyond the expectations of his role, enabled by his skills, knowledge and industry experience, to develop long-overdue systems to support the delivery of services by our team, and we are grateful for his input and commitment.
Leon Looyenga Field Worker Parks & Recreation
Leon has recently joined our team due to our ongoing restructure. I understand that changing teams can be challenging especially when you are happy with you current situation. From the first shift with his new team Leon has been considerate of others, hard working and always positive which has been appreciated by all other team members.
Pat Lowe Field Supervisor – Park Services Parks & Recreation
Pat is as passionate today in 2020 about his job as he was (i assume as i was not around) when he started in 17/01/1984. Pat continues to look for innovative solutions to reduce the musculoskeletal impact of not only himself but his fellow workers. Pat has identified a number of WHS Innovations, which in the words of Pat “”i just do because it enables me to continue in my job doing what i love””. Again today, Pat bought in a video they created of a new way to plant the approximately 80,000 annuals they will plant across the city, amazing - reduces the need to be on your knees for hour after hour and enables the plants to be holed & , placed while standing upright. Significantly reducing the manual handling impact on knees and backs. Yes it will be also a WHS innovation idea. Pat is a happy go lucky, genuine lovely guy - the type that make a difference to not only the workforce of CN but also the outlook of the Parks and Gardens to beautify the city. What a legend.
Tegan Maxwell Acting - Scheduler Depot Operations
Tegan is one of those exceptional people who brighten your day just by being around. She is helpful, resourceful and nothing is ever a problem. She works collaboratively and brings people on a journey with her encouraging cross team interactions and efficiencies in a polite and respectful manner. She has rotated through a number of CN units now followed by praise (and attempted headhunting) each time. Every team could use a Tegan.
Andrew McAlary Former Manager Legal Services & Contracts Legal
Twice now, Andrew has gone out of his way to consult and advise on an urgent matter which has been very important to our service unit. The fact that he was able to get involved so quickly, and provide us with excellent advice and a way forward, has enabled us to achieve two major initiatives, that otherwise we probably could not have done.
Mischelle Mendoza Library Administration Support Libraries & Learning
Mischelle always goes above and beyond to help staff. Constantly thinking of others and always making herself available regardless of her own demands.
Corinne Paterson Former Online Communications Officer Major Events & Corporate Affairs
Corinne has always gone above and beyond her role to help our network of over 150 content editors across CN. She has run countless training sessions to show new users (and existing) how to use our website analytics tools to improve the accessibility, functionality and appearance of our public facing websites. In addition to this, she is a critical component to the continuity of our intranet and has been the voice to drive change in providing intranet content to our mobile workforce. Her agreement to collaborate in various IT projects and to provide feedback on multiple initiatives has been the driving force behind a lot of digital change. She truly demonstrates our CREW values and drives the blue bus every day, regardless of how much workload she is working through.
Corinne always goes above and beyond to help everyone in the business with website and intranet enquiries. No question is too hard she will always go out of her way to help and if she doesn't know the answer she will point you in the right direction. She is always friendly, bright and cheery which makes her a pleasure to deal with.
Darren Roberts
Darren is great to work with, he is always up for a challenge. He gets the job done regardless of the challenge ahead, he strives for his best and always provides a quality job
Plumber Property & Facilities
Darren has been at council for over 40 years. His knowledge and dedication to work is second to none. He is always going above and beyond in his attention to detail and commitment to getting the job done.
John Roberts Fieldworker Parks & Recreation
John has worked for City of Newcastle for around 15 years, he is heading towards 72 with a goal to hopefully retire maybe at the ripe young age of 80. John is immensely proud of this organisation and rates CN as a wonderful organisation to be part of! John demonstrates the C.R.E.W values by being a role model for us all, to replicate his values, of working hard, being innovative, endeavoring to foster good relationships within the community he works, producing an outstanding and proud work ethic which shows in his day to day tasks, his enthusiasm for helping his fellow workers and his caring respectful attitude to everyone he meets. I would really like to see John recognized for his Blue Bus attitude, his can do approach and the way he enthusiastically goes about his work, where many others at his young age would be retired, John chooses to be a valuable member for the City of Newcastle.
Kerrie Shaw Heritage Collections Digitisation Specialist Libraries & Learning
Kerrie is a driver of cross team and service unit collaboration to explore innovative solutions and find those valuable win win opportunities for CN and our community. Kerrie actively seeks out opportunities to collaborate and has developed some great new collaborative networks between the CSI, SMART City, Cultural Institutions and Libraries. She goes above and beyond to support her colleagues and in the past 12 months has delivered some great cross CN cooperative projects including content for the CN City App, Augmented Reality projects, 12SA Magic Box, Podcast series.
