Bridging the Gap Between Engineering and Accounting

Jacqueline Perkowicz, Strategic Project Officer, Mareeba Shire Council

Mareeba Shire Council has introduced a new teambased asset management framework to resource and fund the inspection, maintenance and replacement of bridges and major culverts. With many aging bridges needing replacement and limited resources, a team of operational and management staff has collaborated to ensure the Shire’s bridges remain safe and functional.

The Mareeba Shire Bridges Asset Management Project was an initiative that unified accounting and engineering professionals into a team with a shared goal that resulted in a safe and functional bridge portfolio with no increase in budget. The reality is that the differing views and priorities between the accounting and engineering professions can lead to communication breakdown. However, taking advantage of these characteristics and focussing on a shared goal has provided maximum value for Mareeba Shire Council and the broader community.

Mareeba Shire’s $67M bridge, major culvert and causeway portfolio is dispersed over 53,457km2. With only one crew available to inspect, maintain and complete capital renewal projects, it seemed evident that there were insufficient resources to manage the portfolio. Like many councils, Mareeba has an aging asset portfolio, limited resources and minimal capacity to increase rates. Also, when Mareeba Shire de-amalgamated in 2014, it was assessed by Queensland Treasury Corporation as having a financial outlook of ‘very weak with a negative outlook’.

Before the project commenced, aside from a handful of outsourced specialist consultant reports, the bridge and major culvert network’s remainder had not had a recent properly recorded engineering inspection. Of the 23 bridges selected for an outsourced specialist consultant report, 15 were reported to be in poor or deplorable condition and at risk of catastrophic failure.

As part of the Long-Term Asset Management Plan development, it was identified that a team approach would reduce the risk of silos being created and ensure that specialist skills are brought together effectively. Within the Long-Term Asset Management Plan, Asset Management framework sub plans were identified for development as stand-alone projects. As a critical asset class with a catastrophic consequence of failure, the Bridges Asset Management Plan Project was prioritised for development.

The Bridges Asset Management Project’s success has been mainly due to project planning, control and flexibly engaging relevant stakeholders. A project plan was developed to capture the requirements of all stakeholders and document the actions required to achieve the output of individual asset management plans and the identified project outcomes.

A project steering group named the Asset Management Group was formed, comprising key asset management staff and the senior operational and financial management team. The project steering group meets monthly to review progress and identify new issues.

A small bridges asset management subgroup was formed to identify and resolve bridge asset management problems. Creating smaller subject matter expert subgroups to focus on specific issues has allowed the project to progress much more quickly and efficiently than would otherwise be possible and has also enabled the successful model of reporting achievements to the AM Group, which is then able to provide an oversight function.

The community expects that bridges, causeways and major culverts are constructed and maintained to be safe for the public. For many councils, including Mareeba Shire Council, resources available to carry out proactive and reactive maintenance and capital renewals are limited. In Mareeba Shire, there is one crew responsible for inspections, maintenance, capital renewal and upgrade construction projects for bridges, major culverts and causeways and all general concrete work, including footpath construction. This

means that if the bridge crew is tasked with a bridge, major culvert, causeway or footpath construction project, there is limited spare capacity for inspections and maintenance of the broader portfolio of bridge assets for the project’s duration.

As a result of the Bridges Asset Management Project, the bridges crew is now supplemented with operational staff from the Transport Construction and Maintenance teams. These staff lift pressure off the bridges crew by completing bridge inspections and basic maintenance such as spraying weeds around bridges. Our Corporate Services team has reinforced these benefits by transitioning the inspection data to our asset management software package, enabling easy analysis and works forecasting.

