Ipswich City Council Administrators Update - Vision 2020 January 2020

3.4 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Community engagement is an important

A digital community engagement platform – Shape Your Ipswich was launched on 1 October 2019; and Public question time is now part of council’s new Meeting Procedures Policy. NOW Community members can expect well-defined and transparent opportunities to be involved and have a say on council projects, initiatives, and new ideas. Council staff are expected to use these new engagement methods to seek community advice and views as part of preparation of new proposals for programs and initiatives. The incoming mayor and councillors can expect to have access to more insightful and precise assessments of community sentiments, views and opinions on key issues (in addition to their own discussions with community members). administration, the Interim Administrator made the tough decision to dissolve some of the long- standing reference groups. Five new Community Reference Groups (CRG) were created that reflect the five Advance Ipswich themes of economic development, resilient communities, growth management, environmental management, and transparent governance. After an open public invitation process, some 99 local residents were selected to sit on the five Community Reference Groups. Four meetings have been held since June 2019. These groups were formed to give more people a voice in the decision-making process of council, and to provide the community with a better understanding of how council works. SUPPORTING LINKS: Ipswich.qld.gov.au/community/community_ engagement/community-reference-groups Ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_ file/0014/110444/Guidelines-for-Community- Reference-Groups.pdf Ipswichfirst.com.au/council-names-community- reference-group-members/ Shapeyouripswich.com.au Ipswich.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_ file/0009/119772/Meetings-Procedures-Policy.pdf COMMUNITY REFERENCE GROUPS – GIVING THE COMMUNITY A VOICE During the first few months of interim

component of good local governance. It is entirely reasonable for residents and ratepayers to expect to be able to contribute to council decision-making that impacts them, their local community and/or their city. Listening to the community helps council to better understand what is important to the community and shapes your council’s decisions for the future. BEFORE ADMINISTRATION Previous community engagement practice at council was strongly influenced by councillors and frequently occurred without the benefit of any planned or documented approach. In the absence of any robust and transparent council framework, strategic direction, appropriate resourcing, processes and procedures, your former council was not equipped to facilitate any meaningful and proactive community input into its decision making. Prior to interim administration, community engagement across council was undertaken in a decentralised manner. Departments within council developed and implemented community engagement activities in isolation using different approaches. There was no specified unit of council responsible for coordinating and reporting on community engagement activities or supporting council to deliver quality community engagement activities. As a result, from the community’s perspective, council often appeared disorganised and inconsistent in its community engagement activities. WHAT WE DID Consultants worked with a Transformation Project team of 10 people from across varied disciplines across council between April and September 2019 to develop a community engagement framework. More than 70 council staff provided advice and information. The Community Engagement Framework has been prepared and will be finalised in the first quarter of 2020. In addition to the development of a Community Engagement Framework, several specific community engagement methods were also developed: Five Community Reference Groups aligned to council’s standing committees have been meeting every two months since June 2019 to provide strategic advice to council;

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