Rick Smith Field Supervisor - Signs Civil Construction & Maintenance
Rick has been such a great help to the Traffic Team over the years. I feel as an operational/on-the-road team member he probably hasn’t received the recognition he has deserved over the 20+ years he has worked for CN. He consistently saves the Traffic Team’s butt in relation to traffic and signage issues, often at short notice! He often deals with unhappy customers and handles the situations that arise in a professional way. We (Traffic Team) can always rely on him for assistance and prompt attention when required.
James Steele Admin Building Management Assistant Property & Facilities
James is a problem solver. Always a pleasure to deal with and willing to get in and get the job done, most recently we had a Training issue with one of the rooms but it was no problem for James who quickly found an excellent solution. Excellent service and willingness to work together!
Vanessa Tabolt Spatial Information Technical Officer Information Technology
Vanessa Talbot in GIS has assisted the Parks and Recreation Unit and in particular the Community Land Planner with preparing mapping layers for the Community Land Plan of Management. This was a significant amount of work that our team would not have completed ourselves in the tight time-frame we had. The project required working with different groups and Vanessa always had a smile and a sense that nothing was ever a problem to change or complete. She advised us on the best approach, showed much patience and acted with the utmost professionalism. Vanessa was a major asset to our team in the preparation of the Community Land Plan of Management and we wish to thank her by nominating her for the CREW award.
Lachlan Thomas Technical Production Coordinator Civic Services
Lachlan demonstrates our organisation’s CREW value ‘Cooperation’ through his always enthusiastic willingness to support the Art Gallery’s creative (and sometimes a little out there!) initiatives such as loaning sound equipment, lighting and theatre prop equipment for bespoke exhibitions and events. For this year’s major summer exhibition ‘WE CAN BE HEROES: a backstage pass’ opening 14 November, I recently contacted Lachlan to see if we could borrow some road cases, carpet, furniture and band memorabilia to create a ‘backstage green room’ at the Gallery. Lachlan was excited about our concept and has made several key elements available for loan over the period of the exhibition. His cooperation, collegiality and support of the Art Gallery’s initiatives ensures the delivery of additional ‘cool stuff’ for our visitors to experience.
Linda Woodbury EA to the Director of People & Culture People & Culture
Linda is the epitome of a Blue Bus passenger. She is ALWAYS friendly, ALWAYS encouraging, ALWAYS positive. I often marvel at how composed and organised she is in the face of a significant workload and during difficult times. She takes the time to encourage others, when it would be easier to complain or whinge. She tells us Blue Bus stories in such a natural and organic way, that you can tell Blue Bus thinking is sitting behind who she is. I’m certain she doesn’t if realise she’s being Blue Bus. It’s not an intentional thing, it’s innate. Personally, Linda was a lifeline for me when I was acting in Fiona’s role during the early COVID days. I honestly would have been floundering without her support and encouragement, but I shoudn’t have been surprised - Linda is the servant leader in our team. She wouldn’t think of herself as a leader, but that’s exactly what she is. Oh, and she’s a wonderful human to boot! Definitely a worthy recipient of the inaugural award.
API Team Tania Antony Tom Szecodi Sarah Healey Elisha Buckingham Kate Broadbent Sherelle Charge Tracey Webb
A mix of staff across CN have worked together on an API (connection between the Planning Portal and CN’s P+R system) which was required to enable us to be prepared for the use of the Planning Portal that occurs from 1 January 2020, which is mandatory for the lodgment of development applications. The staff all displayed cooperation, respect and dedication to achieve this task which had many obstacles along the way.
Scott Hammerton & Adam Metcalf Beach Lifeguards Parks & Recreation
Excellence - Pro-active approach with education and safety & continuous improvement Cooperation - Commit to decisions within our control and follow through on our commitments Adam and Scott have been tasked among the Beach Lifeguard team to assess each team member’s competency on the jet ski. There is a process which they follow through the WHS management system. Which includes completion of WHS Competency assessment - Operate Personal water craft - CA 3.6.22.07 Adam and Scott went above and beyond in this process and captured on 4 videos tasks that needed to be completed competently by each lifeguard. Scott demonstrated in the water on the jet ski and Adam provided a voice over for each video. These videos were posted on the lifeguards TEAMS platform for each lifeguard to view for their information. (I can provide copies of the videos if required).
Paul McMurray & Gordon Dryburgh Environmental Health Coordinator & Regulatory Section Manager (respectively) Regulatory, Planning & Assessment
Paul and Gordon actively listened to us during our planning day on 18 June 2019, around our teams concerns and ideas ideas in relation to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic. We discussed a “business as usual” scenario vs a re-prioritisation of tasks to ensure all food premises in Newcastle could be inspected for Covid Safety. Both leaders supported our decision to pro-actively visit as many businesses as we could in relation to the Covid audits and circulated regular updates on changes to legislation to keep us up to date when talking to the public. They provided ongoing support and guidance to all team members involved, which resulted in a high compliance rate in businesses. We were then able to re-focus back on our usual program and inspections later in the year. I beleive this demonstrates the crew value of excellence in our leaders and shows that the City of Newcastle is adaptable and responsive to community needs.