Council News Issue No: 125
CITY OF WAGGA WAGGA
FIRST PRINTED SATURDAY 17 DECEMBER 2016
Weekly information from us to you PL E N T Y O F PI N E CO N E S Hundreds of giant pine cones from the bunya trees in Collins Park were removed this week. The bunya pine cones can be a safety risk if left to mature as they can fall from heights of 20 metres or more and weight about 5kg. A crane was used for the important tree maintenance (inset), which had to be extended for a second day due to the volume of bunya nuts that had grown on the trees. Further works to remove the footballsized pine cones will take place early next week on The Esplanade and one tree in Collins Park. Both sites will be under traffic control with partial road closures. The removal of the large pine cones forms part of Council’s regular park maintenance program. TREE TOPS: Council’s Parks Operations Supervisor David Stapleton with some of the bunya pine cones taken down this week in Collins Park.
Experienced team leads Council City of Wagga Wagga General Manager Alan Eldridge believes the organisation’s new executive team has the experience and ability to help build one of the best regional cities in Australia. With a combination of local knowledge and new ideas, the four Sector Managers and the General Manager will be working to deliver services for more than
63,000 residents across a Local Government Area of 4825sqm. The new structure was adopted by Council in July and took effect in October when the five Directorates and General Manager’s section were overhauled and replaced with four new Sectors – Governance, Community, Financial and Commercial. Following an extensive recruitment process for new and vacant positions, the Sector Managers have now joined the organisation along with a number of other key management positions. Leading the Sectors are newly appointed Chief Financial Officer Natalie Te Pohe and Commercial Development Sector Manager Paul Somerville, and existing
staff Community Sector Manager Janice Summerhayes (formerly Director Environment and Community Services) and Commercial Operations Sector Manager Caroline Angel (formerly Manager – Project Management Office). “To build the best regional city, you need the best people and I am confident the team we have assembled will lead Wagga into future,” Mr Eldridge said. “Janice Summerhayes has decades of invaluable experience working for and with the local community and Caroline Angel has extensive experience at various levels of government and has implemented a number of significant changes including the establishment of Council’s new Project Management Office.
“Natalie Te Pohe has worked in Western Australian Councils, the Queensland Mining Industry and the South Australian Government, while Paul Somerville holds both a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Melbourne University and an MBA from Monash University and has worked for large companies such as BHP Steel. “The new structure takes a more collaborative approach to our operations than the previous Directorate model. It’s also less bureaucratic and makes accountability and planning a priority across Council.” Mr Eldridge said there have been a number of challenges for Council over the past year and his focus has been on Story continued inside
Council Christmas trading hours From the team at Council, have a very Wagga Christmas!
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