The cross-functional steering group has demolished asset management work silos and enhanced service delivery by adding value to existing work and identifying opportunities for improvement. Over the past six years, and with no additional resources, council has modernised its management of bridge portfolio assets with the following improvements:

1) Funding a multi-million dollar program to complete the backlog of critical timber bridge renewals;

2) Progressing from a paperbased inspection program to a “single point of truth” asset register linked to a defect capture and works order system. This now incorporates hundreds of condition inspection and defect records that can be used to prioritise bridge works;

3) Managing customer expectations around service levels; 4) Providing training to upskill additional staff to inspect bridges to industry standard;

5) Checking and adding further details to baseline data;

6) Testing options to flexibly address staffing constraints;

7) Configuring the software systems to capture, monitor and report bridge condition and defect data;

8) Reporting to council on the inspection program; and

9) Linking the asset management plan actions with the Operational Plan reporting process.

This success could not have been achieved by the Finance team or the Infrastructure team alone and has set the standard for future asset management plan projects. Empowering staff to innovate and improve processes

BRIDGES ASSET MANAGEMENT SUB PLAN

2020-2029 OVERVIEW

Capital and operational resources to manage the $63M bridge portfolio are limited. This plan focuses on maintaining Council’s operational and capital service levels by: • Managing customer expectations around service levels; • Providing training to upskill additional staff to inspect bridges; • Reviewing a sample of bridge inspections against industry standard; • Checking and adding further details to baseline data; and • Testing options to flexibly address staffing constraints.

KEY RISKS

E ME EXT R

1

2SIG N I FICANT INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE

There is only one crew to inspect, maintain and replace the $63M portfolio of bridge assets. Additional construction and maintenance staff have been trained to complete bridge inspections. Council’s ability to program maintenance is recommended to be reviewed over the next 12 months.

3SIG N I FICANT

4SIG N I FICANT SAFETY AND CIVIL LIABILITY

Council is responsible for taking precautions against foreseeable and significant risks where reasonable and affordable. Council needs to continue ensuring that statutory obligations and safety related capital projects and maintenance activities are funded ahead of discretionary activity.

5SIG N I FICANT BRIDGES IN POOR CONDITION

There are five (5) bridge assets assessed as in poor or very poor condition. These are funded for renewal over the next two years and are being managed using load limits, condition inspections and maintenance until they are replaced. A sample of bridges will be reviewed by a third party.

RECORDS AND DATA CAPTURE

All data sources for bridge records have been entered into the Technology One asset register. Officers will commence capturing formal Level 1 inspections using works orders and update the condition inspection forms.

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Sporadic scheduling of inspections and maintenance due to competing priorities reduces the information available to make informed financial decisions. Additional construction and maintenance staff have been trained to complete bridge inspections and Council’s 10 year renewals plan will be reviewed annually until confidence levels increase.

within their own functions has lifted pressure off the bridges crew, added immense value to council and resulted in a safe bridge portfolio that benefits the whole community.

Through the Bridges Asset Management Project, Mareeba Shire Council has successfully turned the perceived weaknesses of a very small team and lack of resources into strengths. Teamwork has empowered staff and provided new opportunities. Developing an excellent asset management team has meant that all members feel ownership of processes and there is a strong sense of optimism, trust and respect within the group. Bringing different skill sets together to focus on bridges asset management as a subgroup of the asset management team has enabled our council to mitigate the impact of significant staffing constraints. As a result of this project, bridges and major culverts are now inspected on a regular basis and clear advice based on good quality data is provided to Council to ensure well informed bridge investment decisions with a strong focus on renewals.

These improvements have significantly contributed to Mareeba Shire Council’s remarkable financial recovery from a position in 2014 to a progressively improving financial position that in 2020 was deemed “sound with a neutral outlook” by Queensland Treasury Corporation. This could not have been achieved by accountants or engineers alone and it is only by introducing a team-based asset management framework that the outcome achieved is greater than the sum of its parts.

Mareeba Shire has achieved the benefits of this initiative with no additional budget, using existing staff and a part-time role responsible for the cross functional coordination. It is a model that can be applied at any Council.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Perkowicz has 14 years’ experience in local government and holds bachelor’s degree qualifications in business. In her current role, Jacqueline coordinates cross departmental teams to develop, implement and review asset management plans and strategies that align with the Community, Corporate and Operational plans.